Coming from anxiety to here for b12 knowledge

[suresh786]

I have been taking supplements and got two injections then went for test. Result 376pg/ml. What is optimal for the people with anxiety.

Is it best to take the injections or the tablets are also fine?

How often to do the injections.

[pvanderaa]

Anxiety is a psychological symptom of the mind due to neurological damage in the brain. All neurological damage should be treated with B12 injections until no further improvement is seen. Then a maintenance dose to prevent further damage from occurring. Others here can give you the specific detail of methylcobalamin, hydroxocobalamin or cyanocobalamin injections.

Start a logbook of your symptoms, try to assess your own severity score, provide a list of your symptoms and your asssessments to your GP each time you visit. Antianxiety medications sometimes do more harm when the underlying B12 deficiency is left untreated.

Record any worsening symptoms From your medications. See what works for you.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Please get your Folate level checked suresh786 as this is essential to process the B12 you are getting.

The B12 test result is pretty meaningless after you've had the injections.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

would be useful to know where you are based as treatment protocols vary from country to country - as does the availability of injectable B12 without a prescription.

I am assuming that the deficiency isn't dietary - ie that you aren't a vegan / don't have a diet that contains almost no meat/fish/dairy.

People vary very much in how they respond to B12 deficiency. Different types of B12 can work for some and not for other - and different forms of delivery work better for different people.

The general treatment for a B12 deficiency caused by an absorption problem in the UK is hydroxocobalamin, loading shots (3xweekly) for 2 weeks and then maintenance shots every 3 months. However, if you have neurological symptoms the regime in the UK is loading shots (3xweekly) until symptoms stop improving followed by maintenance shots every 2 months.

Personally I don't find either regime works for me - I seem to be at the high end of a functional deficiency resulting from the injections which means that I need to keep my levels astronomic to be able to function and my anxiety actually continued to get worse under the normal regime. However, a reaction as extreme as mine is very rare. I tend to find that topping up with nasal sprays and sublinguals and using a mix of different forms of B12 works for me but there are so many unknowns in dealing with an individual that it is impossible to take one persons experience and say that is going to work for everyone - or to take a generalised experience and say that is going to work for everyone - all you can really do is try different things and see what actually works for you.

as pvanderaa says the best thing to do is to make a list of all of your symptoms and monitor them in relation to the treatment. Injections are obviously going to be the most efficient way of getting B12 into your system but it isn't the levels in your blood that counts - its what is happening and the cell level and the only real way to monitor that is the symptoms.

376 a few weeks after shots is quite a low level - the shot will have put your levels off the scale but it gradually gets removed from your system by your kidneys but the rate at which this happens varies from person to person but I'd say your kidneys are quite good at removing B12 which means that you are likely to need B12 more frequently than the average.

On dealing with the anxiety - I found that mindfulness meditation really worked for me as a coping strategy ... but then a few months after treating myself using a nasal spray frequently I realised that the depression that anxiety that had been companions in vary degrees for over 40 years had just gone.

[suresh786]

Thank you guys. This board seems to be very helpful. I am living in the Qatar.

I am not a vegan/vegetarian but the meat/fish amount is very less as I mostly eat veg. I would say about once a week is for meat and rest is veg.

Doctor here has a typical range of 200-800pg/ml and doctor thinks that any where between that is fine and don't need any supplement or injection. But I disagee with the doctor. I don't know if the injection is avialable without prescription. I will ask to parmacy today. But I will have to inject myself as it will be difficult to find a nurse. In between I also have deficiency of vitamin d which I am treating as well. Doctors just prescribe the SSRI and think job is done big sighhhhhhhhhhh.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Yes, does sound like the problem is absorption.

SSRI's not necessarily the best as they can deplete folate and you need folate to process B12 and anyway, what you probably need is to get your B12 levels back in balance.

Doctor sounds pretty typical in terms of knowledge of B12 and how it works - even if it is just applicable to the UK you could try sharing with him some of the documents from the pinned posts and pointing him at the PAS website which has a section specifically for medical professionals to educate themselves

pernicious-anaemia-society....

Keep in touch

[suresh786]

does SSRI affect the absorption of b12? does SSRI reduce the b12 already stored in the body? I checked with the pharmacy the b12 injection is available without prescription.