Hi! I had my first of 6 B12 injection yesterday and it’s totally floored me. It’s like I’ve been given a sleeping tablet I feel so groggy and spaced out, sick and dizzy and my arms and legs hurt too.
Is this normal? The nurse giving it said there shouldn’t be any side effects apart from a sore or red arm. Thanks.
Yes, it is very common. Your body has been without B12 for a long time and has a lot of healing and adjusting to do. I'm sure many others here will tell you the same and give you lots of information and advice. We're a friendly bunch, so any questions, just ask away.
Thank you so much, that’s so lovely and I’m so grateful I’ve come across this forum, I’ve been reading through some posts and learnt so much already!
Hi NL92,
Just a quick reply, sorry as have a meeting shortly. Sorry, to read you feel awful.
Yes, as topazrat has explained the Hydroxycobalamin is healing your Nervous System. We can experience increased pain, burning and frankly feel awful.
After my 11th injection, it felt like someone had smashed a TV on my head. Rather painful and static. So, the only thing I could do was lie on my bed and try and tune into a Comedy Channel.
Please consider joining the PA Society as this disease is poorly understood by the medical profession. It is superbly important you have the correct information because doctors may retest your blood and at some point may try to change you into tablets.
Be an informed patient.
The way we have to see it is paradoxical and in reverse to the treatment we receive from symptom-suppressing drugs.
B12 HAS NO SIDE EFFECTS. The only downside is really acne, which can appear during injection therapy.
If you feel very poorly after an injection it is your body healing latent problems. B12 recovery is very long - years for most. So this is the start of your journey.
It is not a quick fix with pills. It is, unfortunately, a long and arduous process that interferes with your life and takes a long time to come back from.
Stick with the treatment. And sooner than later you will be back to yourself, 6 months at the earliest.
....also. Do not discuss your symptoms with a nurse. I say this because they may stop treating you if they think you are having adverse side effects.
B12 recovery is a lonely process, I'm sorry to say. The NHS is not equipped to manage it. But, you can be reassured that you're getting treatment and that is the most important thing. DO NOT MISS any of your jabs and NEVER GIVE UP ON B12. You must keep taking it for years.
I got awful acne after my 3rd loading jab and they only starting clearing as I got my 3 mth jab so they came back again - I said to GP and was told it wasn’t linked to B12 . My face was so bad I stopped the jabs and slowly my face is clearing up but I’m starting to feel I need the jab again. Is there anything I can try to ease my face acne to enable me to get my jabs again without any side effects?
I had acne in my inner thighs for about 30 years. It has finally cleared up with the help of some overnight cream called Free derm. I buy it from amazon
Yes, the same to me. ..I ask my doctor And she told me b12 injection no have side affects, but in my case I have more spots that my son with 13 years. But I need my jabs for live, because without my jabs I'm like a 80 years old lady and I just have 42...
I reacted strongly in the loading doses.My treatment was nearly stopped.
Then 5 weeks off 8njrctuons bedboind still and getting worse so wenf back onto every other day for months
3 steps forward 2 back.
Headaches, migraines, tinnitus ,racing heart.
Wired then zonked.
Balance issues .
Leaden legs .
Numb patches on my face.
Vibrating nose.
Light sensitive
Noise sensitive
Nausea
I often described days like I'd been run over by s truck my head hurt so much or smashed against a wall.
I was very ill at the start but 2ax not expecting tjus reaction.
So reaction not side effect.
I dud get many hard sore spots around my hairline and on my lips and neck and back.
That is a side effect as I think tinnitus is as well.
Just keep going and your body will heal as much as possible.
I called it rebooting and the tinnitus The B12 buzz.
Things do improve.
For me it took time that wouldn't be speeded up.
I coukdbt have coped with more
Hi. I’m so sorry to hear you had it so rough too, and yes I can totally relate to feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck, that’s how I felt yesterday. I had to take anti sickness medication just to get a little bit of food in to me. Didn’t start to improve until yesterday evening. I’ve got my next injection in a couple of hours and I’m so anxious now! You say that your treatment was nearly stopped - did they offer any alternatives? I’m planning to stick with it unless told otherwise but I’m dreading it now!
Thanks
No alteratives offered until later when I trialled b12 tablets in the hope to have fewer b12 injections. G.p said to take 2 ×50mg b12 tablets.
Did nothing.
So took 1000mg
Then 2000mg across the day .
Trial over.
b12 2as not reduced . At that stage 2 weekly b12 injections .
It is a rollercoaster .
Does get better.
Good you are having a reaction as waking up all the nerves .
Keep a diary.
I think depends how long you've been deficient.
How low your b12 went.
If cause known.
How severe your symptoms at the start .
If you've other conditions can add on symptoms of course.
Keep copies of your blood results .
Folic acid if needed now that b12 has started.
A multivit I think helpful. ( has 200-400mcg folic acid in )
Thank you! My B12 went down to 173 (range is above 190) and I am taking folic acid GP prescribed.
My main symptom is fatigue. I haven’t been right since I had Covid over a year ago and I was diagnosed with iron deficiency anaemia too last year and was treated with iron tablets.
Long covid and b12 deficiency have similar symptoms. Sounds like you caught B12 dropping in good time.
Despite going to Gp with fatigue and falls my b12 wasnt tested until a collapse and vertigo a few weeks after a very bad fall .
So not caught early.
Falls and covid complicate complicate matters more.
I hope you see improvements soon.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I’m so grateful, I didn’t have to even ask for or know my B12 had been checked, it was just done as part of other bloods to make sure I wasn’t iron deficient again and figuring out period issues I’ve been having, then when the results went back to my named GP she picked up on it straight away.
Thank you. I hope you are too.
Sorry to read NL92,
PA/B12D is a journey. It sounds as though your levels have been low for rather sometime. So, your body and brain are being flooded with this wonderful Hydroxycobalamin.
It is needed in every single cell and we have 30 trillion of those. I use the analogy of wound healing. So, if we scrap our knee, it will bleed and usually on day 2 or 3 we experience this massive urge to scratch the scab off. The area is so itchy.
However, in PA/B12D, it is our whole bodies, brains and nerves that are healing. We really have to persevere with the loading doses. Dr Joseph Chandy called this period ‘the reversing out process.’ His book is definitely worth reading, Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Clinical Practice : "Doctor, you gave me my life back!"
OldmanD has recently posted a short video :-
healthunlocked.com/pasoc/po...
Apologies, I forgot to welcome you to the community.
It is definitely worth joining the PA Society. To have proper information as there are many myths which includes retesting your blood levels, saying you have high levels and having enough stored in your liver for 2 years (myth 1). We cannot store it. That too much Hydroxycobalamin is toxic (myth 2).
This disease is poorly understood, often misdiagnosed and under-treated. I do not know where you are based. If you are in the U.K., please be very aware of what is happening within the NHS. Today, Northern Ireland’s junior doctors are striking. Any strike and a pandemic is extremely disruptive to a service and in the Health Care industry - Patient Care.
I hope your ferritin, folate and Vitamin D levels were good. Looking for a ferritin above 50 mg/L. Many of us take a multivitamin/mineral too. Lots of us Do What We Have To. Purely, because we cannot wait for 12 weeks for our next injection.
🐳
Thank you! Yes, I plan to persevere as long as I can, the nurse giving me the injection was a little worried but spoke to the duty doctor and suggested I see how I go after todays injection and if I feel rough after this one too then they’ll space the doses out a bit so it’s 2 a week over 3 weeks instead of every other day. It makes sense re the body needing B12 everywhere, the nurse said that it’s probably my body has been struggling for so long without it that it’s just waking everything up hence the side effects and hopefully it’ll settle now I’ve had the ‘shock’ of the first one and suddenly having B12!
My folate was in range but not by much, 4.7 (range 3.9-26.8) but my GP prescribed me folic acid which I had to start after my first injection. Ferritin 61 but that’s after been on iron supplements last year so not brilliant. I was Vitamin D deficient in the past and had a course of treatment for that about 5 years ago, it was last tested a year ago and was 80 (range above 50).
Thank you for your welcome, reply and info, I’ll join the society and check out that book too! Interestingly my P.A. blood test was negative but I understand that doesn’t really mean I don’t have it. Luckily my GP was already suggesting I have the injections regardless of the P.A. result due to B12 being below range and fatigue, and only did the P.A. test just to check at the same time as some other bloods I needed.
I had sleepiness after my first half a dozen jabs too. It went away after another half dozen and it felt like it was my body asking for the sleep it needed to heal. There aren’t ‘side effects’ as such but the healing process is long 
Thank you! That’s good to know. It does make a lot of sense. My main symptom is fatigue and this was a whole other level on top I didn’t think I could reach - it was like I’d been given a high strength sleeping tablet! It’s the dizziness and nausea that got me, I had to take an antisickness tablet yesterday just to get some food in to me cos I was shaking so much and my body was telling me I needed food but I couldn’t keep anything down!
I'm having exactly the same effects as you do and other things too. After around 2 months and 15 injections I feel pain in the whole body, especially my legs. The dizziness and fatigue is on and off, which is very difficult in terms of trying to live a normal life with work and family. As a lot of people advise in here, I try to accept when I'm too tired and dizzy and relax as much as possible, and trust that my body is healing, and that this is the way ahead.
Hope for you that you will soon feel better.
Thank you so much for your reply. I’m sorry to hear you’ve had it so rough too. Yes it is so difficult isn’t it, trying to be everything to everyone in terms of work and family, and I’m rubbish at listening to my body! So it’s probably my body’s way of saying no enough is enough you’re resting 🤣 Definitely a learning curve and getting my head round everything.
Thank you, you too!
I never had side effects apart from one time where i got sick. But, no, it should be ok. I suppose if it's your first one then perhaps.
That’s so good to hear positive stories, makes me think there’s hope. Had my 2nd one at 8:30 this morning and okay so far just tired, the first one didn’t really hit until the following day so fingers crossed tomorrow 🤞
Does anyone have any tips they’ve used to help? I was okay until a couple of hours ago and now it’s hitting me hard 😢 I don’t think I can keep this up for the next 2 weeks 😩
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