Self Injecting......

[gizzmo1971]

I was diagnosed with PA approximately 4 years ago and have been self injecting for about 6 months now (due to crap GP) at a rate of 1 every 3 weeks. I feel very low in mood recently, which is making me wonder if I should increase the frequency? I find the injections extremely painful so do not want to do more if its not going to be beneficial. Does anyone inject a smaller dose than the whole ampule but more frequently and if so is this beneficial?

[Hidden]

Hi gizzmo,

I know what you mean, with not wanting to inject more than is absolutely necessary. Re: " Does anyone inject a smaller dose than the whole ampule but more frequently and if so is this beneficial?" I did try that, but found it to much of a fiddle, and just am more lenient with what I leave in the ampoule, and remove air twice as I change needles, with out worrying about how much B12 I loose. In theory percentage wise more is taken up from a smaller dose than a larger on.

But if possible get a blood tests, particularly get your serum folate tested, it is not uncommon to after starting B12 treatment also become folate and or ferritin def. All 3 are needed in good supply and giving lots of B12 can deplete low stores of folate and or ferritin (and other vitamins).

I hope this helps,

Kind regards,

Marre.

[gizzmo1971 in reply to Hidden]

Thankyou for your advice. I will get myself the supplements you mentioned and see what happens. I gave myself an injection yesterday a week earlier than normal and my mood has definitely improved today

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Sorry to hear that your mood is low. I had problems with depression and anxiety for 30+ years so wasn't really expecting them to go when I started treating myself with B12 but they did. I use quite high doses but mainly get my doses using a nasal spray. I find that hydroxo works best for me on the depression and anxiety but methyl works better for some of the neurological problems - shooting pains, numbness in foot - so use a mixture of the two.

It may be that a different form of B12 - guess from your last post that you are probably using hydroxo. it may be that another form of B12 works better for you with different symptoms.

I do inject - particularly if things are stressful - but do mine sub-cutaneously rather than intra-musclar - in the thigh - CDC website in the US implies that most people find that sub-cutaneous stings less than intra-muscular. Think I can probably concur with that as back from having my NHS top up jab about 50 minutes ago and that stung like hell and is still feeling a bit sore even now ... though also true that I'm not sure if the nurse warmed the ampoule before the shot - partly because it was all in the syringe before I got into the room. Tend to inject sub-cut about 4 times a week if I am at work so think frequency is something that you could experiment with - but you could also try a different delivery method - eg nasal and see if that works.

[gizzmo1971 in reply to Gambit62]

Can you tell me where to get nasal spray please. Sounds like this may be a way of keeping levels high between injections. My low mood is definitely due to low B12 because I injected a week earlier than usual yesterday, and my mood has improved dramaticly. Re subcutaneous injections... my GP told me this method didn't get the B12 into the system as well (but as I have said he hasn't exactly been helpful to me since diagnosis!)

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to gizzmo1971]

I source from detoxpeople.

Unfortunately the spray I really like (YULIV) isn't available at the moment but they do a range of what they call 'nasal drops' which are quite similar but I find them a bit more tricky to use.

Subcutaneous probably isn't as efficient a method for delivering the B12 but not sure there have been any definitive studies on what is best when it comes to how people feel afterwards - and even if there were everything with B12 seems to vary so much from person to person that ...

CDC website in the US compares the two and comments that anecdotally sub-cutaneous 'causes less burning' which I think means it stings less. My intramuscular injection yesterday certainly stung quite a bit but can't tell if that was because the B12 hadn't been warmed first. I can't say I personally have noticed any difference between how long sub-cut and intra-musc last for me.