Is it good to self inject

[Amber12345]

I am suffering between doctors injection every 3 months for the last 4 yrs and want to inject myself. Any advice would be great

[Gambit62 Administrator]

I do inject subcutaneously but most of B12 comes from using other ways of getting B12 in without using the gut - nasal spray being my main way. I know this doesn't work for everyone but I'm not sure it works out any more expensive than topping up with injections - and I'd be a veritable pin-cushion if I relied on injections for all my B12.

So, what I'd say is that there are a lot of possibilities to explore before automatically resorting to injecting - though there isn't anything intrinsically wrong with injecting - though some have had very bad reactions when they have told medics that they are doing this.

Possibilities include sublingual lozenges, sublingual sprays, nasal sprays, skin patches - all of which are a lot more convenient than carrying around needles and phials. You could also try playing around with different forms of B12 - cyano, hydroxo and methyl to see what works best for you - I find mixture of hydroxo (good for my mood) and methyl (good for having feeling in my feet) works best for me ... and I also find that I work best on about 4mg a day.

Many people seem to find that the sublingual tabs make their tongues sore.

Its also a good idea to make sure that you are getting plenty of folate as body needs folate to metabolise B12 and the two tend to be used together for a number of key processes. You can use Folic acid (an artificial form) but the natural form is best if you can get enough.

You can't overdoes on B12 so that does give you room to experiment and find what actually works for you.

[wedgewood in reply to Gambit62]

Best B9,(folate) is found in green leafy vegs and peas. Best man-made is Metafolin,which you can find in some Vitamin B complex tablets.

[Amber12345 in reply to wedgewood]

Thank you

I'm already taking metafolin (solgar) and eat and juice green leafy veg. I have an underactive thyroid and read that kale is not good to take. Not sure why!

[Amber12345 in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you

The docter gives me hydroxo injections but haven't tried anything else! Where do I find the spray? I'm taking folate (metafolin-solgar) daily along with biotin. Is there a good source to buy the b12 from?

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Amber12345]

detox people do a range of different formats of B12 - think that people tend to use Jarrow for sublinguals but think it is probably sold by a lot of other people - possible detox people do them as well. Holland and Barrett do a high strength sublingual spray - I think (not used it) but personally prefer to take one that is just B12 as think that has other B vitamins in it and then supplement other B vitamins - B6 and B9 as my body seems to need them so I can keep an eye on upper limits - B6 = 12.5mg a day in UK 100mg a day in US, B9 (Folic Acid - ie artificial form) = 800mcg a day - not aware of any problems with normal forms but are some issueswith artificial form of B6 in high doses over long period of time - and some research implies that some people may have problems with artificial form of B9.