Vitamin B12: An Essential nutrient for mood, energy, and cognition
If you suffer from any of the following you may have suboptimal levels of B12:
- Weakness, fatigue, or low energy
- Shortness of breath
- Heart palpitations
- Digestive issues such as diarrhea or constipation
- Anemia, frequent bruising or bleeding
- Depression, anxiety, or insomnia mood
- Numbness and tingling in hands or feet
- Brain fog, memory loss, confusion, and/or dementia
- Frequent colds, lowered immunity
- PMS, menopause
- Thyroid and/or adrenal imbalance
- Acne
- Slow metabolism, difficulty maintaining a healthy weight
About Vitamin B12:
B12 deficiency causes a long list of symptoms because B12 and other B vitamins support a wide array of biochemical processes. They promote strong immunity, cognition/memory, improved mood, hormonal balance – particularly reproductive, thyroid, adrenal hormones and neurotransmitters.
B12 is an essential “gatekeeper” for allowing nutrients into and waste out of cells. When cells are nourished, they create more ATP (aka cellular energy). When your cells have more energy, YOU have more energy.
- Your body needs B12 to create energy & is not well absorbed from the diet or in capsule form.
- Everyone can benefit from a B12 shot – especially those who live a busy life, athletes, seniors, vegetarians, vegans, and people on prescription meds like acid blockers and birth control.
- After B12 injections many patients feel a natural (not jittery) boost in energy.
Why B12 Injections? Can’t I get it from my diet or take a pill?
Vitamin B12 is found primarily in animal products – it is highest in organ meats (liver) and in clams. Since most people don’t eat large amounts of these foods, even people who eat a healthy omnivorous diet can wind up deficient. B12 also requires a robust digestive system to be absorbed, so if your digestion is less than optimal, oral B12 sources may not be assimilated into the cells. The effects of high cortisol and stress on the digestive system also inhibit B12 absorption. Because B12 is difficult to absorb through the digestive tract, vitamin B12 injections have increased in popularity in recent years.
How do I know if I’m low in B12?
Many doctors will run serum B12 levels but testing levels of a nutrient in the serum tells us nothing about the intracellular levels. Since all of the action takes place inside the cell, the serum levels aren’t very informative. Testing methylmalonic acid is a more accurate way to test B12 status. Other tests that may be helpful when evaluating B12 levels are MTHFR genetic polymorphism analysis, homocysteine and a CBC.
Above all, if you have any of the symptoms on the list above, you can always try B12 injections and see if your symptoms resolve. Since there are very few side effects and no toxicity related to B12 supplementation, it’s worth a shot.
When/Where can I get a B12 injection?
We now offer high quality Vitamin B12 (methyl or hydroxy cobalamin) injections at Rocky Mountain Natural Medicine.
Additional Resources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3934218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19151237
http://www.bloodjournal.org/content/bloodjournal/129/19/2603.full.pdf?sso-checked=true