Very low B12 Levels...

[Sarahlouise1980]

Hi All,

I’ve been found to have very low levels of vitamin B12 & folate. I’m having a blood test to check the intrinsic factor tomorrow. If that comes back negative can I supplement myself to get my levels up or do I have to have injections?? My only symptom is hairloss! I’m on loading doses of vitamin D and my ferritin level is good at 139. I’m so down about the hairloss and now I’m worried the injections of B12 will cause acne. Help!

Thank you!

[humanbean]

For questions on vitamin B12 and folate you should join the forum run by the Pernicious Anaemia Society on HealthUnlocked. You'll find them here :

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

You need to Follow them (like you did for Thyroid UK) to start reading all their posts.

[humanbean]

I’m worried the injections of B12 will cause acne

I know this does happen for some people. I don't have Pernicious Anaemia so I have never needed B12 injections, but I do feel better when I have very high levels of vitamin B12, which I maintain with supplements.

I discovered that I got severely spotty when I first started these high dose pills, but over the course of about 2 - 3 months or so they disappeared. Now I get a spot once in a blue moon, and generally speaking my skin is now less spotty than it has been at any point in my life since before I started getting teenage spots about 45+ years ago. If I allow my levels of B12 to drop then the spots start up again.

I don't know if any of this is comforting or useful. Probably not. But you should ask the PA Society forum for their advice.

[Sarahlouise1980 in reply to humanbean]

Thank you for your reply, which b12 supplement do you take? I’m wondering what strength to take if I don’t end up needing the injections. Are you hypothyroid? Is that why my b12 is low? Because I’m hypo? x

[humanbean in reply to Sarahlouise1980]

People who are hypothyroid often develop low stomach acid as an effect of the condition. If stomach acid is low then it makes it harder for the body to extract nutrients from the diet. So being low in vitamins and minerals is extremely common for people like us (yes, I'm hypothyroid).

However, people with one autoimmune condition (and hypothyroidism is usually caused by autoimmune problems) are at greater risk for developing other autoimmune conditions like Pernicious Anaemia.

If you have hypothyroidism and Pernicious Anaemia then extremely low vitamin B12 is guaranteed without treatment, I would think.

I don't stick to one brand of vitamin B12 all the time because I can't always afford to always buy the best choices, and as I said I don't have PA so I think it would be overkill for me to spend a fortune on just one single vitamin. I always read as many reviews on Amazon as I can in the hope that some of them might be real!

Having just looked up what I was taking on Amazon I notice that the very high prices I was seeing up until a few months ago for high dose methyl-B12 seem to have reduced, probably because of increased competition, which is nice for us.

I'm currently taking these :

amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07...

although I don't take them every day of the week. I alternate them with a B Complex supplement.

I've also taken a similar product from Jarrow Formulas.