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B12 caused extreme worsening of symptoms?

E

Esmeralda

Messages
16
I'm writing using my wife's account since she is too ill to write herself. She has had ME/CFS for a number of years, increaslingly getting worse. When she last visited her doctor she was prescribed B12 injections (hydroxocobalamin). Since she is very sensitive to side effects she started with a tenth of the prescribed dose (which was 1 mg - she started with 0.1 mg). 20-30 minutes afterwards she started to feel an increased fatigue and kind of a pressure across the chest. She felt it got harder to breath normally.This is 10 days ago. Since then she has felt that these symptoms have gotten worse. It seems unlikley, but could this really be caused by that single injection? And if so, do you have any insights as to why this happened?
 
nanonug

nanonug

Senior Member
Messages
1,709
Location
Virginia, USA
Esmeralda said:
she was prescribed B12 injections (hydroxocobalamin). [...] 20-30 minutes afterwards she started to feel an increased fatigue and kind of a pressure across the chest.
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My guess would be B12 induced hypokalemia. Interestingly enough, this means that she actually needs that B12. However, if she is reacting that way to injected B12, I think it would probably be better to go the oral route with a good quality multivitamin with all B vitamins in the active form (methylcobalamin, methylfolate, etc). Taking potassium as madietodd suggests is also probably a good idea although one needs to be careful not to over do it. In my opinion, potassium is best taken in an extended release formulation. In the US, this requires a prescription.
 
F

Freddd

Senior Member
Messages
5,184
Location
Salt Lake City
nanonug said:
My guess would be B12 induced hypokalemia. Interestingly enough, this means that she actually needs that B12. However, if she is reacting that way to injected B12, I think it would probably be better to go the oral route with a good quality multivitamin with all B vitamins in the active form (methylcobalamin, methylfolate, etc). Taking potassium as madietodd suggests is also probably a good idea although one needs to be careful not to over do it. In my opinion, potassium is best taken in an extended release formulation. In the US, this requires a prescription.
Click to expand...

Hi Nanonug,

In my opinion, potassium is best taken in an extended release formulation. In the US, this requires a prescription

Time release potassium is prescription becasue it is dangerous. The warning is basically " Do not take this medication unless the patient will not comply with a series of immediate release products because of hazard of damage and necrosis of the stomach or intestines.

However, taking potassium and all the other cofactors is needed. There is a decision tree off the methylation menu for
distinguishing between low potassium and/or low folate. If all the vitamins and minerals are not taken she will run into an induced deficiency over and over and over again making healing difficult, slow and unpleasant. Understanding it and correcting the problems is far superior to suffering through it. .
 
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