u/joshcomurphy

Hello!

I've had a weird start with b12, in April I found out I was deficient/borderline and was subsequently prescribed 1mg tablets to take each day.

To caveat - I NEVER had any really bad symptoms, the only reason they found I was low in b12 was for an unrelated medical query that required a blood test.

I took the b12 tablets for 9 days and started feeling awful fatigue/ aches etc, so I stopped. Two weeks later I didn't feel any better so the doctor recommended I have the injections of which I have had four with no more planned. The last one I had was two weeks ago. Since then I've been taking b12 RDA so only 3mcg along with iron and electrolytes.

My question is can I just stop taking the b12? The wake up symptoms have been horrendous and it doesn't feel like I'm getting better. To repeat as well - I never had any physical symptoms prior to taking b12, it's like it's sent my body into overdrive and now I wish I hadn't bothered because I felt fine before?

I should mention my ferritin is 36 which I know is quite low, and folate is good (22)

Any advice would be welcome!

Edit - I have read the guide :)

Hello!

About three months ago I started getting some random heart palpitations so I went to the doctor's and got a blood test done. Turns out I was low in b12: 134.0 ng/L

I don't know how low that is but in the UK on my blood test results this is the reference limit: [161.0 - 567.0] so obviously lower than that but not terribly.

I then got prescribed 1mg daily tablets of CyanocobalaMin. I was taking these for about 8/9 days and started getting terrible back and neck pain, pins and needles in my face and arms, along with the worst exhaustion and fatigue. I contacted the doctor and they recommended getting injections of which I had four, the last one being two weeks ago.

Since then I've been feeling awful, completely fatigued and exhausted, anxiety through the roof, pins and needles, consistent muscle spasms and back and neck pain. I even felt so bad that I went up to urgent care and they did a blood test which I am awaiting the results from, though the doctor at the hospital said my folate was low now, to clarify - it was normal before taking b12. They didn't really advise anything other than to wait for more extensive tests on the blood which should be due any day now.

Since my hospital trip I've been supplementing with the nutrition geeks iron energy plus as it has iron, b12, and folic acid in. This has been a week now but I feel like I'm getting worse?

It's been nearly three months since I started the b12 supplements and I'm not feeling any improvement and the NHS doctors seem to not really care in the UK 😐

Just curious for any advice or potential timelines when I will start feeling normal again, should I keep supplementing with small doses of folate and b12?

Thanks

Hi everyone! 

Just felt like posting this as my health anxiety has reared its ugly head again recently after a year or so without it. Some very brief context, I am a 34yo male who developed health anxiety after having heart and breath symptoms shortly after my first COVID jab. It turned into fully fledged health anxiety which I know you are all very familiar with so I won't bore you with the rest of the details!

To get to the point, I recently had B12 jabs on the doctors orders because I was feeling absolutely shattered, with chronic back issues as well, and because I am an absolute moron - I googled if they had side effects before I had them. This caused my health anxiety to turn up again with a vengeance as immediately after my first jab I had my first full blown panic attack in over a year and a half, and the following week or so I had been so anxious and tired that I was signed off work.

What helped me:

Something that has REALLY helped is writing down all my "successes" into a google note on my phone. I know this isn't exactly a new strategy and is well known among the community, but It's something I never did when I first went through health anxiety and I can't recommend it enough.

I sat there for nearly an hour writing down everything I'd done whilst dealing with anxiety over the past two years and simply finishing with "you survived". Even the most trivial things like:

"You went to the shop the other day when you were anxious, you survived".

"You got on the bus, you survived."

"You had the flu, you survived."

etc etc

It quickly became apparent how many times I had dealt with health anxiety in certain situations that I deemed out of my comfort zone (mental prison) and it massively helped me get a grip on how I've been feeling again recently. It's also really empowering looking back at all the things you have done when it felt like the worst was about to happen, especially when you are feeling it in the moment.

If you're reading this, you survived, so try and celebrate your successes no matter how small they are. I just wanted to share that with you all as I know it can be the most debilitating thing to go through x