Many people on this forum have said that B12 injections made their symptoms worse. Neuropathy became exacerbated. To understand why this happens, we have to go to the synaptic cleft, or the connection between neurons. When a neuron is damaged due to B12, B1, or B6 vitamin deficiencies, the neuron no longer fires a signal. As a result, you may feel numbness in the feet or hands. The neurons in the affected network compensate for this weak or absent signals by increasing the number of neurotransmitter receptors. With more receptors, neurons attempt to restore the signals to normal. When you start B12 (or B-complex) injections, the vitamins start to heal and "awaken" the sluggish or dormant neurons. But with the extra receptors in the neuron connections (synaptic cleft), over-firing occurs. It is necessary to wait for the neurons to down regulate the excess of receptors. In this case, the B12 injections have started to heal the damaged neurons myelin sheath, but the neural network in which the healed neuron is in, is in a super sensitive state (with extra receptors), so the patient may feel pain or other unpleasant sensations.
I saw a video on YouTube where this lady explains her symptoms and how even after her B12 injections, her symptoms continued to get worse. Her name is Nora England and I think her story can be encouraging to many who are starting with the injections.
I was shocked at how similar her symptoms where to mine.
I knew I read an explanation for why nerve signals seemed to be amplified when treatment starts. But I'd totally forgotten the proposed reason. That makes total sense.
The ANA association provides some diagrams about addiction to various substances and how the "post synaptic neuron" adjust to changes. In that case they mention serotonin. I don't have the exact references right now but I'll look for them. There are various theories about this a this is one of them. I don't know which one to accept. What is for sure is that you can have a reaction to the B-vitamin injection that is the exact opposite of what you expect and I am a witness to that. On my very first infusion, I walk out of the doctor's clinic expecting to get all this super energy and I thought I was going to have a wonderful day. I also expected my neuropathy to die off within hours. That same day I got very dizzy and felt worse that I had been the previous days, and I had a sleepiness attack unlike anything I had before, just like Nora England in the video above I posted. I drove home and took a second shower to "wake myself up" and while I was showering I was gasping for air. I also started feeling tingling and pins and needles that I had not felt before. My only complaint was burning in my feet. On my last two visits to my doctor I spoke to them about that and they rejected the idea that the shots caused my new symptoms. This is one of those things that is not in the medical literature. The only thing we have is this website Healthunlocked and people like Nora England whose video I posted above and REALLY REALLY hope people are watching. This lady Nora left me shocked at how similar her symptoms are to mine. Anyway, she continued to get worse even after the shots. Going back to myself, Its been 3 weeks since I started the injections and I have not improved yet from my burning feet. I have noticed that occasionally, my feet are symptom free for about 20 seconds up to about 1 min. During this short period I felt no weakness at all. I thank God first of all to be able to feel even just 1 minute of relief. But I don't know if its the injections or something else that is working. I have not been gasping for air anymore and the dizziness is a little down, so I thank God for that too. I've noticed that my symptoms are intermittent, rather that continuos. I will be posting this question on this website to see if anybody else has had the same experience.
However, there was one user here on this website that started feeling worse but never followed up on that. That was 3 years ago. I hope we hear from him/her again as that left me worried. He's feet numbness turned into feet burning that kept him awake at night. That was the most unique case I've seen here and we don't know how it unfolded. One of the website administrators said that when the neurons awaken up, you feel numbness turn into pain. I saw another person on this website complaining of titinnus (ear ringing) after the shots.
Actually, those responses sound similar to what I had when I tried injecting methylcobalamin instead of my normal hydroxocobalamin.
A few people have reported negative effects from methylcobalamin. The suspicion is that some people with a mutation that affects a neurotransmitter (possibly in the COMT gene) can feel quite horrible when a strong methylating agent is introduced to the body.
Thank you. I'm awaiting first maintenance injection . After the the first 6 over 2 weeks I was worse. Am hoping next injection gives less symptoms and more energy. As just not able to function at present with exhaustion and light sensitivity.
Within 1 hour from my first shot I started feeling worse. Within 4 hours I got a sleepiness attack unlike any I've had before. It was like general anesthesia. This sleepiness attack is similar to the one Nora England experienced after her first shot on the video I posted above. Please watch her video, its very reassuring, specially for me since her symptoms where almost identical to mine.
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