Is it normal to Feel worse? I just started taking 1000 mcg cyanocobalamin to correct my deficiency as advice by my Doctor, but i Feel way worse. It has only been four days.
I Feel completely flat emotionally. I have struggled with low moods, but now my emotions are non existant. I cant Feel anything. I am just bored and empty all the time. This scares me on a logical level, because i cant really Feel scared.
I have been feeling restless before injections, but now i have restless legs and arms so bad i cant sleep at all. My legs also hurt.
My tinnitus is also way worse and i have stomach pain and cramps.
Is this normal? I specially dont like losing emotions.
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Sofa00
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The b12 is waking the nerves up, most probably because you have been deficient for a while, and over that time the nerves had gone to sleep. There are lots of people who say the same thing, it's a rollercoaster recovery.To get nerves to function properly they have to come back to life and heal. All I can advise is continue with treatment, relax , try and find something to distract your thoughts (or even post on here) and gradually things will subside.
I bet you think ... easier said than done .... your right
It can possibly, the feeling of dread and actually being scared all mount up, and can lead to depression. I will try and give you more details below, the biggest hurdle at the moment is that you have never experienced this before, panic and anxiety sets in.
I will try to explain, it happened to me 15 years ago, and my partner in the last few months.
When starting treatment B12 can really affect every part of your body, the most difficult part is understanding why! Why am I getting pain here, legs crawling , brain not functioning normally. Your body is coming alive.
How do I handle the bad times.
The one most difficult is the overwhelming feeling of doom. My partners forehead would be come sweaty and I could see he was going into a anxious/panicky phrase. I would tell him to tell me about it, explain what you are feeling etc., and then gradually I would change the subject to distract him from the feeling. After 15 minutes or so, I would say are you O.K. ... yes .... suddenly that feeling went, over time maybe two weeks these episodes got less and less, and now he doesn't experience the emotional side, unfortunately just the nerve issues in the legs.
The nerves take time to heal, they will eventually.
If you get these feelings talk to someone, even come on here and let's us know, deep breaths and a good sigh....distract yourself..... it will pass
Best wishes, we are all behind you willing you on.
I would just like to add to this... that at this time I felt no emotions at all, I couldn't cry or anything like that.... it wasn't until I recovered enough and I sat in the Garden and I cried so much that it seemed all my emotions were suddenly being released.... the most embarrassing thing was my neighbour was outside at the time and suddenly he disappeared in doors.
I seem to be able to feel bad emotions, but no good emotions. The anhedonia is really bad.
Is it normal that all this gets worse in the beginning? I have never felt this bad before and i dont know what is happening. I am so scared i will never feel again.
You will recover, your emotions are all over the place, within a few weeks things will begin to settle down, after this period you might experience the occasional off day but pretty sure in time you will cope a whole lot better.Take time out and try not to force yourself to do things you cant handle at the moment.
If you are really not able to cope please ring your doctor, anti depressants will help you over the first phase of recovery.
So depression and anhedonia worsening is normal? It is really bad right now. Never felt like this. I just Feel so down with no possibility to get up. It seems like all my emotions have been shut off.
I quit the oral cyanocobalamin. Only took it five days because i felt so bad and it also made me really restless. It is three days without it now and i still Feel really bad, and i keep getting worse.
I also have more nerve pain now that i Did not have before.
Please be assured Sofa00 it is not uncommon for some symptoms to appear to get worse before they get better as the B12 starts repairing the damage the deficiency has caused to the nerve endings. Take it as a good sign - hard though it may seem.
So depression and anhedonia worsening is normal? It is really bad right now. Never felt like this. I just Feel so down with no possibility to get up. It seems like all my emotions have been shut off.
I quit the oral cyanocobalamin. Only took it five days because i felt so bad and it also made me really restless. It is three days without it now and i still Feel really bad, and i keep getting worse.
I also have more nerve pain now that i Did not have before.
Was that taken before the B12 treatment was started?
"Folate, with vitamin B12, is essential for DNA synthesis, which is required for normal red blood cell maturation." - in other words the two work together with iron to make red blood cells
If your diet contains lots of "greens" you should be OK
There is a complex interaction between folic acid, vitamin B12 and iron. A deficiency of one may be "masked" by excess of another so the three must always be in balance. .
Initially, replacing B12 will lead to a huge increase in the production of blood cells and platelets (which occurs in the bone marrow) and can lead to rapid depletion of folate and iron stores; this can then limit the expected recovery of Haemoglobin. Both iron and folate may be needed so please have these levels checked by your doctor.
Are you having the supplement by tablet or injection? If tablets ask gp for injection. If injection persevere, it will get better or ask for hydroxocobalamin injections rather than cyanocobalamin. Hope you feel better soon.
Sofa00, I went through this exact same journey, the same fears, the same flare up of pain, the depression for which I normally never have, minus the tinnitus. This is all normal to have the depression, brain fog and the neurological symptoms flare up. I too had anxiety about never feeling good again and worried it would only just keep getting worse.
As I started injecting daily, about two months into it, I ended up in intense pain all over my body radiating from the bones for about a month and a half. But this is normal. As the nerve cells stopped reproducing due to the lack of b12, now they will start reproducing because you have B12. B12 is required for cell production. It will all go away and you will start feeling sooo much better. Just hang in there and be good to your self. Don't be afraid to reach out to us here and know that you are not alone.
I hope you have a lovely caring doctor to help you through a difficult period.
Do you mind me asking which country you are in?
The reason I'm asking is that patterns of treatment vary between countries and the type of B12 used can vary. Knowing which country you are in might help people to post the most relevant info.
B12 deficiency can have a huge effect on mental health.
I'm in UK so some info I post is specific to UK.
It's possible that some links may have details that could be upsetting.
PAS (Pernicious Anaemia Society)
Based in Wales, UK. Has some members in other countries.
If you are having injections or pills, are they methylcobalamin?
Methylcobalamin makes me feel - and I do not mean to any disrespect by using this term but it makes me feel bat shit crazy. And I am not alone. I am so sensitive to it that once I bought a spray that was supposed to have no methyl in it. And I could literally feel it, turned the bottle and voila it was in there.
I was always on cyanocobalamin and thought I would give another source a try - ummm no. Every single body processes things differently, obviously some feel good on it. So it could literally be the source or a filler. And it could be any source change might produce a better effect. Ie. Maybe one is on cyanocobalamin but feels better on hydroxocobalamin etc.
(I also tried hydroxocobalamin, and while it did not affect me adversely mentally, it did have other adverse effects for me.)
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