Karen Wantuck , Patient

Her Personal Story about B-12 Injections

Immediately after diagnosis (and MRI which substantiated the docs diagnosis after my description of the pain) I was put on a course of Carbatrol (a time release form of Tegritol) which helped initially but gradually required more and more dosage due to breakthrough pain. Because of possible side affects, I didn't want to take more.

After reading about B12 injections in the TN newsletter, I spoke to a Cuban immigrant neurologist who said giving such injections was a matter of course in Cuba. He gave me the injections, every day, then every other day, then every other week. Within a few months I was pain free and have remained so for a year. When I told my American doctor about the success of B12 she said she could not recommend it to her patients "because it is not an approved treatment". I would hope that the TNA will work to make doctors and the Federal government aware of this treatment as an approved course for TN paid in the future so that all TN patients will find the relief I have achieved.

 I have been pain free for about a year and half. I also do take one Carbitrol per day (I wanted to stop but the neurologist said not to). If I feel I twinge, I inject the B12. The Cuban neurologist said that it is important to keep levels of B12 high and that if I feel pain it means that I'm low on B12 in my system.

Post Script

I had been feeling so well that I actually stopped taking the B12 for about six months but recently I spoke again with the Cuban doc and he advised that I never totally stop injecting the B12. He feels, much like the American neurologist who doesn't want me to stop the one a day Carbitrol, that levels need to be maintained in the body. But the temptation is there to just stop taking everything when I feel so well. If the literature is accurate, as we age we don't metabolize the B vitamins like we used to, so an extra boost certainly can't hurt (you can't overdose on B12, by the way, since anything not needed will be flushed naturally from the system).

Prior to injecting the vitamin, I did try the sublingual drops and they didn't help at all.

Updated 1-6-05