B12 level 138 GP said no injections needed.

[ClareV1]

Hi, I got my blood results yesterday my B12 is 138 ( range 180 - 1100) folate 1.5 (range - 13) and vit d 36.

Gp has prescribed tablets and said no need for injections. I have pins and needles/ burning in feet. Headaches and blurred vision. Is this the right treatment plan?

Thanks

[pvanderaa]

GP is wrong. Low is low. Pills will only mask any future test results. You need to get loading injections and then be treated by your symptoms in order to prevent your existing neurological damage from getting worse and stop any new neurological damage from occurring in the first place.

If your body (B12 recycling mechanism) was working correctly you should never be low.

Once you are on injections any future tests should be high >1500 pg/ml. You cannot overdose on B12 as it is water soluble and you pee it away.

You're not vegan, correct?

[ClareV1 in reply to pvanderaa]

Thanks for your reply. No im not vegan, I eat a lot of diary, salmon, fish so dont think I should be low from my diet.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Are you based in UK.

If so suggest that you look through the pinned posts at the treatment guidelines etc and write to your GP drawing their attention to them.

It may be that your blood work doesn't show any signs of macrocytosis (larger rounder blood-cells) - however, this is a symptom of B12 deficiency that isn't present for 30% of those that are deficient.

Your B12 should be treated at least 24-48 hours before treatment for the folate deficiency starts, particularly given your B12 levels.

[deniseinmilden]

You poor soul - you must feel terrible!

Your Dr is incompetent to say you don't need proper treatment and negligent to withhold it from you. If he only read the basic NHS Internet notes he would be better informed - and there's a lot more knowledge beyond that required to look after you!

Please try to get the correct treatment ASAP before you get any more damage to your body. While a lot of it is reasonably reversible in time, deficiency has a significantly negative impact on you.

Once you have had an injection at the surgery and know that you will be OK having them, it is possible to take control of your destiny and self inject as you need to and take your own supplements to get yourself well again so don't worry: living with this is possible - but that really isn't the point - your GP is not doing their job!

There is lots of excellent help and support available here so you are not alone!

I wish you lots of luck.