B12 self injections???

[MoparMom]

Hi, my neuro recommended and ordered B12 shots, self administered once weekly. Nurse there said to give sub cutaneous. I had done the Copaxone/Glatiramer acetate injections for a short time but they were self contained. I had no instruction other than YouTube. Any advice? Assuming I'll be squeezing belly fat to do it....thoughts, direction, advice? Any videos you can recommend? Some of them on YouTube are a little sketchy. Thank you.

[rjoneslaw]

you need to have dr show you how to do it correctly. I don't understand why a dr would send you off a fend for yourself that's crazy

Are you unable to take the pill

[erash in reply to rjoneslaw]

I agree. Unless you cannot tolerate or absorb B12 thru the oral route, or you are severely low, the oral route, a pill can be just as effective

[MoparMom in reply to rjoneslaw]

No I take a pill but she feels that this may help fatigue. I'm leary of taking other prescription pills for fatigue. I was on my own because of Covid for my Copaxone shots!

[rjoneslaw in reply to MoparMom]

Sorry u were alone

I hope the injection works 4 uh

[erash]

B12 is usually a deep IM (intramuscular) injection 🤷‍♀️

I’ve been giving myself B12 shots monthly x yrs.

[erash in reply to erash]

Hmmm...learn something new each day. Apparently deep sub Q is an alternative route for injection. Hold needle at 45 degree angle to skin.

[Juleigh21 in reply to erash]

Do you take B12 while on Ocrevus ?

[erash in reply to Juleigh21]

Yes

[Juleigh21 in reply to erash]

I take B12 and I just had my 2nd full infusion on Thursday. My understanding is that ocrevus depletes my B cells. I was wondering the other day if I was doing the wrong thing by taking the B 12.

[erash in reply to Juleigh21]

No...you need b12 for proper Neuro functioning

[Neworleanslady in reply to Juleigh21]

I think B vitamins and B cells are not the same thing

[goatgal]

The diagnosing neuro suggested the same to me. It was daily for a week, then weekly for a month, and since then monthly. I was unable to self inject so a neighbor did it for me at first, and then my pharmacist. But a year ago, I started taking an oral med called Eligen B-12. It's taken on an empty stomach first thing in the morning and I can't eat or drink anything for an hour afterwards, but it has been more effective for me than the other oral versions. My B 12 levels are now at the high end of the range. The biggest drawbacks are that Eligen has to be ordered on line, and the injections were covered by insurance, and this is not.

[HensTooth]

When I started on B12 injections I was in such a panic about everything else going wrong with my body and my life, that it didn’t occur to me to worry about whether I was doing it right! I just did it. It was not the scariest or most difficult thing going on in my life at the time, by a long shot. (Pun intended, haha.) Your post reminded me that now that I’m no longer in panic mode, I should think about it! So thank you first of all for bringing it up!

As erash said, I was told B12 should be injected into the muscle... Consulted Dr. Google and apparently people argue for both ways. So you have that going for you. You can’t really mess it up.

That being said, my favorite place to deliver B12 straight into muscle without ending up in fat is that muscle you flex 💪 when you’re showing off your “guns“! Just be sure to totally RELAX your bicep completely while you inject, otherwise it hurts!

The other tip I got that helped me out, is to start out by filling the syringe with air. (It seems counterintuitive but stay with me.) Before you invert the bottle upside down, you pull on the plunger to fill the syringe with air. Then insert the needle into the upside-down bottle, and push ALL that air that was in the syringe into the bottle of B12. Now release the pressure on the plunger of the syringe, and it will begin to fill itself with B12.

You will find you need to pull the plunger to get the last bit of B12 into the syringe. After you remove the bottle off the needle, you’ll do that standard very scary “I’m-about-to-inject-you” move of flicking the syringe and squirting a bit of B12 out the top just to be completely sure there’s no air left.

This seems to reduce air bubbles a great deal. I have read that it’s not a big deal to inject an air bubble into muscle or skin, but I must have seen one too many old movies where the Bad Guy injects air into a vein to kill someone! LOL! The thought of it has always freaked me out!

I know all of this is super-obvious to all the medically-trained folks out there, or to the injection veterans, but to me it was helpful at the time I started! So I thought I would share.