Increased muscle pain

[Geckowacko]

Iam two weeks into self injecting and notice the neuro symptoms are getting less, but the muscle pain increases. Does this mean my muscles are healing? Tingeling and numbness died down and I feel a little alive again. My arms still hurt if I type too much so I keep it short.

[Marz]

Are you also taking Folic Acid / Folate with your B12 injections ?

Muscle aches can also be linked to Low VitD - which can accompany Low B12. If you are in the UK your D3 level is good around/over 100 - 60 in the US ...

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi Geckowacko

It is not uncommon for some symptoms to appear to get worse before they get better as the B12 starts repairing the damage done to your nervous system and your brain starts getting multiple messages from part of the body it had "forgotten about" or lost contact with.

I sometimes liken it to a badly tuned radio on which you have turned the volume up high trying to catch the programme you want when all of a sudden the signal comes in loud and clear and the blast nearly deafens you.

A lot will depend on the severity and longevity of your B12 deficiency as to how long before there is no further improvement or recovery.

Some symptoms will "disappear" quite quickly whereas others may take months or even years. There is no set timescale as we are all different.

As Marz rightly says you need to ensure you have a "healthy" Folate level.

There is a complex interaction between folic acid, vitamin B12 and iron. A deficiency of one may be "masked" by excess of another so the three must always be in balance.

Symptoms of a folate deficiency can include:

symptoms related to anaemia

reduced sense of taste

diarrhoea

numbness and tingling in the feet and hands

muscle weakness

depression

Folic acid works closely with vitamin B12 in making red blood cells and helps iron function properly in the body.

Replacing B12 will lead to a huge increase in the production of blood cells and platelets (which occurs in the bone marrow) and can lead to rapid depletion of folate and iron stores; this can then limit the expected recovery of Hb. Both iron and folate may be needed.

Folate can be sourced naturally by eating lots of leafy green vegetables, sprouts, broccoli, asparagus. spinach, peas, beans etc. Many breakfast cereals are now fortified with folic acid and tablets can be bought cheaply over the counter at pharmacists and supermarkets.

I am not a medically trained person but I've had P.A. (a form of B12 deficiency) for more than 45 years.

I wish you well

.

[Geckowacko]

Iam already got allot of information from this site. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia 7 years ago, since then it's all got gradually worse. I always knew there was something wrong, as in something else. Developed neuropathy and felt like I was dying slowly. Two weeks of shots I feel better, but still in pain allot. However I feel like I'm recovering and it can only get better from here on. Two weeks of shots changed allot already, but not yet there.

I take folic acid.

Eat bananas

Inject 500ug every other day

My energy levels improved and the nerve pain neuropathy is allot better. Still the muscles hurt bad and I have pain on spots I've never had before.

Seen plenty of doctors and I self diagnosed my b12 defiency. I ran around all the time thinking I had fibromyalgia, which is probably allot of bull. My trust in doctors died with seeing the improvements with taking jabs. I think if I would have carried on, I would have died a young age or handicapped massively.

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to Geckowacko]

its very early days on treatment - so quite possible that your neurotransmitters are now starting to work better so signals are coming through properly but your brain has got used to the signals being very weak and takes a while to adjust (well, that's my theory). Its a bit like having an analogue radio turned up with very poor signal and then the signal gets stronger and the radio is deafening.

[Geckowacko in reply to Gambit62]

This is actually by coincidence the first day I have an appetite again in 4 months. My defiency and symptoms got really bad after I had giardia lamblia infection and due to weakened immune my body couldn't kill the bug without antibiotics, which made my levels probably even crash more. I already had back pain and arm pain left, with vertigo and other issues. After this situation the neuropathy and pain got probably three times worse and started to have pain all over. I hope my recovery won't be incomplete due to having issues for 7 years, I think I've been in the gray area long time, but really defecient just shortly.

[deeegeee]

I had excruciating pain in both feet so much so that I had to separate my toes to stop them rubbing.I started B12 supplements and those pains went away quite quickly.But,like you,I now suffer from muscle pains and cramps in both calves.I'm hoping your diagnosis is correct but only time,and supplements will tell !

[Geckowacko in reply to deeegeee]

I just rode a motorbike yesterday and can't manage 30 minutes before I start to hurt. I guess my life will be a limited life already, from young age. Can throw allot of my plans out the window I had about life... Homebound, mostly in bed.... Great, can't wait....

[deeegeee]

You really should see a specialist it may not be B 12,could be anything !

[Geckowacko in reply to deeegeee]

My GP told me to wait before going to a neurologist. How the b12 might solve it in a few months. I do really hope so, think I won't be able to handle a MS diagnosis.