Will my levels definitely rise after 2 week treatment

Yes, it's practically guaranteed that your levels will shoot up to around normal initially (it's going straight into your blood), but it's whether they can stay there or not. Your body needs to "re-cycle" the B12 (as well as try to absorb a bit more from your daily diet to top it up) and if for some reason it can't, the level will begin to fall again fairly rapidly.

Expect to start to feel the benefits of the jabs within about 3 weeks.

You will probably be asked to go for a blood test about a month after the last jab, or just before a monthly or quarterly top-up. This is to assess whether you are holding onto the B12 properly.

You may also need Iron tablets, and it's important to find out why you are deficient. Has your doctor ordered tests to find out if you actually have PA? There are a number of other possible causes of B12 deficiency.

I had a follow-up test on Monday, and I hope to get the results tomorrow.

Best of luck.

Although I found out I had a blood test 18 months ago and levels were in 180s then so I'm surprised nothing was mentioned to me then. Can any permanent damage have been done by now??

Was it attributed to some other cause?

Unless you have significant neurological symptoms (see the PA Society's website for a list) you are unlikely to have suffered permanent damage, but you will feel pretty rotten. From what I read, it's older people who have been deficient for a long time who are really at risk. Heart failure, stroke and senile dementia are possible outcomes.

Many doctors seem not to be fully up to speed with B12 deficiency and PA, and are slow to recognise the condition. In women of my age, the symptoms may be attributed to the menopause (there's an irony!), and damage is done when it goes untreated.

Heavy periods, depleting Ferritin (iron store) levels, are often blamed. Sometimes it is bleeding from the bowel - which can go unnoticed. I assume you are not vegetarian, and have no dietary problems, IBD or Chrones disease. Some prescription medicines deplete B12 too, eg. Metformin, as can gastic surgery.

I wonder how people who have had a gastric band for obesity get on.

Mid 20's is not that unusual for PA, as it can show itself at any age. It is thought that, in otherwise healthy, active individuals, the condition may be masked to some extent. As my specialist says, "some folk just don't absorb B12 well.

If none of the above possible causes rings a bell, then it is quite possible you have classic PA. However, the tests your doctor is making can sometimes give false negs and positives, so repetition may be needed at some stage to confirm it and the labs are very slow.

Please don't be alarmed. The important thing is that the deficiency has been spotted. Regular injections may be needed for the rest of your life, but that is probably all. Not good news if you are needle-phobic, I suppose!

Good luck with the test results.

Thank goodness for the internet! I know some folk read stuff on line and panic, but far more use it to good effect in managing their own health. Knowledge is very definitely power.

I recommend you insist on having copies of all your test results (going back a few years if they exist), compare them directly, and see if you can spot a relationship between them and any other changes in your life. Remember that low B12 can upset absorbtion of other vitamins and impact on your general health.

Do your own research, and take a list of questions to your appointments. Insist on clear answers.

The minute they think you are going to take a hand in your own health, your GP will start taking you seriously - and that will get you the right diagnosis and treatment.

My latest GP dismissively suggested I wait to start B12 jabs until after I'd had a gastroscopy - a delay of up to 3 months - in case it "clouded the results". Absolute tosh! I had to force the matter.

I pursued it and got the jabs. 8 weeks later, when I saw the gastro man, he said I didn't need the investigation anyway! Along the way, I had deliberately declined an ECG (complete waste of NHS money) and a full chest x-ray (more waste, and very dangerous in a woman of my age).

In a patient who has low B12 with no clear and obvious cause, the primary action should be to correct the level, the secondary action should be to discover the cause. B12 jabs are cheap as chips compared to other procedures and have no dangerous contra-indications. The potential benefits hugely outweigh any perceived advantages of delaying them. Grrrrr.........you can tell how strongly I feel about this.

I had been suffering from "anaemia" for many years. I'd been reporting my symptoms (which included very severe depression and exhaustion) to previous GPs. I was given iron tablets, a pat on the head, and sent on my way. Nobody suggested testing me for B12.

Subsequently, one practice's disgraceful handling of my partner's medication resulted in him collapsing with gout and kidney stones. Subsequently, we discovered that he'd had a toe amputated due to "arthritis" when the actual cause was the gout they'd permitted to arise by withdrawing two of the drugs he'd been on for decades! This caused us to leave, and become patients of a well-respected female GP. It was she who tested me properly and triggered my treatment. Unfortunately, she retired a couple of weeks later. Drat.

My other half lives on a cocktail of 7 different drugs. When I researched B12 deficiency for myself, I spotted Metformin as a depleter. He'd been on it for over 10 years, and nobody had ever mentioned a B12 test. I demanded he be tested and, surprise, surprise, he's dangerously low, and started jabs the same day. At nearly 70, and being a sweet, passive patient, who thinks GPs are gods, he was gradually being allowed to slip into senility because he's old and nobody gives a damn unless you scream.

Some of his regular drugs have now been replaced with better versions, his B12 levels have been corrected, and he's being more closely monitored.

Between us, we have shaken things up at the practice, and I hope it's made the GPs there look at the notes of other patients more carefully.

Along your way, please try to help raise awareness of this common, dangerous and easily-treatable deficiency. You could save lives simply by chatting about the condition with friends, colleagues, neighbours and family, and suggesting some get tested.

If you do social media, post something about it. If one person reads it and thinks "I wonder if this is what's troubling me, my nan/boss/chum" or passes on the information, early diagnosis could become more common.

It is shameful that, in many other countries, B12 deficiency is better understood and handled than it is in the UK.

Bon chance!

I started my injections this week and although I did not expect to feel better straight away (I don't!) I actually think I feel a little worse. Very nauseous and my legs are shaky. I feel more anxious than normal (though I suspect that is because I know now there's something wrong!) Is it natural for symptoms to get worse before they get better or to have these adverse reactions?!

A purely layman's guess would be that your body, suddenly able to obtain more energy and oxygen from your blood, gets a sort of "buzz" or "high". Come to think of it, I think I've heard that mentioned somewhere.

Feeling queasy and shaky are common to other such "surges" - sugar, alcohol, nicotine, caffein, thyroxine, naughty drugs, etc. - can all produce such reactions. Heightened anxiety (and hyperactivity) also fits into this picture easily.

Here's a thought: maybe there's also a "down" to watch out for!

Either way, I suggest gentle exercise (like a strolling walk), eating well, and sleeping when you feel like it. Smile, laugh, breathe deeply and enjoy the sunshine. Your body is now recovering from a gruelling experience, so look after it well. : )