Increasing to 8 weekly injections - would sublinguals help give me an additional boost?

[petal02]

I’ve posted before, my B12 levels are not remaining very high between my 12-weekly injections and the surgery have suggested increasing to 8 weekly. My last B12 blood test was only two weeks after an injection, it came out as 583, and the nurse said this wasn’t very high for someone who had just had an injection. So I’m scheduled to have another blood test just before my next B12 injection, and assuming there’s been no improvement, I’ll be going onto 8 weekly – but I’m wondering if I should ask for a course of loading dose shots, to give me a good boost back up again, and then hopefully 8 weekly injections will keep my levels high?

And if the surgery say no to loading dose injections, would sublinguals help at all?

Alternatively, if you all think I'll need a boost in additional to 8 weekly shots - there's a private clinic nearby, I couldn't afford to have 6 shots over 2 weeks with them, but if I went once a week for a few weeks, would that help too?

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi petal02 was your Folate tested recently?

It is also important that your Folate level is monitored as this is essential to process the B12.

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.

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.

[JanD236]

If you feel that sublinguals help you then they’re worth taking. However, they don’t help everyone and there is research to show that they’re not effective in repairing damage compared to injections.

Once B12 injections have started it is not recommended that you have blood tests to check levels, as the result is meaningless (and if high can be used by doctors to try to reduce the frequency of injections).

If you have neurological symptoms then after loading doses you should have continued to have injections every other day until there is no further improvement. After that injections should be 8 weekly.

Many people find that the NHS regime of 8 or 12 weekly injections is not sufficient. My GP has allowed me a prescription for a monthly injection but to live a full life I need weekly injections and have chosen to source my own supplies and self inject to make up the difference.