You may be better off with the small insulin needles and .5ml of B12.
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RML, I used to give myself B-12 shots many years ago. I can't remember exactly when, some time in the early 1990s? So it's been about 20 years.
I'm chiming in now because of what Mary said about the needles. I also used the small insulin needles. I bought packages of needles at a pharmacy (back in the days when you had to buy things from a store, in person, LOL!). And I bought small B-12 vials from a naturopathic doctor (ND).
I gave myself shots in the thigh (quadriceps, in the top part of the thigh that makes up your lap) and it never hurt me much at all. So maybe what Mary says using smaller needles and smaller dosage would help you? Oh, and injecting the B-12 fairly slowly is also helpful.
By the way, I did this for about 2 years, maybe longer, but I never saw much of a positive effect. Definitely no extra energy.
I think the shots may have reduce my fasciculations (muscle twitches) but that's all I ever noticed. I kept on doing the shots for so long because I was hoping that they were doing something positive for me that I simply could not detect. (there was a lot of wishful/desperate thinking going on back then...) The shots had no negative side effects, and definitely were not painful, or I would have stopped doing them.
Of course, since the time when I was doing B-12 shots there have been all sorts of different issues having to do with the type of B-12, the amount, and so on. I don't know anything about that at all. I just wanted to comment on the needle size and the pain issue. I hope you find something that works for you.
PS. I should add that the B-12 was definitely getting into my bloodstream. A blood test that I had during that time showed a *really high* level of B-12, so much that it actually worried one of my doctors (the neurologist, I think?) until I explained that I was taking B-12 shots.