hi all.
On jab 3 in a week but it’s giving me pins and needles first thing in morning on awakening
i do not ever have these symptoms and my use of b12 is for energy and mental health boost.
what is going on? Do I need more? Was I low already I’ve not had bloods etc just decided to give my self a boost as water soluble everyone advises it’ll be in out quick.
Cheers.
Ps not strong pin needles can still type grip weights etc.
this is a « good » symptom that the nerves are healing. Any kind of pain is Very annoying, but if you think of them with a positive attitude, and exercise gently, assess a severity score, keeping a logbook, you may be able to monitor progress of your nerve repair. It is very slow over months and years and not day to day.
Pins and needles in my feet only developed a few weeks after I started treatment. Generally its just caused by life coming back into the nerves. The intensity of the pins and needles was very high at first but has slowly subsided, returning with exercise, although it has never entirely disappeared for me , 10 months on.
Hi,
Do you have a confirmed diagnosis of PA or B12 deficiency?
no. I use for increased energy and well-being.
if you are just taking the jabs because you think it is a healthy habit for you, I wonder if you need this much…I am of the belief that B12 shots can cause almost any symptom; I think how one reacts is dependent on genetics and/or other metabolic, nutrient deficiencies. I agree that you should stop the B12 for a while, and see what you are treating. While you can’t overdose on B12, you can cause an imbalance of other nutrients, which can be symptomatic.
How do you know you you were "low already" without any blood tests?
I would suggest stopping the jabs and arrange an appointment with your GP as other conditions can cause these symptoms.
The jabs will affect the outcome of the test results so may be better to leave some time between stopping the jabs and seeing your GP.
it’s only happening this week post injections
If you had no pins and needles before B12 jabs, and pins and needles after B12 jabs, the logical approach would be to stop the jabs and see if the pins and needles go away.
If you have no B12 deficiency, there should be no need for 3 jabs in a week??
thanks for feedback I will drop injections out and see if goes away. If so then the injections rate too high. Like I said it was minor pins needles and the massive increase in feeling s of positive and mental health improvement are super!!
It sounds like you might have some sort of B12 malabsorption and just chanced upon the right treatment. Too many injections will not cause pins and needles to appear (but too much B6 can). B12 is nontoxic even at very high doses.
While most B12 related blood tests will likely come back normal since you're SI, you can still get Intrinsic factor antibodies (IFAB) & Gastric parietal cell antibodies. If IFAB is positive, you have Pernicious Anemia. There are other causes of b12 deficiency (B12D), if you look through wedgewood 's replies, you can find a list of other causes.
Folate and vitamin D are also important to test.
I should clarify. As others said, pins & needles can appear in someone with b12 deficiency after they start injecting, as part of the reversal phenomenon: you temporarily get worse before getting better. Something likely having to with nerves misfiring while they regenerate.
But a healthy person, with no B12 deficiency but who injects B12 anyway, will not develop pins & needles as a side effect of "too much" B12. You can't overdose on B12.
Not sure why anyone would want to inject themselves just for the hell of it and specifically not with any health issues. Are you taking B6 too, that can cause pins and needles?
if you read my post properly you’d retract that stupid reply
I think what she was trying to ask is are you just getting B12 shots because you were tired and foggy? Is a physician giving the shots? If you’re not B12 deficient, there are other medical reasons that can make you tired and foggy such as thyroid conditions. Many people on this site have diagnosed deficiency or pernicious anemia and are truly struggling so don’t understand why people just take B12 for “energy” boosts since that’s more of a placebo effect.
I take them mainly for neurological psychiatric reasons. They help massively I feel seriously better so I’ll continue to treat myself. Btw I’m masters degree educated senior nurse so I am medically trained in many ways. The mental health treatment in uk in my view is poor so I’ve made a clinical decision to take matters in my own hand. I know b12 is water sol and virtually impossible to od on. The only thing I’m asking for any avoidance of doubt is are pins and needles thirst thing normal? That’s all. Im not here to be judged by ppl I have full autonomy over my own body and treatment routes I decide on as to others. Thanks. Great forum full of excellent knowledge keep it up everyone it’s helpfull. Depression is serious. I felt like taking my own life in the summer. I had to act.
Hi Carling,
Absolutely you should take your health into your own hands and as you know B12 helps tremendously with neuropsychiatric issues. I’m sorry of you felt attacked. We have similar backgrounds in education and careers so I understand. In my own experience, I also had increased pins and needles when I injected more due to being under an extreme amount of stress. I cut back my injections from daily to weekly and the pins and needles subsided. That was just my own experience and others may be different.
thanks xx I’m going thru a bit of a tough one at mo. Didn’t mean to hit out. I’m a nice guy really x
Definitely been there. Please reach out if you need to chat. It helps when others understand what you’re going through xo
First symptoms of B12 deficiency are often psychiatric. Research reports going back at least to the 1960s have described a range of psychiatric symptoms associated with B12 deficiency. Here is the url to just one, fairly recent, paper:
neuro.psychiatryonline.org/...
As described in the excellent article, "The Many Faces of Cobalamin (B12) Deficiency", there seem to be two populations of patients with B12 deficiency: they are people with blood symptoms, and people with nerve symptoms, and there seems to to be little overlap between the two groups. Lab test results for people with nerve symptoms often are in the normal range, making it difficult to diagnose B12 deficiency with nerve symptoms. The suggested diagnostic procedure when B12 deficiency symptoms are present, and lab test results are in the normal range, and symptoms are not explained by any other diagnosis, is to inject B12 (typically 1000mcg) every other day (the frequency varies a little from one source to another) r a couple of months and see if symptoms improve. If symptoms improve, diagnosis of B12 deficiency is confirmed. I am not medically trained, but this process is what it seems you have informally done, except for a comprehensive search for alternative diagnoses.
I think pinpointing the concern for your well-being as serious depression is helpful for us to understanding why you are doing this. No one is trying to hurt you. I, too, suffer from lifelong serious and intractable depression. I know what being seriously suicidal feels like. It is definitely no joke. Perhaps the wording of some replies hit you wrong, but I am certain that there was no mal-intent. I have very unusual reactions to my injections that I don’t always share as I have felt defensive about what I deem to be side effects, and I am told they are not. Sometimes we ask for opinions/help and then we take it in and go with our own gut. You clearly have the ability to do that. I have found that keeping detailed notes about reactions or symptoms on the days of. and following my injections helps me a lot. I have injected once, every 2-3 weeks for 14 months now. I am still “connecting the dots” but the pattern of what follows injections and my timing is becoming clearer. BTW, I think my depression, which is omni-present does improve on the days following my injections. I will not inject more because even more than a year in, I still get terrible insomnia for the first few days after which makes my depression much worse. It’s a balancing act of treatment timing and symptoms is so different for everyone. Take care!
Thankyou for your reply and feedback I will keep a diary
I think it will help though it took me almost a year to discern a pattern.
insomnia is horrible when it builds up. I don’t suffer it much thankfully. The parathesia is very very mild it’s not over concerning me.
EiCa, Would it be rude to ask which symptoms you get that people say can't be side effects of injecting? I'm probably guilty of it as well. I tend to get a bit of tunnel vision and lean heavily on my own experience, but I think we should all be open to others' experiences. I do realize some people can't inject as frequently as others but - no judgement against those people, it's my own issue - I struggle to work out the mechanism that would cause that. And probably why I dismiss or forget those experiences, which is no excuse! So if you're willing to share, I would be grateful to learn! 
A...Jade...I did not mean to be dismissive of the valuable advice and/or opinions I receive here. I value the advice and learning I get here. I hope I didn't come across rudely. I meant to encourage Carling to take it all in, and decide for himself, as I have always done.
For my whole long chronic illness journey, I have had to weigh opinions and advice and then decide for myself to accept it or not (or perhaps, just keep it as an option in my mind)
I have incessant insomnia, that has been exacerbated very badly by the B12 injections. I was so hesitant to start them at all because my trials w/ very small doses and types of B12 were so stimulating to my body. I keep detailed records of all the variables that can affect things like pain, sleep, digestion, and other psychiatric/nervous system problems. The pattern of exacerbated insomnia has not faded over time; sometimes it is worse than others but the second night is often worse than the first. (as in no sleep) I have had a lot of genetic testing done and my genes and body just don't metabolize the B vitamins as needed. I have several other genetic mutations as well that interfere with other nutrients. Perhaps combined, it is a lethal combination! I suspect so. I have the same problem with folate so I dose myself, inadequately, but enough to keep myself within range.
Depression, pain and digestion get so much worse with insomnia. It has been my Achilles' heal my whole life and my sleep is easily disturbed. I do not think that increasing the frequency/dosing will help my sleep. To be honest, I cannot tolerate having that little sleep. It unhinges me.
I also am having vertigo attacks that could be a side effect, or maybe it is a "reversing out" phenomena...I don't know...but vertigo is not something I have ever experienced other than when I have a bad sinus infection.
All that said, the primary reason I began my B12 injections was to stop the air hunger and or frequent suffocation attacks I would get at night. They have nearly become a thing of the past and that makes the insomnia and vertigo worth it.
It was nice of you to ask. I think we have to be careful to not dismiss everything as needing more B12. Sometimes someone, like myself, may not be able to keep up w/ the methylation/metabolism.
You did not come across rude at all, please don't think that. I was afraid the rest of us have come across like that, if your side effects are being dismissed!
Yes, I, at least, am a bit dogmatic that more is always better. It's my bedtime so I will read your reply again tomorrow with a clearer head & rethink how I approach injection frequency / side effects. In my case I think part of it comes from my having fought many doctors who insisted my symptoms were due to too much b12 whereas the problem was too little. Like I said, tunnel vision.
I'm sorry you struggle with insomnia & that B12 makes it worse. I truly empathize, i also have various sleep issues ... it's 4am here :/ Lack of sleep is absolutely killer. Thanks for sharing!
If you are taking the injections for other health reasons and not because you were diagnosed with low B12 , it would be sensible to stop taking them for 2-4 weeks and see how the pins and needles react.
As a trained Nurse , you will know , the way it is found out what causes a new symptom , or change in a symptom , is often by ruling out different treatments or activity. If it improves after you stop the injection , it is likely that the pins and needles are a side effect of the injections even though you can't overdose on B12 , high levels can cause side effects just as low B12 does.
If your pins and needles continues or gets worse over the weeks without injection , it would give evidence that your B12 injections had nothing to do with the symptom ( or could have been reducing its effects) . Most importantly, it could show that this is a new symptom linked to another neurological condition that needs to be examined further and diagnosed so that you can get the best help for it.
After the 2-4 weeks , go to the GP and tell them about your symptom , and request blood tests including your Serum B12, Vitamin D , Kidney Function and Liver Function, Folates, Ferritin and Magnesium .
You mentioned that you were also thirsty , it is possible that it is some other mineral salt issue , like potassium or sodium , being too low or too high , which could also cause pins and needles because of their effect on neuropathy as well. If you have stopped the injections and still have the symptoms you have proper proof that the injections are not the cause , so this can't be used as an excuse by the GP.
If your B12 level , Folates or Iron are still low despite the course of injections you have been taking you have further proof that more tests are required and that the surgery should diagnose your deficiency problem and start treating you.
I would personally also ask for a referral to Neurology, or your existing Consultant if you have one, for your preexisting health . Tell them about the improvement you have had for your other neurological symptoms with B12 and see if you can get on a B12 protocol approved by your doctor's , even if you then choose to self inject more often than the NHS system allows .
There are so many health possibilities for increased pins and needles as a symptom other than the B12 , it's best to rule them out before concluding that this is B12 related and then making a conscious decision of how often you take the injections in the future.
Thankyou very much for such a helpful detailed reply. Lots to take on board.
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