Help needed!

[lesley12]

Can anyone give sound advice on self injecting, supply , technique etc. I have finally got injection once every 8 weeks from GP but not enough. Still experiencing extreme tiredness, terrible back and neck pain and depression. To the point of just giving up completely, which is really not in my character. GP just gives anti depressants!!!

Help!

[ellj]

My heart goes out to you, I truly know this feeling of wanting to give up because you do not feel well enough to do what's needed to feel better. Horrible circle of destruction !

Someone will come along soon to advise about SI,s and where to get the necessities.

Hang in there, it is hard but worth it...Things will improve.

Ellj

[lesley12 in reply to ellj]

Thanks for your support, very appreciated.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

there are two ways of injecting - sub-cutaneous and IM. The method used by your GP is IM. Subq isn't as efficeint at getting B12 into you but that is only one part of what goes on. For subQ you can use insulin needles. For IM you need longer needles and you probably need 2 - one for getting the B12 out of the ampoules it comes in and the other for injecting. There are lots of you-tube videos on injecting - both subQ and IM but I really wouldn't recommend IM unless you can get someone to show you in person.

You can't buy injectable B12 (for medical purposes) in the UK without a prescription but you can buy it from an on-line pharmacy in countries where it can be issued without prescription, eg German - look through other sites for details of pharmacies etc.

But, before you try injection - have you tried other forms of supplementing, including sublinguals - sprays and tablets, nasal sprays and even skin patches - they don't work for everyone but they might work for you.

[lesley12 in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you for the advice re SI. Which I will follow. I have tried other supplements but they have no effect. Thanks for the support folks

[fbirder in reply to Gambit62]

Sub-cut and IM are equally as efficient at getting stuff into the body. With both routes 100% gets into the body.

What will differ between the two routes is the speed at which B12 gets from the injection site into the blood. The problem is that nobody seems to know which would be faster.

With other drugs some are passed into the blood faster from an IM administration, for others it's sub-cut. I can't find any proper comparison between the two for B12.

In theory IM should be faster for water-soluble substances, but theory doesn't work a lot of the time in biology. Besides, there's a good case for preferring the slower version.

All we can say right now is that there probably isn't much in it and that both should be way better than taking pills. IM or sub-cut is largely a matter of personal preference. Many people perceive sub-cut as less scary and less painful. Others are convinced it's vice-versa.

[lesley12 in reply to fbirder]

Thank you for that info. I will get some supplies and give it a try. Cant carry on like this.

[deniseinmilden]

Hi!

Some time ago I put together a post with possibly the information you are looking for. I do keep it updated. You can find it by looking up my profile by double clicking on my name and seeing my post "My Experiences" .

I hope this helps but please ask again if you need more information.

Good luck!

[lesley12 in reply to deniseinmilden]

Thank you. I will look it up