Low B12 and Anxiety

[Chocolatelover15]

Has anyone experienced severe anxiety, panic attacks and disassociation from low B12. How long after starting injections did things improve?

[charks]

I had all those things and also severe paranoia - I suspected my partner of nefarious actions. After a week of B12 I realised how strongly B12D had affected me and how wrong I had been.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to charks]

Thank so much. How long did it take for things to improve? What was the frequency of your injections?

[charks in reply to Chocolatelover15]

I'm lucky and I can use oral B12. But I take a lot every day. It was over 4 years ago so I'm not sure of the exact amount of time but I was over the paranoia within a week. The severe anxiety and panic attacks were a gradual process because they were also caused by me worrying over my PA. When my GP told me to stop taking B12 because of my high level within a month I started have panic attacks again.

[PlatypusProfit8077]

Yes, my anxiety slowly crept up on me - it seemed reasonable at first but slowly became an insidious thing I couldn’t stop and couldn’t control. Until I wasn’t coping at work, or at home. I only had 2 major panic attacks (and the first one was accompanied by a syncope episode so that was fun).

I’m 5 months into treating B12 in total, and probably a month into treating it properly (as in, my aim is to be symptom free as much as possible) and my anxiety is gone. Like, really gone.

It’s one of the first to creep back if I get too long between injections though

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to PlatypusProfit8077]

Thank you so much. How often do you have injections and do you take anything alongside it? I'm struggling to do anything at the moment with the panic and anxiety

[PlatypusProfit8077 in reply to Chocolatelover15]

I do EOD injections - I try to do 48 hours exactly apart so my body is getting that consistent influx of B12.

At the moment I don’t take any other supplements. I have increased my dietary potassium because that helps a lot, especially early on. I was getting big potassium crashes after each injection, with heart palpitations and shakiness etc.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to PlatypusProfit8077]

I'm only taking weekly at the moment and I'm wondering if it's enough to combat my anxiety. My potassium is quite low so I'm trying to increase that first but desperate for some relief

[Ken-ard20 in reply to PlatypusProfit8077]

i am getting confused by everyone are you saying b12 causing panic attacks or lack of b12......i had and have panic attacks they awful i feel so sorry for anyone who has them

[PlatypusProfit8077 in reply to Ken-ard20]

B12 deficiency has been proven to have neuropsychiatric effects, including anxiety and panic attacks.

Treating my B12 deficiency has helped a lot!

[JesusMercy60]

Hello,

mine was also slowly creeping until it became out of control I had now Idea of B12D a few months later it was brought to light with prayer. after I found out I started on liquid sublingual and thought thats all I had to do, I found out on this forum "thank you Jesus" there is a whole other world I knew nothing about, I finally started injections a month 1/2 ago and the anxiety did go partly away at first but never fully went away with the oral sublinguals, now it's way better but the others are correct it will come back if something is off, like one of the cofactors. I inject EOD with methyl b12 I live in the US and get it from a compound pharm. I also take the sublinguals everday all day with the multi vit. all day. the anxiety was comming back on the day I was not injecting. so I read on here people take it as well. it's still early days for me for injecting I also read on here that for every year you were deficient it may take a month of steady injections for each year deficient to become more healed. I also just found out I have the Pernicious Anemia, it was negative 6 months ago but now it's positive for the anitbodies. now I have more answers as to why I was slowly dying and loosing all kinds of weight over the last 7 years. I hope this helps.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to JesusMercy60]

Thank you so much that is really helpful. Did you find your anxiety got worse before it got better? Did you have any panic attacks or disassociation with your low b12? I'm currently on weekly injections ad EOD was giving me terrible chest pains but I'm wondering if it will be enough to help kick the anxiety.

[JesusMercy60 in reply to Chocolatelover15]

hello Chocolatelover,

the anxiety went up and down for a while but was nothing like at first without the b12, now that I'm injecting only a month and 1/2 in I feel it's under control most of the time but this past few days I think I was doing to much with runnin around town a lot and overdoing it and it was making me low on B12 and I've read about that here on this forum that in the early treatment you have to not overdue it. is the disassociation mean not able to be around others, I sure did have that so bad at first it's getting way better too. I hope in maybe a few months my body will level out and get passed most of these symptoms. but it is still lingering and it's so horrible but I have come a long way. even my stomach is getting better. I'm so sensative with anything that goes in my mouth and of all things I have a hard time taking suppliments. I have to ration them all day long to get them in me, but in the beginning I was way worse and had to lay down if I took 1/2 of a multi gummy and the total dose is 4 gummies a day now I can take all four through out the day so yes it will get better for you just don't give up. I can't beleive how worse I was last November so horrible I couldn't even walk with the pain in my feet. You will have to get used to the injections as I am trying too as well.

[Orchard33]

My anxiety improved, and has now disappeared, in stages and incrementally. After self-injecting EOD beginning 18 months ago, after a ferritin infusion early this year, and disappeared completely after commencing heme iron three months ago. The difference is life-changing.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to Orchard33]

Thank you. How quickly did you notice improvements?

[Orchard33 in reply to Chocolatelover15]

After of false start of NHS protocol during which I lost a year in progress, the improvement began after about 3 months of SI EOD and then two steps forward, 1.2 or 3 steps back for another 9 months. Then a ceiling during which time I researched ferritin, had an infusion and then began heme iron. Those two later treatments seem to have delivered some sort of completion.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to Orchard33]

Thank you. I had an iron infusion 2 weeks ago to try and raise my levels I'm currently on weekly injections but I'm not sure if this is enough? I also need to up my vitamin D as that's dropping

[Orchard33 in reply to Chocolatelover15]

Was it iron or ferritin? Low ferritin indicates low iron stores so iron supplementation may also be necessary. My haematologist agreed to the ferritin infusion then asked me to take sub-lingual iron two months later. I tried but my gut couldn't deal with it. Then I put myself on heme iron and will check this out with him in August. However, it's done the trick.

[Ken-ard20 in reply to Orchard33]

heme is that a typo or proper name for iron see iff i can get it

[Ken-ard20 in reply to Orchard33]

where in uk are you bc i having hard time trying get somewhere my b12 is on the cusp i was told if been 10 years ago they would start injections.my hb is 8 and i feel awful.....two hospitals norwich or the other nhs hospital to horrible to talk about....few years back i found this intense testing every vitamin levels much more that was ST.THOMAS london it was not nhs i had to pay.i got all the results 2 pages lomg.my potasiam i cant spell so use K.i was encourage to take this to my gp you guess it he would do nothing

[Orchard33 in reply to Ken-ard20]

Getting adequate treatment in the UK is not possible unless you see Dr Klein in Cambridge. I haven't been there but I now self-treat with help from this forum and my own research.

[Ken-ard20 in reply to Orchard33]

thank you i not that far from there

[B12life]

I suggest to take b multi and benfommax 250mg daily. That helped my anxiety. Take 400 mg of magnesium with the benfomax daily. Benfomax is a bioavailable b1.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to B12life]

Thank you. Does magnesium citrate work?

[B12life in reply to Chocolatelover15]

Magnesium glutamate is what I take. It helps in general; I take it because of the benfomax which requires mag.

[Scrabblerummy in reply to B12life]

I live in the US and find that the injections give me palpitations and anxiety. I stopped taking them because I have afib but I don’t know what else to do.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to Scrabblerummy]

Apparently low potassium can cause heart palpation? Have you joined the B12 Wake Up Group on Facebook? They can help

[B12life in reply to Chocolatelover15]

I only do this forum. I have found the info here to be more accurate and objective backed by science.

Facebook groups can be all over the place in my experience. I'm also in the US.

[Chocolatelover15 in reply to B12life]

Can the injections cause more anxiety? My anxiety and panic seem to be getting worse

[B12life in reply to Chocolatelover15]

low b vitamins and poor health (mostly low b vitamins) can cause the anxiety and yes the injections can make it worse in the same way that coffee/caffeine makes it worse.

However if your b12 is low and depending on how low, b12 deficiency can be deadly, we just slowly die. So pick your poison.

injections are absolutely necessary to heal if the deficiency was not due to diet. It would be due to diet if you were consuming little or no meat. In which case there is a possibility that oral b12 will help. However like in my case and some others, I absolutely do not metabolize b12 orally. I was found low despite supplementing at 50 times the era and eating a lot of meat daily for years before being found low.

Any chance your deficiency is due to diet?

This answer will help us guide you. FYI: it's ok to eat meat sparingly or be vegan, but it's just important to supplement with b12. We have several vegetarians on here that can provide tips there as well!

[Ken-ard20 in reply to B12life]

agree

[B12life in reply to Scrabblerummy]

Low b12 can cause palpitations. I had palpitations during the initial b12 treatment. About 1-2 months that went away. I believe it is part of the healing. I also had a high resting heart rate of 105-110; again not normal for me. My resting now is 65-70 after 1.5-2 years of treatment.

I would post a new thread on this forum , with clear explanation that you have low b12, preexisting aging, are getting palpitations with injections. I say this because a more clear explanation of the fact you have a fib but need to test b12 but have the concern of palpitations may get others who had the same situation but overcame it to reply. It may get their attention.

How long has the AFIB been a thing?

Perhaps the low b12 caused the afib?? I'm not an MD but just trying to get to the bottom of things.

Also the suggestions for trying potassium is good. Just don't overdose on potassium. Stay under 3- 4g / day. As potassium toxicity is real and can be deadly.

What was your b12 level before your first ever injection?

[EllaNore]

I'm sorry you are suffering from all of that. I've been on daily injections for over 2 years and things have improved about 30% for me most of the time. But there are days I feel it has helped 0% 😔 I spend most of my time alone because of unreasonable feelings of panic and self loathing. I struggle very much. I spend most of my time in nature. It helps me so much. Nature doesn't judge me and I don't judge myself so much out there. I don't have a support system except for coming here, but if you do, that would surely make things so much better. My health has been a 45 year struggle, so the longer you've suffered, I think the longer it will take to heal. Everyone is different and I hope you feel much better soon.

[YearsNow]

I am so sorry you are dealing with this too. The anxiety and feeling like you're slowly dying is a horrific experience. I'm thankful for this site despite my lack of understanding of some terms and abbreviations. I just started back yesterday with injections from a local B12 store against my doctor's advice and am still experiencing these issues too. It's costly but I have to do something! I'm hopeful things will improve and I'm hoping the medical field will advance their knowledge so that we can get the help we so desperately need. Hoping you and all of us on this site will improve and get our lives back. I'm unable to get on here very often due to various reasons but am very thankful for the advice and support.

[EllaNore in reply to YearsNow]

There are pharmacies in Germany where you can buy your b12 for less than$1.00 per ampoul. You don't need a prescription and you can self inject. The majority here do that. It is very liberating to be able to treat ourselves. There are lots of links on here for all of that. There's some pinned posts with lots of great links and resources. The websites are in German but you can right click and translate the pages. Going to a spa is quite expensive. But if it is your only option, for now it's better than no b12. Self injecting is very easy and so freeing.