If your vitamin B12 deficiency is not caused by a lack of vitamin B12 in your diet, you'll usually need to have an injection of hydroxocobalamin every 2 to 3 months for the rest of your life.
Low B12 level (<150 pg/ml)
Check IF antibody: - If positive, i.e. diagnostic of PA, offer long-term IM Vitamin B12 injection 1mg every 3 months.
Vitamin B12 shots may not be suitable for people with a history of: sensitivity to vitamin B12. Leber's disease, which affects the optic nerve. kidney problems.
A serum B12 above 300 pg/mL is interpreted as normal. Patients with B12 levels between 200 and 300 pg/mL are considered borderline, and further enzymatic testing may be helpful in diagnosis. Patients with B12 levels below 200 pg/mL are considered deficient.
B12 deficiency is associated with depression, fatigue, paraesthesia, memory problems and macrocytosis. Levels below 150 pmol/L (203 pg/ml) are classified as low and can cause permanent neurological damage and fetal abnormalities in babies of untreated mothers.
Generally 120-680 pmol/L.
Key points about vitamin B12 deficiency anemia
With this condition, your body does not have enough healthy red blood cells, due to a lack (deficiency) of vitamin B. It is one of several types of megaloblastic anemia. Without enough red blood cells, your tissues and organs don't get enough oxygen.
Stage 1 is decreased levels of vitamin B12 in the blood. Stage 2 is low concentration of vitamin B12 in the cell and metabolic abnormalities. Stage 3 is increased levels of homocysteine and MMA and decreased DNA synthesis resulting in neuropsychiatric symptoms. Stage 4 is macrocytic anemia.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can indeed lead to weight gain. But the weight gain is not a direct result of the deficiency. Instead, vitamin B12 deficiency causes lethargy or lack of energy, and in turn, inactivity causes weight gain. When you lack the energy to move, you don't burn fat.
It also depends on the frequency at which you get B12 shots. Simply put, how long the B12 shot will last is different for everyone. Though it differs a bit from one person to another, the effects of B12 vitamins usually last around 48 hours to 72 hours after the initial injection.
B12 injections may contribute to low potassium levels in your body. Though rare, this reaction can cause muscle cramping, extreme fatigue, and an irregular heartbeat.
How to raise your B12 levels fast. The most common way to treat B12 deficiencies is by adjusting your diet. If this is unsuccessful, vitamin supplements may be recommended. If you're looking to boost the amount of vitamin B12 in your diet, you should eat more animal products, like meat, seafood, dairy and eggs.
Not diet-related
If you have had neurological symptoms that affect your nervous system, such as numbness or tingling in your hands and feet, caused by a vitamin B12 deficiency, you'll be referred to a haematologist and may need to have injections every 2 months.
If you often feel foggy-brained even after a good night's sleep, try a B12 supplement for a week or two to see how you feel before trying injections. However, if you're an otherwise healthy person, B12 injections are completely safe—and if you see positive results, there's no reason to stop getting them.
There is no clinical evidence to say injections work better than tablets. Current evidence suggests the tablet will work just as well within the body, which will continue to absorb the B12 just as it does from the injection. A) B12 is the largest of the vitamin molecules.
Vitamin B12 and folate perform several important functions in the body, including keeping the nervous system healthy. A deficiency in either of these vitamins can cause a wide range of problems, including: extreme tiredness. a lack of energy.
Key Points. Common causes of vitamin B12 deficiency include inadequate dietary amounts (eg, in vegans), impaired absorption, age-related decreased acid secretion, and autoimmune metaplastic atrophic gastritis (which causes pernicious anemia).
It's harder to get your B12 from food if you're on a strict plant-based diet. That means you don't eat any animal products, including eggs or dairy. Your doctor will likely suggest taking a daily or weekly dietary supplement to keep your levels up.
Patients with serum vitamin B12 levels between 150 and 400 ng/L are considered borderline deficient and should be evaluated further by functional tests for vitamin B12 deficiency.
The serum B12 test is still widely used as thé test to confirm or rule out a vitamin B12 deficiency. However, a normal blood value cannot rule out a B12 deficiency, as has often been shown in scientific medical literature. Serum B12 can be false normal or even false high, while a deficiency is present.
A diagnosis of vitamin B12 or folate deficiency anaemia can often be made by a GP based on your symptoms and the results of blood tests.