At Soza Clinic in Richardson, TX, we often see clients come in at the end of their rope. They have tried everything in their power to lose weight, including fad diets. But they just can’t lose excess weight and keep it off. Today, we reveal whether now is the right time for you to get a vitamin B12 injection. It may be just what you need to change your life.
14 Signs You Should Get a Vitamin B12 Injection
1. You Smoke
If you smoke, there is an excellent chance now is the right time to get a vitamin B-12 injection. There are over 100 chemical compounds in cigarettes and other tobacco products that wreak havoc on your body. One of these is nicotine. Nicotine elevates your blood pressure by constricting your blood vessels. This makes essential nutrient delivery harder.
If you can’t quit smoking, you can mitigate this by eating nutritious foods, taking nutritional supplements and receiving a regular vitamin B12 injection. How frequently you need to receive B12 shots depends on the medical conditions you suffer from due to vitamin B12 deficiency. When we review your health during your initial consultation, we’ll develop a treatment schedule for you.
2. You Consume Excessive Amounts of Alcohol
Like nicotine consumption, the consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol can lead to vitamin B12 deficiency. Alcohol wreaks havoc on your body in many ways, including acting as a diuretic. This means you flush out essential nutrients, like vitamin B12, through excessive urination.
Moreover, excessive alcohol consumption elevates your blood pressure and makes your circulatory system deliver essential nutrients to your body much less efficiently. If you’re concerned about the symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency, consume no more alcohol than recommended by the American Heart Association and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
3. You Suffer From Gastrointestinal Distress
If you suffer from a gastrointestinal disorder, such as Crohn’s disease or celiac disease, you should get a vitamin B12 injection. Such conditions can prevent your body from absorbing the essential nutrient or inhibit the release of the nutrient.
Moreover, you should receive a vitamin B12 shot if you have undergone GI surgery, including bariatric surgery. Such procedures decrease the number of cells in your stomach needed to secrete stomach acid and absorb vitamin B12. If your stomach struggles to produce enough stomach acid, injections are much better than oral supplements due to their bioavailability.
4. You Are Over the Age of 64
Extensive research shows that people aged 65 or more are at a significant risk of developing vitamin B12 deficiency. When you reach the age of 65, you are much more likely to suffer from medical conditions, like atrophic gastritis, that reduce the ability to produce stomach acid.
Even worse, with lower levels of stomach acid comes the perfect breeding ground for gut bacteria that consume your body’s limited supply of vitamin B12. In fact, the Institute of Medicine recommends that adults aged 51 and over take vitamin B12 shots because they are more bioavailable than vitamin B12 found in oral supplements and foods.
5. You Are a Vegetarian or Vegan
If you are a vegetarian or vegan, you may suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency. In nature, vitamin B12 is primarily found in fish, meat, eggs, and dairy. If you restrict most or all of these wonderful vitamin B12 sources from your diet, you are at a high risk of vitamin B12 deficiency.
6. You Are Pregnant
If you are pregnant, we strongly recommend that you receive vitamin B12 shots. A fetus consumes a great deal of vitamin B12 through a woman’s placenta. Upon birth, infants consume a lot of vitamin B12 when breastfeeding.
If your body does not get enough vitamin B12 for itself, your baby will not get enough vitamin B12 until he or she stops breastfeeding. Unfortunately, vitamin B12 deficiency during infancy results in severe, permanent neurological damage. Do not put your baby’s health at risk. Call Soza Clinic today to book an appointment.
7. You Can’t Lose Weight
Most of our clients inquire about vitamin B12 shots because they heard it could help them lose weight. This is absolutely true. There are several ways vitamin B12 shots help to facilitate weight loss. For instance, it revs the metabolism, meaning your body burns more calories in a given period, even when at rest.
For instance, vitamin B12 activates succinyl-CoA. Succinyl-CoA plays a key role in the Krebs cycle. The Krebs cycle refers to a series of chemical reactions found in living cells that produce energy during aerobic respiration. Essentially, it allows your body to break down carbohydrates and fat for fuel and metabolize protein for muscle-building.
8. You Are Losing Muscle Mass or Strength
Your overall metabolism is incredibly important for weight loss and maintenance. However, your metabolism will be even higher if you have a significant amount of muscle mass. Unfortunately, you can push your muscles to failure and eat all the protein in the world. But your body won’t build muscle if the Krebs cycle is impeded.
If you suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency, you may notice that you are losing muscle strength or mass. This is because your body can’t metabolize protein needed to build or maintain muscle mass. Muscle mass plays an incredibly important role in weight loss and weight maintenance because muscle is over three times more metabolically active than fat.
9. You Suffer From a Mood Disorder
If you suffer from a mood disorder, such as major depressive disorder or generalized anxiety disorder, you are in good company. Unfortunately, such conditions can lead to binging on calorie-dense foods and being unhealthily inactive. Therefore, an easy life hack for weight loss is to treat any mood disorders you suffer from.
Enter vitamin B12 shots. Vitamin B12 is often recommended for the treatment of anxiety and depression. To date, nearly a decade of research has pointed to vitamin B12 as a safe, effective treatment of depression and anxiety. By treating vitamin B12 deficiency, you can lose weight by having the motivation to exercise and not having the urges to binge eat and drink.
10. You Have Difficulty Seeing
If you have noticed a recent decline in your vision, there is a pretty good chance now is the time to consider vitamin B12 shots. You probably know carrots, which are very high in beta carotene, are good for poor vision. Vitamin B12 deficiency often leads to nervous system damage that damages the optic nerve leading to your eyes.
As a result, you may experience chronic blurred vision or difficulty seeing things at a distance. While these conditions sound alarming, there is no need to worry if you act quickly. As soon as you suspect you suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency, receive vitamin B12 shots and change your diet to mitigate your risk of vitamin B12 deficiency in the future.
11. You Have Pale or Jaundiced Skin
Jaundice is a condition commonly associated with vitamin C deficiency. Its most common signs include a slight yellow tinge to the whites of the eyes and skin. However, it may also present itself as pale skin. Either way, it is often caused by a deficiency in vitamin B12. This is because vitamin B12 plays a key role in the DNA production required to make red blood cells.
When your body doesn’t produce enough red blood cells, you develop a type of anemic condition known as megaloblastic anemia. This causes the existing red blood cells in your bone marrow to become fragile and exceptionally large. These large, fragile red blood cells pass into your bloodstream through your bone marrow and break down, causing excessive bilirubin.
12. You Feel Fatigued
Vitamin B12 deficiency doesn’t just cause weight gain by leading to a loss of muscle mass. Likewise, excessive inactivity doesn’t just come as a side effect of depression. You may gain weight if you suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency because you are simply too fatigued to exercise enough. Fatigue is often caused by an inability to transport enough oxygen to your body’s cells.
This is a type of anemia that is known to cause weight gain. It is known to the medical community as pernicious anemia and is identifiable by a low red blood cell count. Your red blood cells, among other functions, transport oxygen to all of your body’s cells. Moreover, this condition leads to a low level of intrinsic factor, a protein that prevents vitamin B12 deficiency.
13. You Feel Pins and Needles
If you feel pins and needles, you have suffered from nerve damage. There are several causes of nerve damage. However, one of the most common is vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 plays an important role in the production of myelin, a fatty substance that surrounds your nerves, insulating and protecting them.
When your body doesn’t have enough vitamin B12, myelin is produced differently and your nervous system functions improperly. Specifically, nerve damage caused by vitamin B12 most often affects the extremities (hands and feet). However, it may also affect other parts of your body, like your legs, neck or arms.
14. Your Mobility Changes
Are you more inactive because your balance has diminished dramatically? Are you much less coordinated than you were a year ago? Are you afraid of falling when you stand up or try to walk? If so, you may have a damaged nervous system that affects the way you walk, move and keep your balance. Vitamin B12 shots can help.
Am I a Good Candidate for Vitamin B12 Shots?
During your initial consultation, we will review your medical history and test your serum vitamin B12 levels to determine if you suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency. In general, nearly everyone is a good candidate for vitamin B12 shots. However, there are a few rare cases where this treatment is not recommended.
Medications
To determine if you are a good candidate for vitamin B12 shots, we will consider all medications you are currently taking and have taken recently. We need to know if you are taking or have taken any of the following:
- Oral contraceptives
- Metformin
- H2 receptor antagonists
- Antibiotics
- Aspirin
- Proton pump inhibitors
Allergies and Medical Conditions
When considering your candidacy for this life-changing treatment, we must also consider allergies and certain medical conditions. These include:
- Allergy to cobalt or cyanocobalamin
- Kidney disease
- Hypokalemia
- Polycythemia vera
- Leber’s disease
- Iron or folic acid deficiency
Schedule Your Initial Consultation Today
Have you tried for years to lose weight unsuccessfully? Have you lost weight in the past only to gain it back and then some? If so, a vitamin B12 injection may be right for you. To determine if now is the right time for you to receive this revolutionary weight-loss treatment, please contact us today at Soza Clinic in Richardson, TX to schedule your initial consultation.
