THE mB12 SHOT: Our Experience and Some Handy Tips...

I could handle the various supplements: liquids and pills. What I wasn’t prepared for was the injection the Doctor prescribed. “You’ve got to be kidding!” I said to myself. Instantly I flashed back to a time in my early 20’s when our beloved, elderly black lab was in decline and needed injections for something-or-other. But this wasn’t a dog whose scruff I could grasp and jab with a needle. The doctor must have seen my wan face. ‘Just practice on an orange.’ He suggested. Nice idea, I thought, but her cute little, pink, diaper-clad butt was nowhere close to the same as a tough-skinned, nerve-lacking orange! I chose not to practice on that orange, though why, I don’t remember. Perhaps it’s because my motto’s generally: “Why do it the easy way when I can do it the hard way”.

No one likes the feel of a shot and I likened giving one to my ‘sensory’ child to putting my hand on hot coals. Not really something I’d enjoy doing. I looked into the Emla cream, a skin-numbing cream commonly used among our set, but was not going to pay $65.00 dollars a tube for it! Yikes! She was going to have to learn how to tough it out. Life is hard and there was no time like the present.

During the getting-ready-for-bed routine I announced she was going to get a shot, and I used the same sort of sing-song voice one would use when offering an ice-cream cone. Not really understanding what I meant by 'shot', she was very compliant and lay on her tummy. Since I was already using a breathing techique when she got panicky, I employed the same technique here. Breath in for 1&2 then out for 3&4 and we did it together while I got the needle at the correct angle, ready to inject. When she (and I) was calm and ready, which was about 4-5 breaths, I told her 'on the next number three' and as she began to breathe out, I injected, sure and swift. Then dabbed with the alcohol swab, put a funky bandaid on, and gave her a hug and praise. Simple. Right?

…I guarantee you there was way more moisture on my brow than there was in her eye.

She was uncomplaining until the third or fourth injection a couple of weeks later. At that point she was beginning to understand this was not only hurting, it wasn’t going away! As this was not an optional treatment, I let her take what "control" she could. She could choose floor or bed to lie on. I let her pick into which 'cheek' she wanted the shot and I let her tear the cover off her bandaid. Perhaps most importantly, I let her give a pretend injection to one of her stuffed animals using her recapped needle. Now, some might gasp at that, but, instead, I took the opportunity to talk about the needle, showed her how it worked, (she's a gear-head), needle safety and the rules of her syringe: This was the ONLY time she could do this with her animal. NO OTHER. PERIOD. (I do dispose of them properly.)

She mimicked everything we did, rubbing the bottom, breathing, "placing" the bandaid, and giving the bear a hug. She did that for about 3-4 weeks, and now no longer needs to do it. Also at the time, I told her that the boy she had met several months prior, who was her age, was diabetic and that he had to have shots lots of times a day. She was very impressed by this and really didn't complain much after that. She used to ask if it was "shot night"...which might have been her anxiety talking, but she rarely whines about it now. She's a good sport and I let her know how brave she is every time we do it.

It took us 3 weeks to see the full impact of this supplement. Improvements included: better compliance, better language, eliminated night wakings, night mares and night terrors. As I had started pulling gluten and casein around the same time, I wasn’t sure exactly what benefits we were seeing from the mB12, so a few months later we stopped them. Within three weeks her night wakings were back, she was less compliant and she just didn’t ‘have it together’.

The first few were hard for me but the more I did, the more confident I became. Some quick tips. (This is by no-means comprehensive.):

• Shots are injected at the subcutaneous level. Fat allows for slow release absorption. When injected into the muscle, some positive response from mB12 will be present, but the long-term benefits will not take place leading the parent to think the shot is not working.
  Inject at about a 10-30 degree angle.
• When injected into the buttocks, once every three days is generally adequate.
• Some people let it get up to room temperature before injection. Remember that it should not be exposed to direct light.
• Do not hesitate when inserting the needle. Sure & swift is the most kind.
• Some apply Emla cream or other anesthetic cream and do the injection while their child is distracted or asleep. Different creams have different effect times. Wait for the cream to take effect before injecting. To know how your cream works, apply the cream to the inside of your child’s thigh, then use a pin to determine how long it takes to work and how long before it wears off. This is your window of shot-administration time.
• Morning is recommended as the best time to administer. We started in the evening and had no problem. However, until you know whether the shot increases hyperactivity, you might want to start in the morning.
• Some children become more hyperactive after the addition of mB12. This may be a temporary side effect or it may indicate the need for additional Folic Acid/Folinic Acid/Folapro. Folic Acid helps with the absorption of B-vitamins.
• Continuing hyperactivity may also indicate yeast overgrowth, as B-vitamins tend to increase yeast.
• If a red ‘blister’ develops at the shot site it is usually an indicator that the angle of injection was too shallow.
• Injections can be done in the belly, arm or leg fat, however because of the high fat content, best results are obtained when the injection is done in the bottocks.
• Red/pink urine shortly after injection indicates that you have injected into the muscle.
• Typical response time is many hours to days. If you have a rapid response after injection, a few minutes to a couple of hours, you’ve injected into muscle.

This really is a must-read if you are doing, or thinking about doing, the mB12 shots:
http://www.drneubrander.com/Files/READ%20ME,%20Injection%20Instructions%20for%20Methyl-B12%20Shots.pdf

You can see videos about giving the shots: http://www.drneubrander.com/dev/index.html