Hello all,
I have “spells” of vertigo which I usually chalk up to sinus congestion or chronic ear problems. I injected 2 days ago, not having had any vertigo prior for a few months. The vertigo started within 12 hours of the hydroxy injection and is quite severe now 48 hours later. Could this be a side effect of the injection? Thanks for reading this…(I am familiar with the Epley maneuver but am too dizzy to even get in the position I need to do this). I am lying on my side in bed typing this.
I hate vertigo and have just had a couple of days of it myself.
Normally B12 helps, but... Could it be possible that you are a bit low in folate? It always causes it if I am low.
I'm just thinking that if you were a bit low and then had a dose of B12, as that spun into action it might use up a bit more B9 as it set to work, and just be enough to drop your levels enough to set off the vertigo.
I was recommended Cinnarizine 15mg, marketed as Stugeron 15 in the UK, by a Dr and it's brilliant! A few doses has always got it under control, for which I'm hugely grateful. I tend to up my folate at the same time to try to cure the problem as well as sorting out the ear imbalance.
I hope you feel better soon.
Funny you mention that, Denise. I started reading about folate deficiency after I posted about the vertigo. I have genetic defects that affect my methylation with B vitamins in general, but I have been slowly upping my folate intake. I stopped eating green leafy vegetables when diagnosed with gastroparesis as I don't digest raw foods well. A couple months ago, I bought some romaine lettuce and gently steamed that (sounds kind of awful doesn't it?) and I am eating it every day. Kind of tastes like steamed spinach. I can't eat many greens as my gut doesn't like cruciferous veggies (FODMAPS), or other leafies with high oxalates, but I seem to be handling the romaine pretty well. There isn't that much folate in it, but it is better than nothing. I am also taking small doses of sub-lingual folinic acid (had trouble with folic acid). Hopefully I am making gains in my folate levels. My last test was 6.1 with 4.5 being the low range. So, yes, my folate level needs to go up. Hopefully the steps I am taking are helping.
I hate wasting things, especially food, and quite often cook lettuce!
Sometimes I just add it to stews and that sort of thing but I also zap it in the microwave (minimal loss of nutrients as I don't use water) or, if my oven is going anyway, I put it in there and turn it fairly regularly until it dries out and goes crispy, like dried herbs. I can then mix it into things, including tomato sauces, etc!
What about asparagus? That's packed full of folate. I like green peas as an alternative source too.
Whatever... I just so hope you can get over the vertigo soon!
It's usually worse in the mornings for me and I can often gradually head it off during the day, especially with the Cinnarizine. Good luck!
Try sautéed Kale maybe? It's low enough in oxalates after you cook it and a whole lot more nutritional value than lettuce. I'm vegan and I never eat lettuce, I mean literally never aha, I find it tasteless and watery and in nutritional terms its pretty useless. Kale, Broccoli or Bok Choi or Italian Cabbage (Cavolo Nero) are the leafy greens to go for if you can in terms of nutritional value. Kale, Spinach and Bok Choi (leaves) all cook down to much smaller size ( so its easier to eat more of them than raw) if you sautée them on a medium-high heat for a short time (5-10 mins) and you wont lose that much nutritional value but oxalates will be much reduced. Add some garlic, ginger, then salt or chili to taste and they're great!
Spinach is pretty high oxalate though so I dont have more than once or twice a week.
I eat alot of those exact greens every day. However, my folate is always low. Can't fathom it.
Sorry to hear that Yahaci! guess there are absorption issues going on. Taking additional folate/folic acid on top of that?
Not yet. I am presently working on improving b12, then will suplement with folic acid. I did try folate, but it makes me feel insane, as did methylcobalamin.
I read somewhere that some people excrete it if they go to the loo alot. Which I do on account of diabetes.
I am trying folate in food and folinic acid as a supplement (low dose) which I do better with than folic acid. Folic acid and methyl folate made me insane as well. Turns out I don’t do well with methyl groups. I first tried methylcobalamin as well. Doing much better on hydroxy but, I still think, I have unwanted side effects. Seems like we have similar methylation problems. We just have to keep trying. I, too, got a head start with B12. Have only used folinic acid for 3-4 months and trying food based folate. Hopefully I will see an improvement. My B12 improved markedly, fast, and I started low and slow. Best of luck.
Thanks for your suggestions. I used to tolerate kale, bok choy and spinach. They are all cruciferous and aggravate my SIBO and IBS. I know they much more nutritious than lettuces but I was surprised at the nutrients in romaine. Certainly not as good as those you name but better than none! Denise, I do try asparagus occasionally but generally don’t do too well with it. (withholding TMI! 🫤)High FODMAP if only a few spears. I suspect like Yahaci I have malabsorption as I struggle greatly with unresolved SIBO. I just keep trying new stuff. I am impressed you are informed about oxalate, Technoid. Many have not heard of them
Sending you lots of sympathy! Sounds like it could be BPPV. I had it several times & it was the worst. They were pre-B12 so i do wonder if deficiency might make it more likely. I hope you feel better soon!
I hate when i get vertigo so sympathise with you. The feeling of nausea and disorientation is horrid. Is it worth checking your iron and vit D? These also make mine worse when low. Although not relevant to everyone or maybe you i also found hormone fluctuating made mine worse which might be something for others to think about
I'm just going to give you my sincere sympathy. Vertigo is the worst. I've had it for days at a time. Doctors always blamed it on fluid in my ear. Now I know it's PA. I can't offer any other suggestions except to do these eye exercises.
I feel so bad for you. I had to get antinausea shots. I hope your feel better soon. Good luck
EllaNore, I have a stiff, painful neck so sometimes the traditional exercises are hard for me to do as they require hyper- extension. I may see if these work or mix them with the more exaggerated neck extension maneuvers. Thank you.
I've never tried there's myself. I've never seen this before today. I've googled vertigo treatment for years, but never saw this so I hope it works. Good luck. Hope you feel better soon.
I am so sorry you are having vertigo. I have dealt with it myself for 22 yrs. Some times both ears but more in my right ear when laying down on my right side. So, you may find one side better than the other. B12 sublingual helped sometimes but the cyanocobalamin injections seem to have stopped it. I used this 👇 method in the past with immediate but temporary results.
youtube.com/watch?v=mQR6b7C...
Carol Foster MD Vertigo Treatment
I hope you feel better soon.
Thank you for the visual aid! It was quite a “trip” getting out of bed this am.
You're welcome. You certainly have my sympathy. I hope you find relief soon!
Hello! I have had two severe vertigo attacks caused by inflammation due to my first covid vaccine and allergy injections separated by ten years ( helped by prednisone). I suffer from milder vertigo attacks brought on by vestibular migraines. My neurologist says they are more common during peri menopause. I didn’t have them until the past couple of years and someone on this forum suggested vestibular migraines as a possible cause. Seems they were right.
It has never been my experience for vertigo to be a side effect of a b12 injection though in the beginning they were difficult to tolerate. I had headaches and felt bad enough to stay in bed, but I never had vertigo. I did have some pretty bad dizziness and vertigo when my b12 was too low when I discontinued injections, but I’m certain it was because I was suffering from anemia.
I have found the opposite to be true for me-better b12 levels have resulted in fewer headaches though I still receive aggressive treatment for migraines, but they are better controlled.
Best of luck to you. I hope that you find some tools that help you deal with vertigo.
mcg-woo,
Well; I am way past menopause so that’s not an issue. I am going to read up on vestibular migraines. My real suspicion is sinus/ear congestion as I kind of cycle through this with accompanying vertigo. This is pretty bad though. I just wondered about the injection causing it because that is the day it started.
Thank you.
Good luck to you. I hope you find the cause and get some relief. I’ve also had sinus issues. I had two sinus surgeries and they were life-changing. Vertigo is awful. I feel for you.
I had three sinus surgeries in the mid-90’s. They have “expired” now I think but the docs are not eager to do any more as they say it would require “major reconstruction. “ I try very hard to avoid allergens and other triggers and use nasal irrigation daily. I am managing to get by. During the course of those pre and post surgery infections I developed a host of antibiotic allergies or sensitivities so I am very keen to avoid infection at all times.
Wow, you have been through it! I’m sorry to hear it but I really hope you find some relief from the vertigo. It really is a debilitating condition and absolutely horrifying to experience. I have only had it severe enough twice that it completely incapacitated me. I was not able to move to even get up and go to the doctor. Luckily, my allergist called in medication to help and the most recent experience—I used telehealth. I was able to get up with 2 hours of taking it. For less severe vertigo/dizziness, I use zofran and antivert. I keep rescue prednisone rx on hand just in case I have a severe case that incapacitates me. There is definitely a correlation between the equilibrium and vertigo. I suffer from motion sickness quite easily. Best of luck and I hope you feel better soon!
Question: when you say the surgeries have expired, does that mean that you no longer benefit from them and things don’t work properly again? I didn’t realize this could happen?
Well, "the surgeries have expired" is my way of saying that after all these years, the polyps are coming back and my sinus openings are starting to close again. It has been 30 years and I am 68 and have allergies since birth. I had severe sinus disease for years exacerbated by teaching kindergarten. (little germ bombs) Thus, one infection after the other and early retirement after 3 surgeries failed to keep me clear. Retirement from little kids helped more than the surgeries.
One of my main symptoms of PA was vertigo. It was really bad for 2 years before my diagnosis. When I had my loading injections - 6 over 2weeks then repeated 2 weeks later, my vertigo started to reduce. After many months of SI b12 EOD my vertigo stopped. Recently I had food poisoning and I was back to square 1. SI EOD as my vertigo amongst all my previous problems had returned. In my own personal experience having Vertigo means my b12 is too low again. I take folic acid tabs around 3 times a week but do eat alot of folic rich foods too. This is my own personal experience, i know living with vertigo is horrible and embarrassing especially when you tumble over in public by just looking up or down or going on tip toes in a supermarket for example when reaching up to a shelf to grab something.
I had bad vertigo at least twice during my severe deficiency period and it took days to clear. The same genius who prescribed the B12 dosage that exacerbated my neurological symptoms thought that my vertigo was a viral infection. He said it was "common". Now I think he probably had quite a lot of undiagnosed B12-deficient patients LOL. It did reappear some months back but subsided much more quickly.
It's my understanding that vertigo is a fairly common symptom of B12 deficiency. I was diagnosed with "vertigo NOS" a few years before being diagnosed with B12 deficiency. After the B12 deficiency was diagnosed, I underwent the blood-symptom regimen of B12 treatment, which was ineffectual. By then I had done enough reading to know that very little research underlies any of the B12 treatment regimens. In skimming the poor-quality reseach that does exist, it seemed to me that, generally speaking, patients who received more B12 generally do better than patients who received less B12, and patients who received B12 more frequently did better than patients who received B12 less frequently. Also, I learned that B12 is not toxic at any level. I told my doctor I wished to inject B12 daily, and he got a bit grumpy but didn't fight me on it. I have now been self-injecting daily for a bit over a year. The most noticeable symptoms of vertigo (the motion symptoms) have resolved. I believe I am still making slow progress with balance symptoms.
PS: If you go to Google Scholar, a search engine for research databases, and enter "B12 deficiency vertigo ", you will come up with several articles.
I myself suddenly got a pacemaker lately, and it turned out that some of the symptoms I had been attributing to B12 deficiency suddenly went away. I hope that you are able to find doctors who are able to collaborate on diagnosis and treatment, and that you find substantial relief soon.
it’s so great when we actually find the root of a problem. In your case, a heart problem. Medical problems are so complex and inter-connected. It’s a wonder that anyone actually feels good all the time. My husband is 68, and has no chronic issues at all. He has taken medication less than five times in his whole life. He is so blessed.
I would have vertigo twice a year before the b12 deficiency was diagnosed. I haven’t had it since. It’s horrible and yes debilitating.
B12 Injections - side effects
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B12 injection side effects
Side effect of B12 injections. 
Side effects of B12 injections 
