Can I Still Have Low B12 Despite Injections

by Julie
(London , UK)

I have Crohn's disease and I had part of my bowel removed about 20 years ago. I was diagnosed as having low B12 a year ago and have an injection every 3 months. For the past 3 weeks I've been feeling really tired again, headaches and poor memory. I asked my doctor if they needed to check my B12 level and he said no as I would have more B12 than any normal person!! What should I do?

Comments for Can I Still Have Low B12 Despite Injections

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Need to Do More Research
by: Kerri Knox, Registered Nurse

Hi Julie,

I've already answered all of your questions on this site. So, please DO look around and read more pages since you would have likely got the answer just by looking around for it a little bit more.

So, first off, why do you think that you need B12 shots? B12 is processed in the stomach, not in the bowels, so bowel removal is not an indication for needing B12 shots. Besides, that's what they make sublingual B12 for- to bypass the digestive tract and go right into your bloodstream. Please see my page on Vitamin B12 Shot Problems to see why no one should get shots anyway.

Next, B12 deficiency is not the only deficiency that makes one feel bad. Please see my pages on Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency

and

Signs of magnesium Deficiency.

Then, you might want to ask yourself why you had Crohn's in the first place. Despite doctors just cutting out the part of your body that was affected, they rarely investigate how or why a person develops Crohn's disease. The most common answer that is almost always left undiagnosed is Gluten Sensitivity.

Take a look around and you'll find a LOT of answers to your problems that I've already discussed at length.

Kerri Knox, Registered Nurse

Incorrect information provided by RN
by: Anonymous

It worries me that this RN has provided you with such incorrect information. She told you that b12 is "processed" in the stomach and that bowel surgery is not an indication for b12 injections. Totally incorrect. B12 is absorbed in the ileum, a part of your small intestine. Crohn’s disease can effect any part of the GI system from rectum to esophagus so it is possibly that this person had her ileum resected. B12 requires intrinsic factor (which is made by cells in the stomach) to be absorbed in the ileum. Maybe this is what RN meant by "processed". So things like anti parietal cell antibodies or anti intrinsic factor antibodies (auto immune type diseases) can prevent absorption, as well as full/partial gastrectomy surgery (less likely but still possible with Crohn’s). Anything effecting either the stomach or the ileum could cause b12 that is resistant to oral replacement. In both cases, Intramuscular injections (IM) should work.

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