Vitamin B-12 for Those With RC's

Rosie..my Bl2 cost is $5.00...and i pay $l.l9 thru my insurance. Pat

I have not had a cystectomy but recently learned I am low on B-12 through a blood test done at the Redi Clinic at Walmart. No apppointment necessary and they do take various insurance. If you don't have insurance the fees is reasonable. Rosie

Hi Marigold...we've actually talked about this many times but its always good to bring it back up for the newbies who have had cystectomy. The docs will tell you that your liver has about a 5 yr supply of Bl2 in it......not always the case...i was depleted in about 6 months. It does no good to take supplements as the ilium which they have removed is responsible for absorbion of Bl2 sooooo its either the shots or they also have a new pill that dissolves under the tongue that your pharmacist can get or he can compound if its a compounding Pharmacy. I also ask about the Bl2 patch and my pharmacist leery as theres no guarantee with something thats not approved by the FDA that it actually works. Its also important that your doctor orders a "specific B l2 test"....and guess what most of them don't even know what that is...the nurses do so ask them. That particular test takes 2 days to get back.
Thanks for putting it back in the foreground Marigold........Pat

First of all, I want to say that I am not selling nor do I profit from the product I want to tell you about. I discovered it because my oncologist said that my B-12 level was low and that I needed shots. I had a RC and reconstruction a year ago. I HATE shots and wasn't very happy about the prospect of getting them regularly.

In the process of surfing the net, I found something called "B-12 Patch". It is a patch that you put behind your ear once a week. Even though my oncologist wasn't very enthused when I told him about it, instead of getting the B-12 shot I took the patch approach for three months. Last week, I went to my regular doctor and asked him to give me another B-12 test so that we could see if the product was effective. Yesterday, I got a card from my doctor that my B-12 level was normal.

Just thought that since one of the results of RC and reconstruction is possible B-12 deficiency, there might be some of you out there who would prefer this patch to shots. If anyone else is dealing with this issue, I would like to hear about it. It is my understanding that just taking B-12 capsules is ineffective for this particularly condition.