B12 ranges

[Marianne1]

Hi all

I've been battling with my doctor about my B12 injections, I have PA, my levels were 112, I had my 6 loading injections and was told I would need them every 3 months, well the neurological symtoms are still there, I've been back and the doctor did another blood test, which I said to him I hoped he would use that to check my B12 levels, as I take B12 sublingualy, so any B12 tests wouldn't be accurate.

Low and behold he told me that my B12 was within 'normal' levels and my iron was on the low level and I was to just buy iron tablets over the counter for 6 weeks.

I politely explained that my levels wouldn't be normal and that I still had neurological symtoms, he said he didn't want to increase my injections from every 3 months as I could overdose, with another deep breath I told him that I wouldnt OD as B12 is a water soluble vitamin and what my both didn't store it would excrete, I went on about B12 being used in high doses on patients being exposed to radiation, he was speechless and agreed to injections every 2 months and promptly gave me an injection there and then.

Anyway I'm going back on Monday to see another doctor to insist that I am referred to a neurologist, I have recently passed out in the cinema.

My question here is, I've had my teenage daughters tested for B12 deficiency and they have come back with levels of 240 and 425, my daughter with the level of 250 has been prescribed antidepressants, my thinking is her levels are low, should she be on a loading dose of B12 instead of antidepressants at this stage???

[Hidden]

I'd insist your daughter gets the active B12 test, its not that expensive and can be done in London (£18,- at ST Thomas London) and some other places, its what I did with my daughter when she went off B12 injections , her serum B12 dropped to 230, her active B12 was low and her MMA far to high so shge is back on B12 injections for life now. For more info see:

active-b12.com/What-Is-Acti...

viapath.co.uk/our-tests/act...

active-b12.com/Links

I hope this helps,

Kind regards,

Marre.

[Marianne1 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you very much, will look into that, she goes to college in London, so will be easy to organise

[Hidden in reply to Marianne1]

You need GP to write a request for the active B12 test at St Thomas, but if you offer to pay then GP should be OK about it, I hope for you. Marre.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Agree with Marre - both in the grey zone so if they have symptoms - and depression is a symptom then they should be getting B12.

Really can't understand why they dole out anti-depressants like sweeties and won't give people the B12 they need ... I suffered depression for 30+ years until B12 was picked up as low by accident ... and even then GP just wanted to put me on antidepressants when what was concerning me was things like getting to the point where I couldn't walk anymore ... so now treat myself.

You can overdose on anti-depressants. Lots of them have very unpleasant side effects ... and yet they persist in this myth that you can overdose on B12 ... or become 'addicted to it' (no known harmful effects and part of the definition of addiction is repeating a behaviour that does you harm ...)

b12deficiency.info/b12-and-...

[Marianne1 in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you very much, exactly what I was thinking about the antidepressants

[Poppet11]

Unless you have situational depression, which a commonsense approach would suggest necessitated the practical issues resolving, then shouldn't doctors be looking at the causes of a chemical depression rather than just dishing out tablets to help you 'cope' with it?

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Poppet11]

Should do but don't - and most don't believe B12 could possibly be involved. And surprise, surprise, the tablets often don't have any impact so endless round of one tablet followed by another followed by another.

Waste of time

Waste of money

The label has become the disease.

[Poppet11 in reply to Gambit62]

Again, we are back to the fact that most people don't understand B12 deficiency.

This obsession, not only by the doctors but also by many ordinary people with labelling others with 'emotional' or 'depressive' disorders, should really be dragged back into line.

I said a good while ago that a doctor said to me, by way of an apology incidentally, "There is an epidemic of people with emotional problems". There isn't. Their lack of knowledge has resulted in them categorising people in this way because 'they' don't have the answers.

But this obsession is reinforced by Joe Public. People who have been on antidepressants for years and have never got a physical diagnosis for it, and have been, even if only at a personal level, been tagged as having 'emotional' problems, wanting to drag everyone else into their little world. Much better to have everyone suffering from depression than sit there on your own doing it.

And they believe what they are doing is right. Because medicine has never given them a reason for feeling the way they do. Because modern medicine is failing them just like it is failing us.