Started self injecting 1 ml of cyanocobalamin last Tuesday, my first time. I was going to try an 'every other day' schedule but by the end of Saturday I began to feel imbalance issues returning and the medium energy boost, both physically and mentally, had begun to flag. I then injected Sunday and Monday (yesterday) making 3 straight days in a row.
I take 800 mcg of Folic acid and 2 multi-vitamins (past shelf date) every morning + 3 bananas every day. Last night I had 3 very painful upper leg cramps, each of which took ~ 5minutes to subside.
I am unsure whether I should have my 4th consecutive B12 shot today or maybe I should wait until tomorrow. I am new at this and have tried to read up as best I can, this group being my primary source for information.
Any tips ?
Thank you kindly,
Randolph
Written by
randolphr
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I've been injecting hydroxocobalamin and taking supplements every day since the middle of July and although I get the odd weird thing I am gradually improving all the time.
I would recommend you do what suits you best. I get cramp (mostly in my hands) if I don't eat and drink lots of potassium rich things. 3 bananas should do it but you could try other things as well. Can you get "Lo-salt"? That's mostly potassium chloride rather than sodium chloride so is a rich source of K.
I have leg cramps frequently as well, and muscle twitches along with them. The only thing that appears to help is going for walks. My legs are very tired and feel like jelly afterwards however the cramping and muscle twitching stops.
First, good for you. You'll need to play around for a while with the injection frequency to find a way to improve. But coming out of the fog will feel really good.
Second, folic acid is the most common folate prescription. But its also not the best way to ensure you're rebalancing your metabolic processes. I injected cyanocobalamin and took folic acid for many many years but I found that when I switched to folate and methylcobalamin I felt a lot better. Some people are actually allergic to folic acid, and since that's the form of folate added to foods its easy to see why, especially since there's often a correlation between celiac and pernicious anemia. So find yourself some methylfolate. It'll be easier to absorb and easier on everything else in your digestive tract. And don't be afraid to take 1000mcg. No one has seen a problem with folate doses at less than <10kmcg, and even that was chronic long term use and might as easily have been caused by fillers in the pills.
Aside from the pill, you want to get as much of your folate as you can from green leafy vegetables. Salads for lunch and dinner, and dandelion greens in your eggs for breakfast. Vitamins are just the core molecular combination of an element like cobalt or magnesium, and carbon and a bunch of other stuff. But to really absorb lots and lots of that particular molecule, you need a bunch of other molecules that go along with the vitamin, some of which are also vitamins but some of which are just stuff that's floating around in the cells of plants. So eat the original non-synthetic source as much as possible.
Third, for the leg cramps try large doses of magnesium glycinate. And by large I mean 200-500mg. That will help clear up some of what's causing the cramps. The top three causes for cramps are low iron, low b12 and low magnesium. Most people suffer from a magnesium deficiency, and its increased dramatically the more you've got a metabolic disorder or in e.g. cancer survivors. Magnesium is the core element in chlorophyll, and so most people would get their magnesium from green leafy vegetables (which is also where they'd get their folate). But there's been a decline in the presence of both molecules in vegetables in the last century, and in your case in particular your overall stocks of everything are low. So top up. Try it for a couple of weeks.
Don't worry about the size of the magnesium dose - anything you don't need will be excreted. Aside from (hopefully) the mitigation of the cramps, you'll also notice a significant improvement in bowel movements and some really cool vivid dreams for a while.
When I recovered initially the pain was very intense. It kept me up at night and this was long before I knew about magnesium. Long walks will help - as far as you can go, even if its only 10 minutes - and keep your heart rate no higher than 180 minus your age, which will help rebuild some vascular health. The walks will also help collect some vitamin D, which is pretty much the most effective anti-depressant there is. (And its free!) I told myself that the pain was my nerves finding their way back down the scorched tunnels they used to run down, and the nerves are screaming for survivors that unfortunately aren't there. But the body is very optimistic, so they keep trying. That image helped a lot.
Fourth, have you been prescribed any b6? If not you should see about supplementing with that too, about 50mg a day. B6 is the only B vitamin that is toxic in high doses, so don't take a lot. But it'll help clear the homocysteine you've collected as a result of the pernicious anemia.
In all cases you should try to use the natural form of the vitamin. So get methylfolate instead of folic acid, P5P instead of synthetic b6. And don't forget the natural vitamin D.
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