Ordered the wrong amount of hydroxycobalamin

[Livemusicians]

I ordered 10ml ampules in 2mg instead of 1 ml in 1 ml. I’ve bought enough to last me a year. The site was a chemist in Belgium so it was lost in translation!

I dont know whether I should just draw off 1ml from the 10ml and use it throwing the remainder away obviously? Any advice will be most welcome thanks.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Personally I would do as you say and dispose of the rest as it may become contaminated once opened and stored for any length of time. Better safe than sorry.

I'm not a medically trained person

[Livemusicians]

Thanks for that. Being that it is 10mls in 2mls And not 1 ml in 1 ml makes me wonder whether it might be stronger than the correct ampule?

[Foggyme Administrator]

Hi Livemusicians. About the dosage of B12 in your ampoules... not quite clear what you're saying about the dosage and volume in the ampolues that you've bought (10mls x 2mg, then later 10mls in 2mls).

The ml (millilitre) value refers to the volume of liquid that the B12 is suspended in and the mg (milligram) value refers to the actual dose of B12 contained in the ampoule). So...

I suspect that you may have bought is 10mg in 2mls (that is, 10mg of vitamin B12 suspended in 2mls of fluid, in each ampoule). If so, then yes...the ampoules contain a higher dose of B12 than you usually buy (carried in a different volume of liquid too).

If you have bought 10mg in 2mls (best to check), then...

To get a dose of 1mg of B12 (assuming 1mg is your usual dose and that's what you want) you will need to draw up and inject 0.2mls (millilitres) out of the 2ml ampoule (0.2mls = 1mg B12).

It's a very small amount to draw up so you'll need either a 1ml syringe in order to measure such a small amount accurately (1ml syringes are a lot thinner and longer and enable measurements in gradations of 0.0ml up to 1ml).

And as clivealive says...ampoules are for single injection use only so any B12 not used immediately upon opening should be discarded (contamination, risk of infection etc.).

Good luck...

👍

[deniseinmilden]

I think you ought to give us more specific information from the packet because it could also be a 2mg (dose) in 10 ml (volume), in which case you would need 5ml volume to get a 1mg standard dose.

In that case you could do either two jabs of 2.5ml volume (very slowly) or three jabs if 1.6ml volume at the time that you open the vial to give you a total of the 5ml needed (if that is the case) and then I too would discard the remaining dose in the vial and open a new one next time.

Looking it up I have found both 2 mg in 10 ml cyanocobalamin and 10 mg in 2 ml methylcobalamin are available so feel we should not advise you on guesses.

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to deniseinmilden]

Good point deniseinmilden 😉.

Livemusicians , please can you clarify. Do you have:

10mg B12 in 2mls OR

2mg B12 in 10mls.

👍

[Livemusicians]

Hi Foggyme typical foggy brain that’s me! Yes it is 10mg in 2mls - I think at the end of the day I’m just going to put it down to my inexperienced first purchase - and keep it for emergencies only - keeping an eye on the expiry date of course. Thanks for your very helpful information and as I said it will be useful should I need to use it in an emergency. I’ve come across the same manufacturer as my GP prescribes on German Amazon so I’m hoping that I will be able to buy that on a regular basis.

[Foggyme Administrator in reply to Livemusicians]

Excellent...that's that sorted then 🙃.

Foggy brain...Foggyme too 🙄😄.

B12 deficiency can be quite complex so post again if you need more help or support. Lots of lovely knowledgeable members here who are always happy to help.

Good luck 😄

[Cetus]

Livemusicians Out of interest, which vendor in Belgium did you buy from?

Judging by the mesages here on HealthUnlocked, I thought Germany was the usual place to buy from.