B12 injections - ALWAYS wipes me out and chronic fuzziness

[User2020-1]

Hi all,

I was diagnosed low B12 (+ve IFA test) in November and received the loading doses (Folate, Iron and Ferritin levels were good) - they brought on a whole host of new symptoms, awful anxiety and headaches/fuzzy thinking alongside a desire to sleep constantly.

Given my only symptoms that made me go to GP in first instance were muscle twitching, tinnitus and sore tongue; I was absolutely devastated to encounter these ADDITIONAL, horrible symptoms AFTER receiving the B12 injections.....

Fast forward 2 weeks after loading doses and a flare up of symptoms prompted a difficult discussion with GP to persuade them to give another (7th) B12 injection in December - symptoms improved slightly for 2 months and I had to battle on another month until March injection (8th)...

I began to feel crap again at end of April and contacted GP but they refused to move to 2 monthly injections - I had to suffer for another 5 weeks...

Not willing to do that I plucked up the courage to start SI EOD from 2nd May.

I’ve now completed 11 SI’s and I can honestly say that I feel the worst yet - awful tiredness and fuzzy head, it’s having a huge impact on my days.

Reluctant to keep putting myself through this - has anyone any advice/similar experiences of SI with Hydroxo?

Note: I’m taking 5mg Folic Acid and B Complex

Thanks

[JanD236]

If your folate level was good there is no reason to take such a high dose of folic acid. Indeed some of the symptoms you describe could possibly be caused by this huge dose of folic acid.

Such a high dose should only be taken when prescribed by a doctor in order to correct a deficiency. I am aware that a particular Facebook group recommends such high doses but this isn’t based on any medical knowledge as far as I’m aware. This forum recommends that if you take folic acid 400mcg should be sufficient and also safe on the basis that this amount is recommended for pregnant women.

It may be that once you have eliminated folic acid as a possible cause of your symptoms you can then work on establishing an ongoing injection frequency regime that works for you.

[User2020-1 in reply to JanD236]

Thanks Jan - I’ll certainly try that

[wedgewood]

5 mg of folic acid is really excessive unless prescribed by a doctor. , and then only for a short time if you are extremely deficient .The amount the in a vitamin B complex tablet should be sufficient . So i suggest you leave out the 5 mg tablet , because it is known that overdosing B9 has bad side-effects , unlike B12 , which has none . Best wishes.