Taking control...

[Siobhan1965]

Hi everyone, after 3 years of feeling terrible I decided to take control of my health rather than fight in vain with GPs!

I've never really been ill in my life. Never lost a day at work bar pregnancy so when I started feeling tired and foggy headed i assumed it was diet and lifestyle and went about making changes. I tend to throw myself into things and work 24/7 plus am a carer and Trade Union rep so life is always ridiculously busy but i love that.

I went vegan, lost weight and stopped drinking alcohol. I also scaled back on some of my activities and tried to say no now and again. I felt worse! Eventually I sought advice from a GP and was quickly and surprisingly diagnosed with PA. Great, I thought, I will get treated and be back to normal in a few weeks. Oh how I learned that's not the case.

3 years of exhaustion, sore joints, weak legs, crabbitness and inability to focus on anything or recall the simplest of words at times. 3 years of endless research to find improvements, supplementing to death and finding no real benefit. 3 years of GPs saying it was PA but also menopause, depression, Coeliac, dietary, over work, exhaustion...

A final visit to GP and an offer of a 3 month sick line for ME was enough. I know my own body and that its simply poorly treated PA. So decided to take control and self inject. I read through posts here and cross referenced advice. I then followed excellent advice from Steve Purkiss on what and where to purchase and within 5 days it was here and I was ready to go.

I got my 8 weekly jab from the nurse on the Friday, ordered supplies on the Sunday and they arrived on the following Friday. I injected within an hour of it arriving. No time to chicken out. Have injected every two days since and at the end of week two I feel 95% back to my old self. It really was that quick and easy and almost painless.

I'm planning to review and reduce injections at Christmas and am expecting there will inevitably be days where symptoms return and I feel yuck but I can live with that if I can function the majority of the time. If you are considering SI I would strongly recommend you give it a go. There's nothing to lose by taking control.

[Lisahelen]

Well done for finding an answer and how to deal effectively with it.

Do remember that as you are injecting frequently you will need to keep an eye on folate, ferritin and possibly potassium levels to make sure that you get the best out of your b12 supplement.

[Siobhan1965 in reply to Lisahelen]

Thanks good advice, I'm taking daily Iron and folic acid plus a good multi vit. Will look at the potassium levels though as getting a lot of muscle cramping in my feet.

[Rheadster72]

Good for you for taking back control of your health. All too familiar a story. Hope you get to enjoy Christmas as a result of this new found improvement to your health. Is a large supply on ampules on that Christmas list?

[Siobhan1965 in reply to Rheadster72]

Feels good to take control. Ordered 100 doses but suspect Santa might be bringing another 100 by then.

[Lisahelen in reply to Siobhan1965]

You could use your syringes as a novel form of decoration, tied individually to the tree🤪

[Siobhan1965 in reply to Lisahelen]

Fill them with glitter

[wedgewood]

Congratulations Siobhan1965 ! Hope that your post will inspire others who are dithering .But why do you want to cut down on injections at Christmas ? You probably need more at that time as activity and stress makes you use more B12 ! Isn’t it wonderful to be able to take charge and feel well again ? It’s a fantastic feeling ! Very pleased for you ! Spread the word !

[Siobhan1965 in reply to wedgewood]

Chances are I will keep going with this pattern but thought I'd review at that point as that's my quietest time of year once the day itself is over. If I get to that point feeling like I do now I will be delighted. Hoping I can inspire others to try same.

[Hidden]

Fantastic news! Of course big disclaimer ~ I'm not a trained medic, your health may go down as well as up, etc.

[deniseinmilden]

All of the above and maybe magnesium!

Very well done and good luck with the rest of your life!

[Laura_g]

Thank you SO MUCH for the inspiring post. I'm in a similar position - never really ill before this, but the last couple of years have been awful, despite treatment!

I came on here today after another discouraging visit to the GP, crying all the way home because I just feel so overwhelmingly tired, and no end in sight, no longer any hope that I might one day feel like my old self. Starting to feel a little bit hopeful now.

My GP wants me to have more blood tests in January so I can't start self injecting until then, but I might just get all the stuff ready to go... Having a plan B might help me through the next six weeks...

[Siobhan1965]

Hi Laura, I was in Malaga 6 weeks ago. I felt dreadful and was completely resigned to retiring on illhealth. My life felt over.

3 weeks of self injecting and I’m at 95% old me. Heading off to airport in an hour for a long weekend back in Malaga and feeling great.

Go for it, you can only try. There really isn’t anything to be lost and so much to potentially gain. Good luck x

[Laura_g in reply to Siobhan1965]

Thank you! I have a shopping list ready now... Like you say, there's really nothing to lose. Hope you have a wonderful weekend in Malaga!