Its been about 2 weeks since I finished my loading doses and ever since then, symptoms have appeared and worsened. Since yesterday, I have had lower back pain and it hurts to walk on. I have a 30 min walk to school so thats at least an hour of walking on it a day and is becoming more painful. I have a doctors appointment in 6 days. Do I complain about possible neurological symptoms as I have some of those too ? What do you think ? Thanks for any replies.
Did your symptoms initially improve with the loading doses and then worsen when stopped, or worsened since the loading dose started?
Many of us find our symptoms worsen once the treatment starts before they get better. Your whole system is readjusting and repairing, other things may be getting depleted because processes are restarting after a long time, important to get good nutrition.
It would be good to get your back pain checked. It may not be a neurological or B12 thing, but something that can be sorted with strengthening and physio, you may have just done something to aggravate it at around the time your injections started.
Oh it's good to hear that the injections improved things. That the symptoms reappeared once the injections stopped might well suggest that more injections are needed! It could also just be part of the healing process, perhaps. Best to keep a diary of your symptoms so the doctors can see clearly.
Many of us find that the only way to keep symptoms at bay is to have frequent injections. Doctors find it hard to understand because theoretically our bodies should store B12 for months or years and the amount given in the injections should sustain us for a long time.
Anyway, tell your doctor how your symptoms improved and then returned a week after the injections were stopped and see what he/she says. Continue to monitor your symptoms.
The current NICE guidelines say that where B12 deficiency has neurological involvement, the patient should continue with every other day loading injections until symptoms stop improving: cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anae... It also says that full recovery will typically take between 6 weeks to 3 months. You may want to share a print out with your doctor if you feel you need to continue with frequent injections.
All the best! It's great that you have found that B12 injections helped you, even if that was short lived. Now to see how to make that improvement continue!
Yeah, was just mentioning the timeframe in the guidelines, as that would suggest that the guidelines endorse every other day injections for that kinda timeframe for those with neurological symptoms.
Yeah, doctors may not want to see a diary of symptoms, but at least looking at it you have clarity about the progress and setbacks so can explain more easily when talking to them.
And yes, the main point is symptoms returned a week after injections stopped!
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.