Overcoming B12 deficiency

[andy109]

I have been taking B12 shots once or twice a week since last two months. After over a week without shots my deficiency symptoms return. I am wondering if this is normal? I thought the shots gets stored in the body.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi andy109 a "normal" person has several years store of B12 in their liver and as this gets "used" it is replenished from eating foods such as meat, fish, seafood, eggs, and dairy produce.

Imagine a car battery. If the alternator which "trickle charges" the battery whilst the engine is running ceases to work the battery will drain and the car will stop. The battery then needs to be recharged by giving it a boost.

If for one of many reasons we stop absorbing B12 the "trickle charge" from our food then this has to be boosted - hence the injections.

That you feel the need for more frequent injections is not uncommon and a lot will depend on how long you were deficient.

Do you know what your Folate level is?

I am not a medically trained person but I've had Pernicious Anaemia (one of many causes of B12 deficiency) for more than 46 years.

I wish you well.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

if you have a B12 absorption problem then unlikely that you could use stores even if they were replenished by shots, which means you are more or less dependent on the amounts sloshing around in your blood.

High serum B12 following shots can play havoc with the efficiency of the mechanism that transfers B12 from blood to cells with the result that many of us need to maintain ridiculously high B12 levels to make sure enough gets through to cells so processes there can run properly.

You are not alone in needing shots more frequently than monthly.

[dianewilson1900 in reply to Gambit62]

Great response. My B 12 levels are normal. The last I checked in other 27, 2018 it was like 849! It doesn't matter what my B 12 serum level is. My symptoms always return approximately 14 days after I inject. For me, that's when the injection wear off. But I'm also taking Metformin and a PPI and have gastirtis. Could this be eating up the B 12 I inject or does all of bypass the GI tract? I have IBS too...

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to dianewilson1900]

Dianewilson1900, as you are on injections the metformin and PPI will make no difference as your B12 isn't coming from your gut. Some research I have read in the past suggest that whilst metformin may cause problems absorbing b12 in the gut it may also make processing of B12 more efficient after it has got into your blood