Joanmarie, I'm glad you got this answer. A B12 deficiency can cause all kinds of neurological symptoms! Your neuro may not know if you are better until months later.

When I had my B12 deficiency back in 1999, I was beginning to have dementia. My B12 had been slowly going down for years. I did the B12 cyanocobalamin shot thing for the first year and did NOT get better. And why would you want a shot that has cyanide in it anyway?

When I started methylcobalamin sublingual B12 in 2000, that's when my symptoms started going away. Because it took so long for GOOD healing, I have permanent damage in my ankles/feet. You don't want to have hot, burning feet for the rest of your life!

Cyanide is used in the purification process when making cyanocobalamin. Cyanocobalamin needs to be processed by the liver into methylcobalamin in order for your body to use it. So the shot does not go to work right away. Sublingual methylcobalamin goes to work right away in the body, in the cells that have been deprived of the B12. Some gets stored in the liver and the rest gets urinated out.

I am very passionate about this topic because it took so long to get this figured out and I had to BEG my doctor twice to run the test. And I had gotten so bad before I was taken seriously. A B12 deficiency usually doesn't kill anyone anymore, although it did before those shots, but it can do major damage to the body.

PLEASE do not only do the shots. Get some methylcobalamin. www.iherb.com has supplements that cost much less than in the stores. I've been using them since 1999. I use the Source Naturals because I like the flavor of it and it works (have been tested off and on since). Some people like the Jarrow brand. If you have more questions about this, you can ask Mrs. D. about it.

You can't overdose on B12. Studies have shown it does not do damage in high doses. It's a quite unique vitamin and many people have deficiencies of it (particularly older people who don't have enough stomach acid).

I have put up studies from PubMed here before. It's proven that sublingual B12 is as good if not better than those shots. And you need to think of the B12 issue not only as what you consume but what you use up. When you are deficient, you use up much more than people who aren't.

Enough of the lecture. I'm glad you know you are deficient. I hope you will do everything you can to help yourself. And don't forget to have folic acid in a supplement too. You need to take B12 and folic acid together because the lack of one can cause a deficiency of the other.

I hope you feel better soon.

Annie