On Thu, 6/12/2025 11:47 AM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:53:19 -0400, Paul wrote:
[snip\
In the area I live in, 300,000 people receive a B12 shot every month.
Just, ridiculous. The news article about it was asking whether this was
"reasonable" or not.
You know at least a few of them (like me), could be on the pills
instead. But the doctors just don't have the time to be pissing around
with this stuff. The topic is handled poorly.
I have heard that for B12, a daily pill is better than a monthly shot.
That advice is only to take the load off the medical system.
Pills are likely to cost more, to you, than a vial every 10 months.
It depends on who pays for the administration of the shot, whether
the injection method is cheaper. The chemical costs $1. The nurse
costs $25.
When I was receiving shots, a nurse can't give that shot, without
doctor approval for each and every one. If the doctor is handling
a patient, they are not interrupted by nursey while they work.
Between patients, they're giving permission for shots.
The vial itself (you buy the vial, clinic does not provide),
is likely cheaper than the pills. And, the shot is just as
effective. The reason for this, is your liver stores B12,
and the tau is 30 days. That means 36% of your reserve is used
up (drooping in the supply), when your shot comes along to boost
it back up. If you waited three months, had no pills or shot and
ate potato chips the whole time, now you're in trouble.
But from month to month, a 1 ml shot is sufficient to last
you for the whole month. Cyanocobalamine.
The body recycles B12. It removes B12 you would piss out,
and sends it back to the liver. This is why the supply
lasts so long. There is scavenging. This is a trace chemical.
Evolution has provided us with survival mechanisms, for the
essential trace chemical. The biochemical process
is ridiculous as a design, but it works... sorta.
When that process breaks down, that's when the needle comes out.
The biochemical process, does not process more than 2x to 3x of the
RDA. This is why overdoing it, is pointless. If you ate canned
clams, now you're pissing out the excess B12, because the
process doesn't have the bandwidth for the whole load. Whereas,
when you receive a shot into the blood stream, the inefficient
"gut transport" thing does not apply. And the liver is very
good as filters go. The liver can absorb a whole months
worth of chemical, sucking it out of the blood stream after
your shot. Neat. That's the difference between blood
and gut.
But we really shouldn't have 300,000 people receiving
those shots. That betrays a flawed Medical Society flow chart
for treatment. The doctor should interact with you, tip you upright,
keep you self sufficient. Turning everyone into a pin cushion
when it was not actually needed, is wrong.
This has happened with other meds. A person will discover, one
way or another, that the med they've been consuming, isn't
actually needed. And another doctor can then test and verify
that their vitals indicate continued consumption is not required.
This is one reason, a pharmacist will sometimes review a customer
meds, when more than three meds are prescribed by one or more
doctors. There is a possibility of over-medication, and the
pharmacist may start asking you questions whether you know
what these are for, and has anyone during renewal asked the
right questions.
That's how I got off the needle. A female doctor said she wasn't
going to allow the nurse to give me my shot. I had to fend
for myself, use adhoc techniques. I switched to pills. I
ordered the blood test to verify I was "still good" after
three months. There was no further interaction with the
female doctor, no followup, just "no, I'm not giving you
this shot today". I was expected to work this out for myself.
One of my doctors (an author who writes for the newspaper),
asks people why we hate doctors. We don't hate doctors.
But, they are an acquired taste. Like a vintage vinegar.
Paul
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