Chronic pain , degenerative spinal disease

[HappyLass1e]

I am at the end of my tether with chronic pain and more recently, peripheral neuropathy.

Every 8 weeks I have a B12 injection for management of Pernicious Anaemia diagnosed in 1985. However, the pains shooting into my toes and burning sensation around week 6, drives me crazy.

The GP is nice but does not understand my predicament.

I found a recent article from the USA which discusses the role of vitamin B complex and optimal Ferritin in the management of PN and restless legs syndrome. However, this information does not necessarily filter into the NHS.

In the last 6 years, the pain in my back from the neck down, can be intolerable. Multiple prolapsed discs and years of wear and tear have taken its toll. My walking and general mobility are now affected but the only treatment from my GP is Naproxen .

I did have a referral to the physio pain clinic which was a total waste of time. No hands on physio, only questions about my childhood…

How do you hand pain and neuropathy?

[bookish]

Hi, sorry to hear that you are struggling so much, which is not uncommon with PA. Presumably at the time of diagnosis you had much more frequent injections, and these should have continued until you stopped improving. Every 8 weeks is clearly not enough for your current symptoms if you are worsening at 6 weeks. If your GP will not agree to more frequent treatment you could try additional high-dose oral supplementation (which works for some even with PA) or consider self-injecting. Important that you don't let GP test blood re. continuing your injection treatment as serum will look very high - if you have a GP who is keen on doing this you may have to tell them what you are doing, and why. You do of course need to know that all cofactors are at healthy levels for you - magnesium, Vit D, folate, B6, B2, B3.....and check other possible causes/contributory factors like blood sugar and thyroid (which is unlikely to be working well with a B12 issue). Medichecks have offers on their at home testing at the moment, if needed. If not a member of the PA forum on here I would go and have a look there, and the Pernicious Anaemia Society too. (I have an unidentified B12/folate problem and a 6 generation PA or B12D issue that we know of. Magnesium made a huge difference to me, as did the right form of folate, plus diet and lifestyle changes). Best wishes