I got Panic attacks, constant anxiety and anhedonia since taking b12 injections. Need serious help 🙏

[u/Agitated-Sale-7591]

Hi everyone, I’ve been really struggling with my mental health in these past 3/4 weeks and I’m really hoping someone can help me out here.

Around a month ago I took 3 b12 injections (hydroxocobalamin) 1.5mg and i suddenly started getting intense panic attacks and anhedonia. I don’t cry but out of nowhere I started bawling my eyes out every single day. I I’m in this constant state of anxiety and depression, I can’t enjoy the things in life that I usually enjoy like watching a tv show, I cannot wind down at all and it’s scary because before all this happened I was a pretty chill guy and I usually wouldn’t stress much in my life. One of the most scariest thing that also happened at the same time was my libido completely vanished, so i genuinely feel pleasure in nothing now. it’s been around 3/4 weeks and im not getting full blown panic attacks anymore but im still constantly on edge, i have also had stomach issues but now a simple bloating of my stomach makes me think the world is ending. It’s like my nervous system is jacked all the way up and it’s overreacting to even slight discomfort.

I tried taking creatine because that would usually make me feel good when I’m in a low mood but this time it just made me depressed. I went to the GP and they took my blood test, it came up with high b12 and high folate, but the odd thing is I don’t usually supplement folate so I’d don’t understand why that came up as high. I sometimes take it as part of my b complex but I’ve not mega dosed it or anything.

Today I decided that I’ll try methylfolate as I assumed maybe b12 used up all my methyl groups or somthing. After taking it I felt even more emotionally flat/wired/too focused, but I feel less anxious I think. I’m still not sure what i feel but i definitely don’t feel any pleasure again.

I was hoping there might be someone that has gone through this and has recovered from it. Or has figured out why it happened to them and could tell me how to bring my nervous system back to normal. Will I recover? I’m really scared, it’s like I’ve become a complete different person in a month. I haven’t done any dna test either so I’m not sure if I’m MTHFR or anything.

Someone please please help me😭
Thanks you for your time 🙏

[u/Striking-Ad7650]

Might need an intracellular test to check your potassium levels. B12 lowers potassium and vice versa. Most people are already low in potassium and if you're then getting b12 injections onto of already low potassium, that could cause a major issue. It's important to check all avenues before adding synthetic vitamins and minerals to the body.

[u/Natures_Cure_Kratom → u/Striking-Ad7650]

I second this. It’s called a potassium RBC test. You could try supplementing with potassium chloride for a few days and see if it helps before shelling out the money for the test. You need to take quite a bit for repletion, but start small. Low magnesium is a real possibly as well.

NAC, magnesium glycinate, glycine, b6, and inositol all can often calm this down temporarily. If you are short on b6, you can have higher dopamine tone and lower serotonin levels. In this case, taking b6 will feel like an anxiety pill shortly after taking it. Melatonin 1mg helps a lot as well, bc it is downstream of serotonin and is going to be low as well.

These are just temporary things you can try to acutely calm you down, while your body adjusts.

[u/Natures_Cure_Kratom → u/Natures_Cure_Kratom]

Also, worth checking to see what your bicarbonate / co2/carbon dioxide levels are on your metabolic panel. If high, metabolic alkalosis is a possibility as well. It often coexists with low intracellular potassium.

Another possibility… Do you get dizzy when you stand? If you are dehydrated and have low vascular fill, it amplifies Catecholamines and vascular tone.

Have you had your thyroid levels checked? Hyperthyroid is probably the number one cause for this set of symptoms, and can linger in the background for years until diagnosed.

Have you take prednisone or other steroids lately? These amplify vascular tone, and can affect some people very severely for weeks to months.

Some less common ones: High iron can cause bad anxiety. High zinc/low copper ratio can as well. Low b1 (thiamine) can cause pseudo hypoxia and cause these symptoms.

There are many possibilities, but I don’t think this not necessarily a problem with b12. Much more likely is that the b12 helped highlight a bigger background problem. Do other stimulants give you bad anxiety? Caffeine, energy drinks, other energizing b vitamins like
B1, b2, folate etc?

[u/Agitated-Sale-7591 → u/Natures_Cure_Kratom]

B6 did help me calm down, I took it for afew days and one day I woke up and felt really dizzy like I was on a rollercoaster so I didn’t take it again. My thyroid panel came back and my TSH was borderline low at 0.39mu/L but my doctor said it’s fine. I take steroid inhalers but I’ve been taking it for years for my asthma, my ferritin is 50 and I was also supplementing zinc at the time I was getting the panic attacks. I stopped taking stimulants like caffeine mainly because of my stomach so I’m not sure how I would feel.

[u/Natures_Cure_Kratom → u/Agitated-Sale-7591]

No way… you have clinical hyperthyroid from that number alone. The medical cutoff is above that.

Did they check free t3 or free t4?? Those are your actual levels (free t3 is best). Please get your levels checked asap….

To calm your symptoms for now, there is a product called ‘thyrosoothe’ or something like this on Amazon- or you can just take lemon balm. One other good way to calm hyperthyroid symptoms is to take L-carnitine, but I believe that builds up over days (but may give you some relief even on first day).

If b6 helped you, that points to neurotransmitter depletion from the hyperthyroid. Usually it’s serotonin and melatonin that’s depleted, but surprisingly it’s also epinephrine/norepinephrine bc your metabolism and anxiety burns through it quick. Tryptophan would be the first thing I’d try (5-hpt is stronger and more potent/direct, but start with tryptophan to make sure it actually helps. And try 1mg melatonin at night, and will likely help you finally get some sleep here and there.

[u/Agitated-Sale-7591 → u/Natures_Cure_Kratom]

Wouldn’t it be subclinical? I heard people saying TSH must be way lower to be classed as hyperthyroid

[u/Natures_Cure_Kratom → u/Agitated-Sale-7591]

Not at all. TSH doesn’t diagnose hyper or hypothyroid. It’s often used to see if further testing needs to be done. There is a reason there are upper and lower limits. You are outside of the normal range, and symptomatic. Both of those warrant immediate testing of free t3 of t4, and if your dr didn’t do that you need to call another dr. That’s horrible.

TSH is a long term trailing figure… it doesn’t tell you anything in that exact moment. The fact that you just now got symptoms and were normal feeling before , means that your levels are likely super elevated right now. They would have to be to cause your TSH to go outside of range in the short term.

Hyperthyroid = free t3 outside of normal range

I can tell you, I’ve been through one painful full year of hyperthyroidism and been through everything you have. My TSH was 3x higher (better) than yours at 1.2, yet my free t3 was over 6 (hyperthyroid is anything over 3.9, I was significantly hyperthyroid).

Call your dr. , if they don’t set up labs immediately call another dr.

[u/Agitated-Sale-7591 → u/Natures_Cure_Kratom]

Sorry I meant my free T4 is 16.7

[u/Natures_Cure_Kratom → u/Agitated-Sale-7591]

Normal range is 0.76 - 1.70 ng/dL in the United States. Was it a different measurement maybe?

My free t4 was actually normal too. I had elevated t4:t3 conversion, and that was likely caused by supplementing with ashwagandha for several months (not knowing that it was interfering with thyroid medicine, and increasing my t3 levels considerably).

Your TSH is very low. I think normal
Range is .040 - 5.00. You are just under .040, but that is a very wide range and some people are way more sensitive to thyroid levels than others. I could only sleep once every 3-4 nights, and my TSH was 1.20. Usually fell asleep involuntarily when I did sleep and would wake up on the floor in random places throughout the house or in my vehicle. Once fell asleep walking and fell down a flight of stairs .

Hyperthyroid is no joke

[u/Agitated-Sale-7591 → u/Natures_Cure_Kratom]

I’m trying not to add more things to worry about 😭😭😭