Drinkable B12

[Tricot]

I want to try my husband on B12 just to see if it helps his constant tiredness - he's been prescribed iron tablets but they seem to be increasing his iron stocks painfully slowly with no improvement in energy levels so far (more than 6 months). My question is, as he's elderly and taking PPIs, would it be better to try with drinkable B12 which I can get easily here in France? I'm assuming he will absorb the liquid more easily than pills. Thank you for any advice.

[wedgewood]

I can’t see that drinking the B12 would be any better than taking the pills . The PPI will be preventing absorbtion in the stomach . The stomach needs to be by passed if he has to take the PPI. He needs injections . They would work even with taking PPI .

[Tricot in reply to wedgewood]

Thanks for your reply. I seem to have misunderstood. So what is the point of sprays and sub-lingual tablets which are all more expensive?

[wedgewood in reply to Tricot]

Sprays and sub-linguals are supposed to be able to be absorbed through the thin skin under the tongue or inside the nose . A small percentage is . But they never worked for me at all . And yes , they are expensive . The cheapest way to get B12 into your system if there is an absorption problem , is an injection .I have to self-inject and an injection costs me about £1.00

[wedgewood in reply to wedgewood]

versandapo.de

[Gambit62 Administrator]

Tricot - I'd recommend that you discuss with your husbands GP - whilst B12 isn't toxic, there can be some problems with other minerals and vitamins if you are deficient and start treatment and it would be better if you could have these monitored.

I'd also recommend going for testing first. And one thing to look into is if your husband has low stomach acidity rather than high stomach acidity (the two have more or less the same symptoms). Low stomach acidity will cause absorption problems with a number of minerals and vitamins ... and with nutrients in general.

Whilst most B12 is absorbed in the ileum a small amount is absorbed outside the ileum so if your husband has problems then some may still get through - and to be honest there isn't much difference between sublinguals and ordinary tablets in terms of general absorption.

Injectable B12 doesn't require a prescription in France so you could get injections from the pharmacy but I really would try discussing with your GP and getting tests done first.

[Tricot in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you, Gambit. The trouble is the GP doesn't seem at all interested in finding the root of my husband's problems. A blood test last year showed B12 in the low 500s and folate low in range so I thought even if this isn't the cause of his tiredness, getting both to an optimal level is bound to help. An MMA test wouldn't help as he has kidney disease so the result may not be reliable. Please don't tell me to find a new GP as she is the new GP and they're hard to find. Would a haemotologist be any help? Definitely willing to pay privately if necessary.

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Tricot]

the recommendation to talk to the GP is to check that the B12 isn't going to do any potential harm. If your husband still has anaemia/macrocytosis and his potassium levels are low, healing the macrocytosis when B12 supplementation starts could cause a potassium deficiency.

I'd suggest that if you really don't feel you can discuss with GP then you go to a pharmacists and consult them.

[wedgewood]

versandapo.de