Hello everyone,
I’ve been diagnosed with PA for 6 years now and injections every fortnight mostly keep me on top of things.
my husband and I are hoping to start a family soon and I wondered if anyone has any advice/ experience as to whether PA affects anything such as needing to inject more often or any unforeseen complications linked to the PA.
Many thanks in advance
Chloe
Hi Chloe92,
I would definitely recommend that you purchase and read Sally Pacholok R.N., B.S.N. and Jeffrey J.Stuart, D.O.’s book called Could It Be B12?: An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses. The book covers the importance of B12 regarding :-
1. Conception
2. Development of babe in the womb
3. The importance of you remaining healthy, calm to carry babe to term.
4. Obviously, giving birth to babe is another demand on your body.
5. Adjusting to caring for a new life, both your husband, yourself and if there is an extended family close at hand to help.
6. Obviously, if you do decided to breastfeed then that also uses up more of your vitamin B12.
If you know and prepare for your journey then you can tune into your body and keep your PA symptoms at bay. You most probably will have to educate your midwives when you do become pregnant. Be prepared to share information, articles and give them Thank You cards. They are used as evidence in their Continuous Professional Development file.
So, they can write an anonymous Reflection about you, your pregnancy and the disease. It is for revalidation. The Assessors get to learn and so does the Royal College of Midwives.
This Government document was published on 23 July 2003 to empower women :-
publications.parliament.uk/...
It is a tad long. Please know that Midwife means ‘with woman’ and are affectionately known as Rottweilers who wear lipstick because we promote, advocate and can be exceptionally argumentative with doctors. Thus, protecting the family in our care.
I am a big fan of Baroness Cumberlege’s work. The first stage though is preparing your body and mind for conception which may take several months especially, if you have been on contraception for some time. We do love natural events like menstruation. So, presently, only you are privy to knowing if your ovulation cycle is regular.
Pwb lwc, cariad.
🐳
Hi @ChloeW92. To answer your question quickly I was diagnosed as pernicious anemia at around 25 - 30weeks pregnant because my haemoglobin would not go up as I used to get FERRINJECT for iron anemia deficiency. But the obstetrician and Heamatology team at Whittington hospital found I had intrinsic factor issues so started me on B12 injections every other day for 2 weeks. Then I was on 3 monthly injections. I had my baby naturally with no medication and had hypnobirth water birth. It’s just about mental prep with hypnobirthing techniques of meditation and breathing etc. So you’ll be fine as long as you keep on top of your injections. It was easy enough and it’s not as painful as people say but I get everyone is different. I was a yoga and meditation freak though when it came to preparing for an easy and smooth birth for my baby because I was diagnosed late for pernicious anemia I have severe neurological challenges with walking, and moving around so I use crutches and in really badly days wheelchair bound. So I hope and anyone else that reads can appreciate why I then found child birth so easy and not horrific after much efforts and prep work on my body and mentally.
But here is my question how on earth are you in fortnightly injections? My treatment got stopped of injections by an ignorant GP doctor for a year I became really unwell and felt like death and like I was going to die and so rotten while with a young baby who is one and breast feeding too. Yes you’ll be able to breast feed 😁if you want. Then I reluctantly called the Gp in April 2024 to day I feel like I’m dying somethings wrong and a different GP who is more versed about the condition was shocked and agreed it should never have been stopped and ordered emergency injections with my community nurses to visit and blood tests but refused to give me a boost for 2 weeks straight and so I just had one injection and waited 3 months for the second one which I got yesterday. It’s been a painful journey as this is madness. My iron is low again and I feel like I’m hungry and weird all the time. Palpitations and calf pain which can be extremely painful. But please I would really like to know…How have you managed to get fortnightly injections please?
Regards
GentleFlower 🥰😍
P’s good luck with family making 😁😜you’ll be a great mum and dad too for your partner I’m sure
Hello!
Thank for for yet another amazing response!
it’s great to hear you had such a positive experience so thank you for that, I feel we often only hear the horror stories.
In terms of my injections, I do them myself as I just couldn’t function on the schedule at my local GP. I had a lesson with my GP to go over the process and safety etc and then I just order all needles and b12 from Germany. I found the link on here somewhere. I will see if I can find it for you. Works out cheaper than the doctors too!
Thank you again for all your incredible information xx
Thank you very much for your response too. I tried to ask my GP for lessons and safety but that’s when they stopped my injections. It was as if they got scared or something. And that’s when I became very unwell. I would really appreciate it if I got the link please. How much does it cost to buy the batches? Generally? I mean you said it was cheaper than the GP, were you paying? Or do you mean the cost to the GP? Or the cost of the hassle of going to the GP or nurses coming to you because I find this draining and the schedule as well.
Kindest regards
GentleFlower
xx
I am so sad to hear your story! With your mobility issues, you should be on every other day injections (or more often) until you get back to having a normal life. Many on this forum need to self-inject to get enough B12 to maintain good health. There is info on this forum. I hope you can recover enough to throw away those crutches and that wheel chair. There are so many people on this forum where oncer per 3 months is not enough. If you are having mobility issues, it is not enough for you. My hear goes out to you!
Good Morning Hockey_player yes it is very sad I’m in pain all the time joints, muscle and whole body pain… I feel extremely exhausted most days and no one will listen. I only managed to have my baby naturally because I had just had injections every other day for two weeks and so obviously I had a boost at the time. I think I will be exploring self injecting again because this is just ridiculous the fact that other people are managing to get taught or self inject, I’m just thinking to myself if other people are capable of learning how to do it then surely I am too. Thank you for your heartfelt compassion and message.
GentleFlower
💕💕💕
I get my husband to inject my B12 in my arm. He had a lesson from a doctor on how to do it. Other people inject into their thighs. If the B12 every other day gave you a boost, it would be really worthwhile to do that again to get your life back on track. I find it much easier than going to the doctor. I would do at least every other day until you are feeling good. Then experiment to see how often you need injections to keep all the symptoms at bay. It would be very hard having a baby and feeling tired and having sore muscles. I hope that you fix that soon so you can have more enjoyment of your baby!
