As of right now this thread does not have much information. The purpose of this thread is to figure out what would cause someone to not absorb B12 injections.
Both my GP and GI do not understand why my body doesn't seem to be absorbing B12 in injection form. I've been getting B12 injections since at least 2011 but the highest it's been before my next injection was a little over 400 which isn't bad but kind of sad that that's the highest I was able to get and that was back in 2014, it hasn't been that high since.
At my appointment today my B12 went down to 314 from 338. I'm getting injections monthly as of right now and take oral B12 in liquid form but have a difficult time absorbing much oral B12 because of my previous resection that removed part of my terminal ileum.
To try and boost my B12 when it was at 278 my GP had me get an injection once a week for 4 weeks then every other week and now we're at once a month again but as I mentioned the number is going back down and never got very high at all.
I just had an injection today and will have blood work done tomorrow and then again after a week from today to see what my number is right after a shot and how quickly the number is going down. In the past I had blood work done the day after a shot and it was over 1,000 but before my next shot a month later it goes back down into the mid-high 200's.
Being deficient in vit B12 can make you feel very tired, weak, short of breath, experience heart palpitations, numbness, depression etc. There's no set number for when you start to feel these symptoms so they may or may not occur when you're low in B12. Every lab is different for what they say the "normal" range is but I've always been on the low end of "normal" and sometimes in the deficient range. I do experience some of the symptoms mentioned like fatigue, weakness, numbness, depression and increased heart palpitations so I really want to increase my number in hopes that some of these symptoms will be less or go away entirely (I've already had other tests that checked my heart etc).
If I'm having difficulty with injections then chances are other people are as well. Perhaps you and your doctor have discovered the cause and found a way to increase your numbers again. If that's the case then please share your and your doctor's findings. Since both my GP and current GI are stumped I'm going to be contacting my previous GI up in Stanford California along with my GI in UCLA California and some other places like Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai, Cleveland Clinic etc (I'm open to suggestions on places to contact). Hopefully at least one of them already has an answer and if not then it's possible that they'll know what tests to run to figure out the cause.
*UPDATE*
Issue Solved:
Took a while to try and figure out what was wrong. Had a lot of tests done. Almost needlessly, at least one showed I had osteopenia even if that wasn't what we were looking for. Good to know though.
Anyway, apparently the problem isn't with me it was the lab I was going to. My B12 recently was over 1,800. It's high but it's fine. I'll still be going for monthly injections. Turns out though that the lab I was going to is beyond terrible to probably dangerous. Who knows what other blood tests they may be screwing up. My doctor said she would contact them but I'll also contact the company and let them know.
When I went to that lab each time I was barely over 300 even after getting weekly injections. When I went to a different lab at an actual hospital my B12 was over 1,000. I had it tested at both labs a couple days apart on two occasions and each time it was the same result of either barely 300 or well above 1,000. I'm no longer going to the lab that claims my B12 is low (without the injections it was barely 200 at that lab but I didn't get it tested at another lab back then). I've thought about going to a third lab for another opinion to see which one is correct but I trust the lab at this hospital a lot more than the one I had been going to which was right next to my doctor's office.
If you're having similar problems even if it's not your B12 and maybe something else, please get tested at a different lab for another opinion. I wasn't even aware that this was possible but apparently it is and that's dangerous.
Both my GP and GI do not understand why my body doesn't seem to be absorbing B12 in injection form. I've been getting B12 injections since at least 2011 but the highest it's been before my next injection was a little over 400 which isn't bad but kind of sad that that's the highest I was able to get and that was back in 2014, it hasn't been that high since.
At my appointment today my B12 went down to 314 from 338. I'm getting injections monthly as of right now and take oral B12 in liquid form but have a difficult time absorbing much oral B12 because of my previous resection that removed part of my terminal ileum.
To try and boost my B12 when it was at 278 my GP had me get an injection once a week for 4 weeks then every other week and now we're at once a month again but as I mentioned the number is going back down and never got very high at all.
I just had an injection today and will have blood work done tomorrow and then again after a week from today to see what my number is right after a shot and how quickly the number is going down. In the past I had blood work done the day after a shot and it was over 1,000 but before my next shot a month later it goes back down into the mid-high 200's.
Being deficient in vit B12 can make you feel very tired, weak, short of breath, experience heart palpitations, numbness, depression etc. There's no set number for when you start to feel these symptoms so they may or may not occur when you're low in B12. Every lab is different for what they say the "normal" range is but I've always been on the low end of "normal" and sometimes in the deficient range. I do experience some of the symptoms mentioned like fatigue, weakness, numbness, depression and increased heart palpitations so I really want to increase my number in hopes that some of these symptoms will be less or go away entirely (I've already had other tests that checked my heart etc).
If I'm having difficulty with injections then chances are other people are as well. Perhaps you and your doctor have discovered the cause and found a way to increase your numbers again. If that's the case then please share your and your doctor's findings. Since both my GP and current GI are stumped I'm going to be contacting my previous GI up in Stanford California along with my GI in UCLA California and some other places like Mayo Clinic, Mount Sinai, Cleveland Clinic etc (I'm open to suggestions on places to contact). Hopefully at least one of them already has an answer and if not then it's possible that they'll know what tests to run to figure out the cause.
*UPDATE*
Issue Solved:
Took a while to try and figure out what was wrong. Had a lot of tests done. Almost needlessly, at least one showed I had osteopenia even if that wasn't what we were looking for. Good to know though.
Anyway, apparently the problem isn't with me it was the lab I was going to. My B12 recently was over 1,800. It's high but it's fine. I'll still be going for monthly injections. Turns out though that the lab I was going to is beyond terrible to probably dangerous. Who knows what other blood tests they may be screwing up. My doctor said she would contact them but I'll also contact the company and let them know.
When I went to that lab each time I was barely over 300 even after getting weekly injections. When I went to a different lab at an actual hospital my B12 was over 1,000. I had it tested at both labs a couple days apart on two occasions and each time it was the same result of either barely 300 or well above 1,000. I'm no longer going to the lab that claims my B12 is low (without the injections it was barely 200 at that lab but I didn't get it tested at another lab back then). I've thought about going to a third lab for another opinion to see which one is correct but I trust the lab at this hospital a lot more than the one I had been going to which was right next to my doctor's office.
If you're having similar problems even if it's not your B12 and maybe something else, please get tested at a different lab for another opinion. I wasn't even aware that this was possible but apparently it is and that's dangerous.
