How is your treatment now, a year or longer after the diagnosis?

Maintenance dose

In the package insert of vitamin B12 injections as well as in the “Farmacotherapeutisch Kompas” (Dutch reference work for pharmaceutical drug specifications) it states:

Maintenance dose 1000 microgram once every 2 months.

Only 20% of the patients receive the standard maintenance dose (or even once every 3 months).
44% receive an injection after four to seven weeks, 9% every two to three weeks, 6% between one and two weeks and 13% still need weekly injections or more frequently after 1 year of treatment.

The standard maintenance dose is not always sufficient in practice. Many patients indicate that they require more injections in order to feel good. Why for the one patient an injection once in two months is sufficient and for another a (much) higher frequency is needed, is not known. It is one of the most frequently asked questions by patients. Some researchers have raised this question as well and they are researching it.

Patients who are satisfied with their treatment indicated the following:

Treatment with injections:

• 15% receive an injection weekly, or more often
• 7% every one to two weeks
• 18% every two to three weeks
• 44% every four to seven weeks
• 16% every two to three months

5% of the patients who are satisfied with their treatment use (sublingual) tablets or a spray and 1% has no more treatment.