No more B12 injections

[Jessie8]

Hi everyone,

I went back to my GP loaded with all the information from BNF and NiCE guidelines to see what she would say face to face.

This didn’t go so well...

She said that she knows there is a lot of conflicting information out there and that the NHS are looking to stop injections completely!!! She went on to tell me that patients will be given high dosage tablets instead. When questioned about how most people don’t absorb this through tablets she just shrugged her shoulders.

This completely baffles me! Surely they can’t do this?

Has anyone else heard anything as ridiculous as this?

[Gambit62 Administrator]

there are, I believe some large scale studies going on that are trying high dose oral because it has been shown to be effective for significant numbers of people, eg in Canada. However, I am not aware of any plans to change guidelines to using high dose oral, so they should really still be treating you with injections. If the surgery is partaking in one of the studies it should be following protocols on medical research which would mean inviting you to take part in the study and giving you information to make an informed decision on whether or not you wish to partake.

Perhaps you GP would be interested in this article if she thinks that everyone is able to use high dose

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/284...

Suggest that you contact the PAS directly - you may need to join - and see if they can help you to get further

pernicious-anaemia-society....

pernicious-anaemia-society....

[deniseinmilden]

It's mad, isn't it! Sad so say, it's not the daftest thing either.

Good luck with trying to get it sorted and come back if you want more help.

[Frodo]

If they are planning to stop injections, which may be true, it will be to save money and nurse appointments, and because the people in charge of the money do not 'believe' in vitamins and know nothing about B12 deficiency/Pernicious Anaemia. I have heard one of those people describe all vitamins as 'expensive pee'. Once all treatment is oral it will not be available on prescription and you will have to buy it yourself otc I should think, like many other medicines now.

[bquoss]

Hello, jessie8. I think this issue needs watching. Here in the U.S. the National Insitutes of Health now posts a long list of studies showing oral B12 is fine, even for pernicious anemia. That makes the U.S., British Columbia, and 1 other country the only ones making that claim in official documents. But if you check the studies, you find that they measure improvement only by blood levels of B12. PA patients need to be informed when their doctors are not!

[Irismay]

Hi - yes my GP stopped my b12 injections as she said they are being phased out.

[MariLiz]

This is extremely worrying, it seems totally mad, given how bad the symptoms of untreated PA are! I guess we will all be learning how to self inject if this happens?