Contemplating Self Administering B12 Injections

[Pamela0106]

My B12 is always low unless I supplement.

I am so sick of taking so many pills every day to assist in my health upkeep.

I have Hashimoto’s which had advanced enough to cause Primary Hypothyroidism. I also have Coeliac Disease but this is well controlled with a strict Gluten Free Diet.

Does anyone else self inject with B12 and is it worth it would you say?

I’ve posted all my latest labs before but here they are anyway:

TSH - *0.07 (mIU/L 0.27 - 4.20)

FREE Thyroxine - 13.6 (pmol/L 12.00 - 22.00)

TOTAL Thyroxine - 75.1 (nmol/L 59.00 -154.00)

FREE T3 - 4.37 (pmol/L 3.10 - 6.80)

REVERSE T3 - 21 (ng/dL 10.00 - 24.00)

REVERSE T3 Ratio - *13.55 (15.01 - 75.00)

Thyroglobulin Antibody - 22.90 (IU/mL 0.00 - 115.00)

Thyroid Peroxidase Antibody - *551 (IU/mL 0.00 - 34.00)

Folate (Serum) - *2.90 (ug/L 2.91 - 50.0)

Ferritin - *163 (ug/L 13.00 - 150.00)

I also had a 4-Point Saliva Cortisol check done and can confirm the following results:

WAKING - *1.830 (nmol/L 6.00 - 21.00)

12 Noon - 5.780 (nmol/L 1.50 - 7.60)

4PM - 3.00 (nmol/L 0.00 - 5.49)

BEDTIME - <1.5 (nmol/L 0.00 - 1.99)

My Vitamin D which was low is now normal 103 (nmol/L 50-200 following supplementation with an Oral Spray which I will continue with.

My B12 has increased from 187 but remains extremely low end of range at 209 (ng/L 180-900) but Pernicious Anaemia has been ruled out (thankfully) following Intrinsic Factor Antibody check - 1.7 (U/mL <6). I am now supplementing with a B12 Oral Spray.

My medication dosage at the time of these tests was 50/75mcg Levothyroxine on alternate days and 10mcg T3.

(Although today I have been told to just go to 50mcg Levothyroxine daily from now on based on these results).

I have recently stopped supplementing with Selenium because of build up.

And I have re-introduced Zinc and a BComplex only this week.

[amala57]

Hi Pamela I'm sure there's better qualified people here who can & hopefully will comment. But you look undemedicated to me. Your ft4 is low. Should be at least in upper half of range & the same with your Ft3. If these were my labs I would increase t4 to 100 & t3 a little 5mcg? Obviously cortisol is an issue but as I understand it if thyroid hormones are low cortisol will also be low. My cortisol was low when I was under medicated. As my t4 & t3 levels rise so will my cortisol. Adrenavive in the morning and lunchtime has supported my adrenal glands. Also high doses of vitamin c. 3000 daily. I started ndt 3 weeks ago with some extra t4 & I'm beginning to feel better. Still a work in progress. 😊

Ferritin is too high. This can be inflammation I think. Have you had your CRP tested?

Hope this helps a bit? X

[amala57 in reply to amala57]

P.S. be careful with zinc. Too much is really not helpful. Low t4 is main cause of hairloss I have recently heard!

[Pamela0106 in reply to amala57]

Hey love!

My T4 is low because of the introduction of T3. If I up my Levo then my TSH would drop far too much (it’s already 0.07) and the Endocrinologist I see won’t do it. He wants me to drop from 50/75mcg Levo on alternate days to just 50mcg.

Haha effectively doing the opposite and making me reduce it, not increase.

Originally I was on 100mcg with perfect TSH and T4 but I couldn’t convert to active T3 and felt terrible. Hence T3 introduction.

I’m going easy on the zinc to begin with. Just trialling to see if it helps in any way. Xx

[amala57 in reply to Pamela0106]

As your b12 & others improve hopefully you will convert better. Endo should know that anyone on t3 or ndt has suppressed or zero tsh. You can't go by that. You are under medicated.

[Pamela0106 in reply to amala57]

The Endocrinologist I see is a huge T3 advocate. He’s a big name in thyroid health. I feel much better on less T4 than on the higher dose x

[SilverAvocado in reply to Pamela0106]

Increasing your T3 dose would be just as good as increasing T4. Probably better. The important thing is getting your freeT3 into the top third of the range. Yours is below halfway, which is too low. You will definitely feel an improvement getting your freeT3 higher.

Personally I doubled my dose to get from low in range to the top of the range, it can require quite a lot of medication to achieve it.

If your endo is keeping you low andkeeping you sick they aren't really helping you.

[shaws Administrator]

I would pop-over to the Pernicious Anaemia forum as they would probably have more idea about self-injecting.

[Pamela0106 in reply to shaws]

I’ve posted over there too x

[shaws Administrator in reply to Pamela0106]

That's good. I have P.A, but have never self-injected but I take sublingual methylcobalamin tablets to keep B12 towards the upper part of the range. The recommendation nowadays is nearer 1,000.

[G2G2]

I injected B12 (methyl form) for a while & felt great. Unfortunately, injectable B12 is by Rx only in the US. It's also expensive.