Well that was a waste of time

[evilellie]

Just had a GP telephone appointment as no actual appointments available for a month following the problems of my symptoms returning detailed in this post - healthunlocked.com/pasoc/po... and been told that "I've been a GP for a long time and I've never come across anyone who needed more frequent that 3 monthly injections. And your B12 level has been retested and is now over 1000 so you should be fine." Er OK then! She went completely on the defensive when I told her that even the healthcare assistant who does the B12 injections at the surgery had told me that his patients are all "really ready for" their B12 injections when they come to see him (this was unprompted by me, he just volunteered this info). He seems to know much more about it than the GPs. Anyway, I'm not really after advice on this, just having a bit of a vent. My sister in law is coming this weekend from Spain, and bringing some cyanocobalamin for me to self-inject, so I'm going to solve this problem myself. It just annoys me that I have to. So many GPs are just not interested in actually being helpful, just following procedures.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

hope the cyano works.

[jillc39]

oh what are we going to do..... what rubbish from your gp.  it makes me so cross..... it obviously drives more and more people to self inject. 

[Jennie16]

It's so unfair! I wonder what percentage of us actually can manage with injections every three months.

[jillc39 in reply to Jennie16]

very very few I think

[Marz]

Another GP who has not read the Guidelines for B12 and Folate deficiency .... so is not following procedures.  There is a list of symptoms on the PAS website - maybe show your GP the ones you have.  Also take a look at the website below as there is a draft letter to help you communicate with your GP.

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

bcshguidelines.com/document...

If the injections help you may also wish to top up with oral sprays or lozenges of Methylcobalamin ....

Click onto Gambit62's name below and read some of the very informative posts with links - also sleepybunny and fbirder .....and of course there are many others who have more knowledge than me - I am just a Hashimotos girl with a B12 issue

[clivealive Forum Support]

Please evilellie   don't give up the fight.  I'm glad and admire the fact that you are brave enough to self inject but if you can win over your doctor you will have helped the next patient whom presents the same problems and the next patient and so ad infinitum.

I wish you well for the future

[sweetnessandlight]

Actually, he is not "following procedures" because retesting your b12 level is against all the guidelines because it is bound to be high and far too often leads to injections being stopped or reduced by ignorant gps.

[Sleepybunny]

Hi Fbirder has a useful summary of from B12 documents including quotes that support the idea that retesting B12 is unnecessary. I'm sure he'll send you a link if you pm him.

[evilellie]

Thanks everyone. I think the GP avenue is closed to me now, pretty sure that the GP I spoke to on the phone had decided she was going to back up the other one regardless. I think they have an attitude that they must stick together and back each other up. I am going to keep going 3 monthly, but self-inject in between times. My sister-in-law injected me with the cyanocobalamin at the weekend as I wussed out of doing it myself, but when she's not around I'm going to have to do it myself!