DO B 12 LOADING DOSE SHOTS SKEW HOMOCYSTEINE AND MMA TESTS?

[dianewilson1900]

Hi. I live in the US and had a B 12 injection on June 1 and June 13th. My doctor also prescribed B 12 supplements on June 11th. My doctor told me to self administer two loading doses, then told me he will stop the treatments because my B 12 levels are currently 1107 according to lab tests. (Well of course their going to be high, I just had two loading doses)! How can I prove to him that my body isn't utilizing B 12 correctly at the tissue and celluar level? What tests can I take? Now that I've had two loading doses, won't that throw the MMA and Homocysteien tests off? I told him to give me those two tests and he said their only given to patients whose B 12 levels fall in the grey area. Mine didn't. Mine tell in the severely deficient level of 119.3, so I was way under the grey area. So I don't know if he's just trying to avoid giving me those two tests or what. What do you think? What tests do I ask for? I take two medications that interfere with B 12 absorbtion and have gastritis so I honestly feel I have an issue with intricate factor.

[fbirder]

“How can I prove to him that my body isn't utilizing B 12 correctly at the tissue and celluar level”

What you’re describing, high B12 but it’s not working properly, is functional B12 deficiency. It’s not very common, but the only way to test for it is to have MMA and hCys tests while supplementing.

However, two injections are not going to fix a B12 deficiency no matter what the cause. Your doctor should be giving you injections for life.

Time for a new doctor.

[Portia1974 in reply to fbirder]

Hi fbirder

What you write above is my understanding of functional deficiency too. However, when I had a convo with someone in the FB group....they were really quite strongly insistent that I was mistaken. Saying that I was either deficient (which I was at 109) or functionally deficient...but could not be both. This seemed illogical to me. What are your thoughts? Thought I had my head around it. Surely, it's possible, to be deficient, have your levels raised by injections, but then for whatever reason , have an issue converting it the other end??

[fbirder in reply to Portia1974]

My thoughts are that. There are some people on the FB groups who haven’t the faintest idea as to what they’re talking about.

[dianewilson1900 in reply to fbirder]

HI. Im in the EXACT same boat! My doctor is going by serum B 12 levels and I explained to him that it doesn't matter the amount of B 12 in your blood, but how well your body is UTILIZING it. He doesn't get it either and it's like talking to a brick wall. Yes, MMA tests and homocysteine tests are the way, but MMA tests are considered to be "The gold standard" here in the US. Really you should get both. In the US, they can do independent lab testing (at least in Illinois) and an MMA test is $95 and a homocysteine test is $65. And no, insurance doesn't cover it. So if your doctor doesn't want to order it, you are entitled to ask for a second opinion by another doctor. If the second doctor won't give you those tests, switch doctors or ask for an opinion by a third doctor. If you live in the US, you can legally do this! Or get independent lab trsting, but that's expensive. I'm getting an opinion from a second doctor too. He will only give me four injections then stop them citing my now high B 12 levels. Total bullshit. HE DOESN'T GET IT! Keep in mind with I dependent lab testing here in the US, you can order any test you any with no doctors order, but cannot have the results read to you. Your doctor has to do that. The rules may be diffenrt in other countries.

[dianewilson1900 in reply to fbirder]

Thank you. I got my vials of B 12 today and the pharmacy wrote the directions differently than what he prescibed. They wrote on the bottle to inject once a week for four weeks than once a month for six months. This sounds much accurate! I booked an appointment with a second doctor, as in getting a second opinion, because I feel my doctor is wrong on this issue. I want him to order the MMA and Homocysteine tests to buy he won't. Perhaps the other doctor will.

[dianewilson1900 in reply to fbirder]

Will an MMA and homocysteine tesy prove your body doesn't utilize B 12 correctly regardless of how high your B 12 level is? I just got two injections and my B 12 is now 1107. Won't these injections skew the homocysteine and MMA test resutls or does my current B 12 levels not matter?

[fbirder in reply to dianewilson1900]

If your body doesn’t utilise B12 correctly despite high levels in the blood then MMA and hCys tests will show high levels.

If your body does utilise B12 correctly then the injections will skew the results to give low levels of MMA and hCys.

[dianewilson1900 in reply to fbirder]

Thank you, thats what I thought from everything I read, I just wanted to be sure. Sorry I didn't help you with your question when you asked how can you prove to your doctor your body doesn't utilize B 12 correctly. I didn't give a straightforward answer because I wasn't entirely sure and didn't want to give faulty advice, but I DID read Your post and sympathise with you. I'm trying to prove to my doctor my body doesn't utilize B 12 correctly either. We should go order a pizza and go bowling sometime LOL..😂😂😂😂

[KEFNB in reply to fbirder]

I had low B12 when not taking an oral, sub-lingual B12 supplement and my Mean Corpuscular Volume was elevated. When I was taking 2,000 mg daily of sublingual B12, my blood level of B12 was over 2,000, but I was still exhausted and suffering the often-quoted symptoms and my MCV was elevated at 102. MMA was not tested.

Taking B12 subcutaneously now (not IM) every four days for approximately a year now , my symptoms are much improved-even gone.

I think if I had my MMA tested now, with the injections the level will be normalized