Vitamin b12 injections

Hi liz

I joined the pernicious anemia society (PASOC) and they gave me the information I needed to give my doctor. I also told him I could buy the injections online as many people with pa do and self inject if necessary. You will get all the information you need on the societies site. Hope you get on okay.

Hi to all,

The thing that puzzles me about the dosing for PA is that they basically wait until you can't even move before they will inject you again. Surely by then the B12 levels are so low that they are doing damage? I mean if you look at all the sub-clinical problems of vitamin B12 deficiency, then one would be basically sitting in the sub-clinical deficiency range for 2 out of 3 of the months. That can't be good!! Surely it would be better with a little bit more often so that you could keep your levels up and not slip into sub-clinical deficiency

Hi Madge,

Doctors and practice nurses all seem to have different ideas on frequency of B12 injections. The trouble is they are not the ones with the problem. You have to be lucky enough to find a sympathetic doctor who actually listens to you and understands each patient is different. I joined Pasoc on line and got lots of helpful information from them.. I hope you get on okay.

Hi Isabel1,

This is all very puzzling to me. Surely they would want your VB12 levels to be high all the time, not going up and down all over the plus. First a big peak then a rapid slide to the bottom, so a couple of weeks of energy, then not much then none. Doesn't make sense. Furthermore there are so many papers on PA and hyperhomocysteinemia with increased risk of ischemic stroke, pulmonary embolism, venous throbosis and the like. Surely this puts all PA patients at risk of this. Bad enough to have the problem in itself without having to deal with all the other problems. That is without the elevated risks of dementia adn Alzheimer's in patients with VB12 deficiency. I seem to remember some company that was trying to overcome this problem with a controlled release transdermal product - TransdermOil I think it was.

Hi can you help me plz I'm trying to find vitamin b12 injection earthier private clinic or on line I just found some on eBay 1 vial is 1ml is that all I need a month or more plz help

dorothy70164 if you need or think you need B12 injections then please talk to your GP / Nurse / Doctor don't buy these substances off eBay, they could seriously harm you

Where do you but them then my doctor won't give it to me ? Put me on tablets 1st but there no good ;( I know I need it thank you

Hi Dorothy,

You have a very common problem with under-diagnosed, or mis-diagnosed VB12 deficiency. The pathology labs state normal levels as being their normally seen levels, or what they see on the average day. They then calculate what 95% of those levels are and they define that as normal. Don't ask me why they do this as it doesn't make Scientific sense. If you are below 300 pmol/L you will have sub-clinical deficiency and there are many, many papers that show that. Furthermore, even if you get injections from your doctor (particularly if it is CN-Cbl or even OH-Cbl) it has been shown that this will not over-come signs of deficiency in around 50% of people. This is because both of these forms of vitamin B12 have to be converted to adenosyl and methylcobalamin. It appears in people who have been deficient for a considerable period of time, they cannot convert OHCbl and particularly CN-Cbl to the two active forms of VB12. I know in Europe you can get AdoCbl injections (they do it as a party drug), but I don't know if you need a medical prescription.

Hi Dorothy. I get my injections from my doctor but I suggest you join the pernicious anemia society (pasoc).

They gave me lots of helpful advice and they also have information on where to buy vit b.12. you should however keep trying to get your doctor to provide it as it only costs less than £1 for each injection. You can join pasoc online and they have a discussion forum. I would not buy anything on eBay as you do not know where it has come from.

I too have PA and my doctor said I needed B12 injections every three months. I felt this was insufficient as I was feeling very tired and low for a few weeks prior to my injection. The nurse who actually does the injection has agreed I need them more often and started giving the injection to me after ten weeks. This was better but I was still too tired to make any kind of effort for a couple of weeks prior to the injection. I bumped into the nurse whilst I was in the doctor's waiting room eight weeks after the last injection and she said I looked really tired and exhausted. Other people have also noticed this and have commented. We then went to eight

weekly Intervals which seemed to suit me much better. Unfortunately I had to go to see my doctor about my very high blood pressure and she looked at my records and told me I HAD to go back to 12 weekly injections, no argument. I am now struggling as it is 10 weeks since my last injections but the nurse dare not go against the doctor's decision. I am due to go on holiday in a couple of weeks so hopefully will be OK as that will be 2 days after my next injection.

One way of getting around the problem you have would be to split the dose that you are getting into 2 or 3 equal doses and inject them either at 6 weeks or 4 weeks. Then you get the same dose with time, and you should have less peaks and troughs. You could try supplementing with high dose oral methyl and adenosylcobalamin that you can buy on-line. in the meantime, or wait until the B12 oils product is on sale again.

The injections don't really restock the liver (otherwise you would only need them once a year) and more worryingly they don't restock the brain and nervous system, more give them a little tickle.

hi this might be long out of date now.  I am new on the forum and wanting to find my own source of Vit b 12 to self inject....do you know how to find out abt this or affordable frm somewhere to do it for you...i dont have the omoney to go to private doctors....thank you

Sunni