B12/folate anemia

[Eleanor ace]

Does anyone have this and do you have injections for it, or do you just take supplements? I got a letter from my doctor after a recent blood test saying I have a B12/folate deficiency anemia and need injections for it and to book in. I looked online and it seems some people just take a folic acid and a B12 &9 supplement, which I would much rather do! But when I called my docs they said it has to be injections and blood test to monitor levels . I have regular blood tests so I imagine they can use those samples rather than having to have another blood test, but I would rather avoid the extra injection if I can! Just wondering whether anyone has had success in getting rid of the deficiency just through supplements or whether I should resign myself to being stabbed :hide:

 

[Babybump87]

I've had problems with my iron since being pregnant with DD2 she's now 19 months old

I've had to take iron tablets on and off and had to have one b12 injection and have to have regular blood tests to see what my level are !

I started taking a multivitamin . Touch wood mines been fine I am due another blood test shortly .
I would defiantly try the vitamins but make sure you tell your GP otherwise they won't know if it's your body correcting the issue or the fact your taking vitamins ( this is what my go told me)

Hope it all works out !

 

[calm]

I had this a few times, its something that really needs to be kept in check and it can cause all sorts of health problems, especially neurological ones. I was given some tablets that had to be made specially in the chemist, not sure why I wasn't just given injections. I can go a month without any hardly any meat/fish and dairy, so I tend to supplement to try to keep my levels up. There are different reasons though why b12 is low and I would encourage you to investigate that, because often doctors just prescribe for the symptoms without looking into the causes, Oh, and my doctor said that if you are deficient already, normal supplements do not help as you need very high amounts of b12 to get it to rise X

 

[fairytales87]

I'm B12 and folate deficient(spelling??)
I have to have weekly injections of B12 for 4 weeks and now maintanence doses of 1 injection every 3 months(which I always forget!!)

Personally I think it depends on how low your levels are and why they are low.
I have no intrinsic factor in my stomach so I can't absorb b12 from my food or supplements. Another example of ppl who often are b12 and folate deficient are ppl with caeliac disease. I would ask your docs to find out why you are deficient in these two things.
Goodluck x

 

[Buffaloed]

Does anyone have this and do you have injections for it, or do you just take supplements? I got a letter from my doctor after a recent blood test saying I have a B12/folate deficiency anemia and need injections for it and to book in. I looked online and it seems some people just take a folic acid and a B12 &9 supplement, which I would much rather do! But when I called my docs they said it has to be injections and blood test to monitor levels . I have regular blood tests so I imagine they can use those samples rather than having to have another blood test, but I would rather avoid the extra injection if I can! Just wondering whether anyone has had success in getting rid of the deficiency just through supplements or whether I should resign myself to being stabbed :hide:

Oral supplements are effective provided you take the right form. For B-12 you want to use the methylcobalamin form that's typically sold as a sublingual tablet. It can also be swallowed.

Show this article to your prickly doctor You should be able to talk them into this strategy, "For clinicians not comfortable treating symptomatic VB12-deficient patients exclusively with oral therapy, a reasonable alternative would be to “load” initially with IM VB12 and switch to oral maintenance thereafter."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922551/

Your folate supplement should either be in the form of folinic acid or L-5-methyltetrahydrofolate (L-5-MTHF). Folic acid is the synthetic form and requires the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase to be converted to its biologically active form. A large percentage of people have a genetic mutation of this enzyme and folic acid isn't converted.
https://philmaffetone.com/folate-plot-part-2/

You can purchase combination products that contain the biologically active forms of both vitamins on Amazon and eBay.
eg https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Encapsu...&qid=1502278566&sr=8-4&keywords=activated+b12

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BioActive-...epid=0&hash=item3d3a38e4c4:g:eXsAAOSww9xZDXq7

 

[Buffaloed]

I'm B12 and folate deficient(spelling??)
I have to have weekly injections of B12 for 4 weeks and now maintanence doses of 1 injection every 3 months(which I always forget!!)

Personally I think it depends on how low your levels are and why they are low.
I have no intrinsic factor in my stomach so I can't absorb b12 from my food or supplements. Another example of ppl who often are b12 and folate deficient are ppl with caeliac disease. I would ask your docs to find out why you are deficient in these two things.
Goodluck x

The article I cited in my response to the original post contains information you might find useful.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3922551/

About 1% of cobalamin is absorbed orally in subjects without intrinsic factor. The daily requirement of cobalamin is 1.0–2.5 µg, and thus, large oral doses may meet these needs [4]. This hypothesis was confirmed by several more recent trials with sublingual or oral doses of cobalamin between 1000 and 5000 µg [5–9].

You might be able to use the 5000 mcg sublingual methycobolamin tablets instead of injections.
eg https://www.amazon.com/Jarrow-Formulas-Methylcobalamin-Supports-Lozenges/dp/B0013OQGO6/