How to Order B12 Injections

Your doctor injects B12 into your arm, buttocks or thigh muscles.

Necessary for the formation of red blood cells and healthy nerve cells, vitamin B12 exists as one of the most important B vitamins. Pernicious anemia, a dangerous condition, happens when your body cannot absorb vitamin B12, with symptoms such as memory loss, confusion, numbness and loss of balance. The prescribed treatment includes B12 injections where you receive or give yourself injections into your thigh, arm or buttocks muscle. These injections require your doctor's permission and you receive the B12 and needles from your pharmacist. Vegetarians and the elderly may need B12 injections since they can become deficient or they can take high doses of oral B12 found in health food stores. Vitamin B12 injections also has a growing popularity as a possible weight loss treatment, an energy boost and for a sense of well-being.

Things You'll Need

• Doctor or health care provider
• Shilling test
• Blood tests

Instructions

1. Call your doctor or health care provider for a B12 test. This test, called the Schilling test, shows whether your body can absorb B12 normally and if you need B12 injections.

2. Receive B12 injections two to four days each week by your doctor until improvements show on your blood tests. Then you may receive injections monthly.

3. Give yourself B12 injections at home after learning how from your doctor or health care provider, usually into the front or side of your thigh muscle. Make certain you understand completely how to inject yourself safely. With your doctor's permission, your pharmacy will directly ship injectable B12 to you.

4. Call your doctor if you miss a prescribed B12 dose.

Tips & Warnings

• Vegans and vegetarians can also get plant-based sources of vitamin B12 from blue-green algae-like spirulina and fermented soybeans, such as tempeh.

• Consult with your doctor about taking oral B12 as an alternative to getting B12 shots. High doses start at 1,000 mcg and sublingual tablets, which dissolve under your tongue, produce better results than ordinary B12 tablets.

• Although rare, you may experience serious side effects from injections of B-12, possibly from the preservatives they contain. Side effect signs include face, throat, tongue or lip swelling, difficulty breathing, chest pain, hives, fast weight gain, unusual pain or warmth in your leg or arm, fever, numbness, nausea, diarrhea, dizziness and headache.

• Do not get B12 injections if you have allergies to cobalt.

• Do not use B12 medication if you have Leber's disease because cyanocobalamin, the man-made form of B12, can cause blindness with this disease.

• Consult your doctor if you become pregnant or switch to a vegetarian diet. Your B12 injection doses will change in these circumstances.

References

• University of Maryland Medical Center: Vitamin B12 (cobalamin)
• The Harvard Medical School Family Guide: Are You Getting Enough Of This Vitamin?
• Drugs: Vitamin B12

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• NYU Langone Medical Center: Vitamin B12 Deficiency
• PubMed Central: Vitamin B12 Injections Versus Oral Supplements.
• Strimoo: B12 Injections