Medicines and other treatments need to be tested. We want reliable proof that something works and is safe before we recommend it. We don’t like the false dichotomy of “alternative medicine”. If there is good evidence that it works, it’s medicine. If it doesn’t work, it’s quackery. It doesn’t matter who’s doing the quacking. A quack is a quack, even if there’s a medical diploma on the wall. The story: a woman brings in her teenage daughter, complaining that the girl is tired a lot. It turns out that mom herself has had some blood tests that showed a low vitamin B12 level, so her doctor is giving her regular B12 injections. Can her daughter get some, too? I realize that B12 injections are common. Many docs administer these, and many adults get these—probably some of you reading this. So what’s the science behind this practice? Vitamin B12 deficiency is a real thing. It can occur because of a poor diet, or because some medications (like acid blockers) interfere with absorption.
Or it can occur because of a specific autoimmune disorder called “Pernicious Anemia.” Whatever the cause, the health consequences of vitamin B12 deficiency can include anemia, neuropathy, irritability, and depression. There is a simple blood test to measure vitamin B12 levels, though the levels in the blood don’t always correlate with whether there are enough B12 levels in the cells themselves. We can test for this, too, indirectly, through other blood tests including methylmalonic acid and homocysteine levels. So we can, in fact, know if a person is truly deficient. These confirmatory tests are rarely done. Instead, many adults are told that their vague symptoms of tiredness or fatigue are caused by B12 deficiency, instead of actually trying to address genuine issues like insufficient sleep, sleep apnea, overreliance on caffeine, and depression (to name a few of the many genuine causes of fatigue.)The treatment of B12 deficiency, as has been established from studies done in the 1960s, is ORAL B12.
Injections of B12 are not necessary—oral supplements work well, even in pernicious anemia. They’re cheap and they work. I suppose a very rare patient, say one who has surgically lost most of their gut, could require injections. But the vast majority of people with genuine B12 deficiency can get all of the B12 they need through eating foods or swallowing supplements. So why this fetish with injections? From the patient’s point of view, shots feel more like something important is going on. Placebos need rituals—with acupuncture, for instance, the elaborate ritual creates an illusion of effectiveness. And from the doctor’s point of view, injections reinforce dependence on the physician, creating visits and cash flow. So: people seem to think they feel better with injections, and the doctor makes a little cash, and everyone’s happy. So what’s the harm in that? I think it’s wrong to knowingly dispense placebos, even harmless ones. We doctors like to criticize the chiropractors and homeopaths.
We’d better take a close look at what we’re doing, first. Our placebos are sometimes far more dangerous than theirs. More importantly, people should be able to expect more from physicians. Patients come to us for genuine answers—if they wanted a witch doctor, they would have found one. I think we need to hold ourselves to a higher standard than a huckster at the carnival. We’re not here to promise that we’ve got all the answers. We are here to be honest, and to use the best knowledge that science has to offer, using genuine compassion and thought. Let’s leave the quacking to the quacks. We’ll stick with real medicine. Roy Benaroch is a pediatrician who blogs at The Pediatric Insider. He is also the author of Solving Health and Behavioral Problems from Birth through Preschool: A Parent’s Guide and A Guide to Getting the Best Health Care for Your Child. About Best Sellers in Vitamin B12 Supplements These lists, updated hourly, contain bestselling items.
Here you can discover the best Vitamin B12 Supplements in Amazon Best Sellers, and find the top 100 most popular Amazon Vitamin B12 Supplements.Your signature on this petition will help us fight for our right to health. UK sufferers of B12 deficiency and PA are routinely resticted or denied access to the life saving 55p vitamin B12 injections they desperately need. Making our life saving, harmless, B12 injections available OTC will transform lives! I created www.b12deficiency.info to help patients find key information on the condition. The majority of UK patients suffering from Vitamin B12 deficiency and auto immune pernicious anaemia (PA), are restricted to a ‘maintenance dose’ of just four B12 (hydroxocobalamin) injections per year. This is tragically under treating a serious and very common deficiency - and this is only if patients are fortunate enough to achieve a diagnosis. This regime is based on saving cash and not care for patients - there is no clinical evidence for this frequency.
B12 deficiency affects both sexes and all ages, but the general misconception is that it only affects women over 60. Many of us inherit this condition and in turn, so do our children. Hundreds of thousands of UK citizens are B12 deficient, there are many symptoms, many causes and it is commonly misdiagnosed. Vitamin B12 has no known toxicity, in fact it is used in huge quantities as a treatment for cyanide poisoning. You cannot overdose on B12 injections. This deficiency can occur for many reasons, these include - inborn errors, parasites, and the use of many common drugs including, metformin and Omeprazole. B12 deficiency affects all body systems, from our brains to the tips of our toes. The protective coating for our nerves is stripped away and our brains start to shrink from a lack and a restriction of a 55 pence B12 injection. Many patients are misdiagnosed with conditions such as Alzheimer's, dementia, Bipolar, Multiple sclerosis, Chronic fatigue syndrome, autism, ADHD, fibromyalgia to name a few.
Countless sufferers remain undiagnosed due to flawed diagnostic tests, a lack of screening and health professionals lack of knowledge of the condition. Removing the classification of POM (Prescription Only Medicine) from our injectable B12 would have a profoundly positive affect on sufferers, their families and society as a whole. Many countries all over the world including EU nations - France, Germany and Spain allow their citizens to buy this essential vitamin over the counter. Please give us the chance for optimum healing by allowing us unrestricted access to the amount of B12 our individual bodies need. We are all at different levels of damage and numerous symptoms are reversible with the right level of treatment if diagnosis is early enough. Each patient is only too aware of when they need another injection but these pleas for help fall on deaf ears. Desperate patients turn to online pharmacies to buy this essential vitamin due to a complete inability to access treatment from their doctors.
Many doctors routinely fail to understand the reality of this debilitating condition. UK pharmacists train to give injections, perhaps they can help to teach us or administer? These injections are vital to people who cannot absorb this life saving vitamin from food. Vitamin B12 is food and we cannot live on just four meals per year. It is worth noting here that B12 deficient dogs are given weekly injections. The RDA for a non deficient patient is 2.5 mcg each day but those of us who cannot absorb B12 are expected to survive for 90 days at a time without it. This is a water soluble vitamin which our bodies cannot retain. It requires frequent replacement. Non deficient patients can freely access additional B12 whenever they need it from their body’s supply of stored B12. B12 deficient patients bodies, do not work in this way. B12 oral tablets will not repair our neurological damage, but frequent injections will. We are at the mercy of health professionals who are not educated adequately about B12 deficiency leaving many sufferers undiagnosed or indeed misdiagnosed.
These same health professionals then follow outdated, restrictive, treatment guidelines which assume each sufferer is the same. B12 deficient patients are commonly labelled as lazy, depressed, hypochondriacs and yet we are routinely denied the vitamin we desperately need to live. A recently published patient survey from the Pernicious anaemia Society, records that nearly two thirds of the 889 respondents were dissatisfied with current treatment and that 14% of patients waited more than ten years for a correct diagnosis. There are many doctors attempting to treat our symptoms with antidepressants, but our B12 deficiency induced depression can dissapear completely with frequent regular administration of this non toxic, nerve repairing vitamin. Some of our doctors who do understand B12 deficiency and pernicious anaemia are reprimanded for prescribing B12 injections for desperately ill symptomatic patients who are ‘within range’ on flawed B12 serum tests. This under treatment renders those of us with this condition - amongst other things - seriously mentally impaired, experiencing debilitating pain, bed ridden, chronically fatigued, at high risk of stroke or heart attack, and unable to walk or to stay awake.
Existing but not ‘living’ makes our lives a misery and our human rights are not being fulfilled. Ian Hudson CEO of MRHA you have an opportunity to rectify this. Our right to health is a fundamental part of our human rights but sadly the vast majority of B12 deficient patients are excluded. Some patients have successfully fought for the right to receive more frequent injections however most of us are denied this luxury. Most don't succeed in educating their doctors and many don't have the energy to fight, so continue to deteriorate steadily. 'The right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health,’ is stated in the 1946 Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO). The NHS Constitution 26th March 2013 states that the NHS 'has a duty to each and every individual that it serves and must respect their human rights.' I inherited B12 deficiency, I cannot absorb B12 from food and I will require injections for life and yet I am not allowed a repeat prescription for this vitamin.
I was diagnosed in 2012 and I am passionate about raising awareness. I know people who have been sectioned due to this condition, who have been misdiagnosed with Parkinson's & Alzheimer’s and who have tried to take their own lives due to lack of adequate treatment. Please sign and share this petition. You will know someone affected by B12 deficiency. All B12 deficient patients want is to be able to be in charge of their own healing. To be allowed the same rights as a diabetic, to be able to buy OTC and self inject this life saving vitamin, as and when they need. False normal B12 results and the risk of neurological damage Professor David Smith and his team have previously shown that high levels of homocysteine and low levels of vitamin B12 were both related to a faster shrinkage of the whole brain (global atrophy). Vitamin B12 safety - High dose Vitamin B12 shown to be safe for more than 50 yearshttp://stichtingb12tekort.nl/wetenschap/stichting-b12-tekort-artikelen/english/treatment-with-high-dose-vitamin-b12-been-shown-to-be-safe-for-more-than-50-years/