Can I expect Anything Else !

[Geordi]

Hi Guys and Girls,

I have been diagnosed as having PA, and like everyone have a whole selection box of symptoms. My GP is useless, and I have told him so, which I suppose wont help my cause but after years of his flippant comments like, "eat more fresh veg, go get some sun and your levels are fine" I had had enough. Anyway I digress, what I wanted to ask you fellow sufferers is - now I am having B12 injections, (initially 3 monthly now chastised GP has condoned to let me have them monthly for a while), am I likely to experience additional (new) symptoms and/or auto-immune problems, in other words should the B12 stop the progression of things not being right (I don't expect it all to "heal") I just not sure if I am becoming paranoid.

Thanks, Mrs B

[clivealive Forum Support]

Actually you really do need to "eat your greens" as I remember my mother shouting at me across the dinner table when I was a kid as you must have a healthy level of Folate to process the B12 you are having injected.

Also be prepared for some symptoms to seem to get worse before they get better. This not uncommon so don't get over worried if it happens to you.

I'm glad you are at last getting the treatment you need.

I wish you well

[SweetorDry]

Congratulations on getting some treatment, Mrs B (aka Geordi) .

Ah, the dreaded Selection Box--- you can always tell which ones have the hard centres, they`re the ones with the teeth marks.

Not much chance of sun this time of year in Geordi-land ! But on the bright side, it`s the season for Brussels Sprouts so better stock up.

I believe the "side effects" might be when you run out of nutrients and minerals which are used up when the B12 is suddenly available. It`s folate and potassium with B12, isn`t it? (Complicated subject)

Cheers.

Hope you soon feel better.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Do you have other auto-immune conditions?

There are interactions between B12 and thyroid problems - same with a lot of other nutrients and thyroid problems - so sometimes levels of thyroid medication need to be adjusted.

When you say diagnosed with PA I presume that means you had IFA and it came back positive.

As clivealive says you need plenty of folate to process B12.

Potassium may be an issue if you also had significant anaemia but it isn't something you should look to supplement without consulting with your doctor first as its a delicate balance and supplementing potassium cause problems, particularly if you have cardio-vascular problems.

Whilst it is very common for auto-immune problems to occur in groups the reason for this isn't clear. I am not aware of any evidence that B12 itself is linked to other immune conditions. Treatment with high dose B12 will result in high serum B12 levels which could kick off a different autoimmune problem leading to functional B12 deficiency, but this would have happened when you were on the three monthly shots so switching to monthly won't make any difference and should actually help ease things as more likely that your B12 serum levels will be at a point that is high enough to ensure that B12 is getting through to the cell level to ensure cells have enough.

not entirely sure what you mean by additional (new) symptoms and/or auto-immune problems, in other words should the B12 stop the progression of things not being right (I don't expect it all to "heal"). I've tried to respond on the basis of what I think it means but if I'm wrong then please explain a little more.