B12 shot frequency & amount range for different people?

[Bluelude1]

There seems to be a pretty wide range between what is recommended & what people actually take/need when it comes to methylcobalamin shots.

What's the upper limit range required for people with higher B12 needs, like pernicious anemia, to function optimally?

 

[valentinelynx]

I do not know if there's an answer to your question. I do know that my doctor prescribes what seem to be extraordinary doses: 10 mg three times per week. There's no upper limit for B12: it's safe and any unused by the body is just eliminated in the urine. There's some possible exceptions: ultra high doses may exacerbate acne or rosacea, may not be a good idea if you have diabetic nephropathy (although this finding was for high dose B vitamins not specifically B12, so it may have been other B vitamins responsible) or if you are pregnant (a possible link between ultra high maternal blood levels of folate and B12 and ASD). If your current dose feels inadequate, you might try more.

 

[Bluelude1]

The wording of my question really wasn't great.

Pretty much everything I've read online ranges between 1mg 3x a week to 5mg 1x a week. That may be fine, but people on here seem to be far more aware of what is needed than the general guidelines which is why I was curious what people actually took (in shots)

 

[valentinelynx]

I was curious what people actually took (in shots)

Well, as I said: 10 mg three times per week, subcutaneous.

 

[Johannes]

5mg ampoulle twice a week devided to four injections. I tried 2 x 5mg per week but 5mg gave me unpleasant feeling. Then I contacted the pharmacy that manufactures methylcobalamin ampoulles and they said it is safe to divide it into two injections so I actually get 4 x 2,5mg weekly. I have COMT 472 G-->A and MTRR 66 A-->G genemutations which may influence my need for methylcobalamin.

Swedish recearchers found that CFS patients have eccessive amounts of homocysteine in their brain. Too much homocysteine in the brain can cause depression, anxiety, low mental stress treshold, problems to remember and problems to concentrate and brainfog. I have all of these symptoms. Methylcomalamine injections help me with the symptoms a lot. I very seldom have these symptoms. But methyl cobalamine doesn't give me more energy. I have noticed that folate with B12 even increases the efficacy of vitamin B12. I inject folate twice a week 500ug. I have to inject myself because I am sensitive to all drugs and supplements but these injections don't cause me any sensivity symptoms.

I also inject subcutaneously. My dosage has been tested during a long time and finetuned with a doctor to be the best for me.

 

[valentinelynx]

Swedish recearchers found that CFS patients have eccessive amounts of homocysteine in their brain.

That's interesting. I looked up the research, and here's a link to the article @Johannes speaks of:
Increased Concentrations of Homocysteine in the Cerebrospinal Fluid in Patients with Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, B. Regland, M. Andersson, L. Abrahamsson, J. Bagby, L. E. Dyrehag & C. G. Gottfries
Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology, Volume 26, 1997 - Issue 4, Published Online: 12 Jul 2009

It was a small study, published in 1997, and I was unable to see the whole article tonight because I can't reach sci-hub right now. I would be interested to see the actual statistics and the diagnostic criteria they used. The abstract merely says the subjects "met the criteria for both fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome". I also looked at a paper these authors wrote on developing the "FibroFatigue" scale in 2002. These researchers, while being psychiatrists, don't appear to have a bias towards CFS being a psychosomatic illness, which is refreshing.

I found it interesting that, although the patients in the homocysteine/B12 study had elevated CSF homocysteine and low B12, the serum levels were not abnormal. My serum homocysteine levels have always been normal despite having the homozygous MTRR 66 A-->G mutation, and I had wondered therefore about the necessity for supplementation. This study suggests that, yes, it may well be important to supplement with met-B12 and methyl-folate if you have MTHR mutations, because the problem is in the CNS, not the serum.

 

[Johannes]

Here is another study from Sweden. Here one can see a typical dosing for methyl cobalamine injections in Sweden. Interesting is that the longer the patients had injected B12, the better their health, especially, if they used oral folate at the same time. People who had had injections for more than two years felt better that the people who had injected less. But this study did not mention anything about gene mutations, which, in my opinion, would have big effect to their results.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIBhAE&usg=AOvVaw1OTZhDDa5H6WBWlwAiZrDX