I've been self injecting hydroxycobalamin daily and sometimes twice daily for more than 2 years. Recently I found my iron levels were very low so I started taking Ferro-Tab daily also. I suppose I've been doing that for a couple of months now. I also take 5 mg of folic acid daily, plus a mega-B complex, yet as soon as I try to do moderate exercise - 20 minutes daily, I am wiped out the next day. I've tried to do 2 days in a row this week and it has failed. I am on thyroid replacement hormones, take a heap of supplements, but am so frustrated over not being able to exericse. I am a long standing diabetic and need the exercise for cardio health, so it's quite important.
Can anybody suggest what might be the problem? It seems that I am not building up any stores of B12.
Thank you.
Written by
LadyNZ
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are you sure that the problem really is B12 - could be thyroid - and possible that you may be undermedicated - particularly if TSH is being used as the only measure of how well you are responding to medication.
I have a similar problem LadyNZ and, like you, my TSH is low. I normally inject B12 every other day, but change to every day if I've been overdoing anything. It does seem fairly usual for those with PA/B12def. to find their symptoms return after exercise or undergoing stress and I believe Dr Chandy warns of this on his B12def.org. website.
Research also suggests that those who regularly exercise intensively have higher B12 and folate requirements and can be functionally deficient in B12 even with normal or high B12 levels:
There are also interesting references and links to athleticism/exercise/neurological illness in the book, " Vitamin B12 Deficiency and Chronic Illness', and, apparently, MND in the US is now treated with very high doses of B12.....
Personally, I find walking a more gentle way of exercising and keeping BP and heart healthy - keep meaning to take up Yoga again as sure this might also help?
I would cut the folic acid down from 5000 mcg to 400 mcg a day.
There’s no doubt that some people find fatigue a problem, no matter how much B12 they take.
They key is to build up very slowly. If 20 minutes of moderate exercise is leaving you exhausted then don’t do it. Try walking. Increase the distance and/or speed. Slowly.
Before I became obviously deficient I could walk all day carrying many kilos of camera gear. Before I started treatment I could hardly walk for three minutes without needing a rest. After I started the distance got up to about 100m. Very slowly I built it up, walking at least 10 times a week (having two dogs made that fairly easy). Now I can walk for several hours before I get wiped out.
But if I try something very energetic (moving a few fence panels) I still need to stop and sit down for five minutes.
I have a similar issue with exercise, and like fbirder, I used to be very physically active. My thyroid levels are fine. I inject B12 weekly, take folate; I don't take iron other than what's in my multi because my ferritin levels were a touch on the high side last blood test.
Although I don't meet the criteria for ME/CFS (no pain, swollen glands...just fatigue), I am starting to experiment with their guidelines on exercise, which is basically VERY light, especially to start out, and trying to keep my heart rate under 104 (they recommend 96) even when exercising. I bought a fitness tracker to help monitor my heart rate and heart rate variability. I'm still early in the experiment...can't say yes or no yet whether this will allow me to exercise at a steady, if reduced, basis.
I definitely sympathise! I have to work and when I lost a lot of my cognitive function I had to do more physical work as I couldn't cope with purely mentally challenging things and find it hard.
I inject 1.5mg hydroxocobalamin daily and need at least 3 mg (usually much more) of folate a day.
Most people do fine on folic acid but for me it must be methylfolate with my hydroxocobalamin. For a few months I was only using 1ml hydroxocobalamin and was topping up with methylcobalamin sublinguals and then I could get away with folic acid. A few people need folinic acid to be well.
( Sorry, I have accidentally included a link to PollyMoly Polly Moly - this site often misfunctions).
I completely agree with Polaris and suggest that you ask the extremely kind and knowledgeable people on the thyroid forum for help but I also suggest that you consider other vitamins and minerals.
The processes of DNA synthesis, energy release and nerve function that all use B12 also use many other vitamins and minerals. If any of these are in short supply, their deficiency will limit the rate at which the processes happen.
The ones that are in greatest demand alongside the B12 are folate, potassium, magnesium and iron but there are many others too.
You could well benefit from changing your B-Complex to a broad spectrum multivitamin and mineral supplement (which will include everything that's in your B-Complex but will also supply the other things that you need) plus your extra folate, with possibly extra potassium and magnesium as well as your iron.
I suggest you Google these to see the effects of deficiency and excess and to see what dietary sources you might like to eat and drink. There's a chance with every day injections that you might not get enough from food alone and supplementary sources are available.
The other thing that comes to mind is vitamin D. It would be worth getting this checked, at least to rule out another possible problem as some people's bodies lose the ability to make it and the symptoms are very similar to those of B12d - and it is needed with everything else to make the B12 work, even if in small amounts.
Please come back to me if you have any further questions.
Take MSM. It ompletes the methylation the B12 so it passes the blood brain barrier & can be used by the muscles. You can get it in a much cheaper form by purchasing it at any feed store in its natural state of pure white crystal form. Regardless of what the label says it's the same stuff we humans use. There will be weight/dose recommendations on the jug & you'll need to do some math to calculate your dose. They feed MSM to bovines& larger animals because basically you can't milk a cow that's too tired to stand, has worn joints or hasn't the sense to walk to the milk barn. The process also creates
Sam-E which lessens joint pain & fatigue.
It has no taste itself, but if two of the surfaces of your mouth contact on it, you have a signal in your brain that interprets it as a flavor, & that is truly nasty. I put it into clear juice or water in a very narrow shotglass or a skinny empty prescription bottle, swirl it & down it like a shot then add water to the glass & repeat till its all out of the glass. Then follow with clean water or juice to get the rest down out of my mouth. I was capsing it in 500 mgmt '00" capsules but it's easier to down it with juice for me.
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