Why di feel tired a lot?

[Kleptojake]

Hi everyone. I've joined the group as recently been diagnosed with pernicious anaemia. Would be really interested in hearing about others experiences with this. I'm having b12 jabs now, which I've been told will be for the rest of my life. They do help but I have episodes of feeling exhausted, very foggy brained and breathless.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi Kleptojake

It is not uncommon for some symptoms to appear to get worse before they get better as the B12 you are having starts repairing the damage done to your nervous system and your brain starts getting multiple messages from part of the body it had "forgotten about" or lost contact with. I sometimes liken it to a badly tuned radio on which you have turned the volume up high trying to catch the programme you want when all of a sudden the signal comes in loud and clear and the blast nearly deafens you.

A lot will depend on the severity and longevity of your B12 deficiency as to how long before there is no further improvement or recovery. Some symptoms will "disappear" quite quickly whereas others may take months or even years. There is no set timescale as we are all different.

It is also important that your Folate level is monitored as this is essential to process the B12.

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.

Symptoms of a folate deficiency can include:

symptoms related to anaemia

reduced sense of taste

diarrhoea

numbness and tingling in the feet and hands

muscle weakness

depression

Folic acid works closely with vitamin B12 in making red blood cells and helps iron function properly in the body and your B12 levels are "bumping along the bottom of the range.

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.

I am not a medically trained person but I've had Pernicious Anaemia (one of many causes of B12 deficiency) for over than 51years.

I wish you well.

[Kleptojake in reply to clivealive]

Thank you for the reply clivealive and all the information you've given. Much appreciated.

[Nackapan]

Early days .Give yourself time.

[wedgewood]

You don’t say how long you have been receiving B12 injections , and their frequency . If those symptoms persist , I would suggest that you need more frequent injections , like most people on this forum I have had to resort to self -injection , when GPs have refused to give more regular injections , I have to have one injection every week . But this was delayed so I’ve ended up with an irreversible symptom . We are all different and require injections that are tailored to our needs , not a “ one size fits all” regime .

Self injection is a possibility , and can be administered with success by sub-cutaneous means , which is simpler than Intra-Muscular injections .

Yes, if you have only recently started injections , it is quite common to feel worse before healing sets in . Best wishes . I’m glad you have found us . You are with friends here .