Doctor stopped my b12 injections

[A-m-y90]

Iv been having b12 injections for the past 18 months not sure weather it was pernicious anaemia or just a low b12 level anyways I request to have them every 8 weeks instead of the 10 weeks as my symptoms kept returning , my doctor agreed I could have them , but said I needed a blood test to check my levels and they came back that my body was absorbing the b12 and now has stopped my injections due to a new policy ! and told me to buy over counter vitamins wich i have done and have been taking for a month there 1000 ug daily and my symptoms have come back worse and i carnt function normally any more iv got an appointment to see another doctor next week and I'm really scared they won't let me have the injections again I carnt cope with the tiredness any more can doctors prescribe a private prescription for b12 that u inject your self thanks .

[Galixie]

I haven't had a chance to look at this website yet. Someone pointed me to it a few days ago. It appears to be a physcian group that has come to the conclusion that oral supplements aren't as effective. There might be something here or within the references listed at the bottom that could help you convince your doctor to rethink their decision. b12researchgroup.wordpress....

[mightydrunken]

I don't know what your doctor is playing at! If you are being injected with 1000ug B12, you expect the tests to come back very high, RDA for B12 is around 2ug. Considering you are not absorbing B12, you are being injected, then nothing can be gleaned from a B12 test.

Write down how your symptoms changed from when you had an injection till the next one. Then take that with you when you see the other Doctor. In the meantime, take more tablets or consider self injection.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Amy - your doctors logic seems to be fundamentally flawed. Your B12 levels have been raised by the injections - all the test shows is that you are retaining B12 in your blood. This is not necessarily a good thing as having B12 in your blood doesn't say if it is actually getting through to your cells - in fact it may indicate that exactly the opposite is happening.

Functional deficiency - a reaction to high levels of B12 in your blood that means you stop it passing to your cells is common enough for it to be recognised as a potential result of a number of conditions that can result in elevated B12 levels - liver and renal conditions. There aren't enough studies to say exactly how many people are affected by this but the few studies I've come across seem to come back with somewhere around 30% of the patients have this reaction.

The most effective way of treating it is to keep B12 levels in blood so high that they are above a tipping point where your body can't stop all of the B12 and enough trickles into cells. This is probably part of why people who are being treated for B12 deficiency seem, on average, to need B12 levels well above the normal range if they are to feel well.

It would also seem that one of the results of this reaction is that it seems to take longer for B12 to be removed from the blood by your kidneys.

Whilst you might be able to find a doctor to give you a private prescription many private doctors are equally difficult and ignorant when it comes to B12 deficiency so it may be very difficult to find one.

This is an article on functional B12 deficiency which would demonstrate that it is a real thing and you are not making it up

watermark.silverchair.com/h...

you cold also try pointing your GP at this area of the PAS website which is aimed at helping medical practitioners improvement the way they treat patients with B12 absorption problems - and PA in particular.

pernicious-anaemia-society....

If you are in the UK then I would strongly urge you to contact the PAS directly - as I'm a bit concerned about the 'new policy' which would be contrary to current guidelines.

pernicious-anaemia-society....

they may also be able to help you deal with your GP but you will probably have to join to get that level of support

[wedgewood]

Hydroxocobalamin ampoules (the B12 that is used in the U.K. for injections ) can be easily and cheaply obtained from German online pharmacies . I use “ vesandapo”; where you can obtain 10 1mg x 1ml ampoules for € 8.99 ( Rotexmedica ) . or any multiples . 100 cost €55 . Shipping for any amount by courier costs €8.00 You can pay by PayPal or card . So google “versandapo “ and search for vitaminB12 . And away you go . Needles and syringes easily obtained in U.K. . One reaches a point of great exhaustion when fighting GPs for correct treatment . Then there seems no way out but S. I.