B12 injections

[Dee2938 71]

At my orientation the nurse said that after surgery I’ll need to have a Vitamin B12 injection once a month for the rest of my life. However, there was a post op patient in the room who said the doc told her she could do daily b12 pills every day and not need a monthly shot.

Do any of you do the B12 injections? Or do you take a pill? Do you notice any difference?

[froufrou 678]

I give myself a B12 shot once a month. Yes, I notice a difference with my energy and mood. I have a history of low B12 (lifelong vegetarian) and so I need to do the shots - they are easy to administer. I buy the B12 online and the syringes from Amazon. Easy peasy. Trouble is with pills is you tend to just pee them out.

[Lynda486 784]

That is a good question. I don't know from personal experience, but I work in a medical clinic and we have patients that come in for monthly injections and swear by them.

[Lynda486 784]

22 minutes ago, froufrou said:

I give myself a B12 shot once a month. Yes, I notice a difference with my energy and mood. I have a history of low B12 (lifelong vegetarian) and so I need to do the shots - they are easy to administer. I buy the B12 online and the syringes from Amazon. Easy peasy. Trouble is with pills is you tend to just pee them out.

Good to know! Thanks for the information!

[RickM 1,753]

With a sleeve, you generally don't need to worry much about B12 - some may be inherently low on their own pre-op, so they need to continue doing whatever it is they do (or start doing something to make up for always being low...) pills usually work fine with the sleeve; the bypass is a different animal and usually needs B12 either as an injection or a sublingual tablet, as their stomach doesn't process it well.

The real test is what your labs say over the years as that will guide you as to what you need. I had already been taking a B complex pill before surgery and continued it after and that always pegged my B12 well above the normal range; I don't take it anymore and my B12 remains in the high end of the normal range just from diet.

YMMV (your mileage may vary)

[sillykitty 10,781]

I was very week and shaky at about 2 weeks post op. I wasn't sure what the issue was, but my surgeon's office gave me a B12 shot and it cleared up nearly immediately. I then got regular shots for the next few months. Once I wasn't going in as regularly for check up, I switched over to a once a week sublingual, and have been fine since.

[catwoman7 11,225]

RNY patients can take either sublingual B12 tablets (but not regular tablets) or B12 injections. VSG patients are not as prone to deficiencies, so you may be able to take a regular tablet. But if not, I would think sublingual would work for sleevers as well since they're fine for RNY'ers (who again, are at greater risk for Vitamin deficiency).

[gabybab 696]

I give myself an injection monthly. In fact I took it last night. I'm not sure if it gives me more energy, but I have my 6 month appt today.. Hopefully my labs will be good.