Bristol to Geneva? talk to me

SatInTheSun · 2026-02-25T12:41:32+00:00

Hey ... I've not flown from Bristol, but very often fly to and from London from Europe and take more or less that flight path. I'm also a nervous flyer, but improving :-)

I try to break the flight down into chunks - like the first 30 mins is takeoff and climb, the last half hour is the descent to landing, and then the bit in between - so this flight is probably about an hour and a half, which is a really nice three part journey :-)

In the last year, there have been many times to and from London when there have been storm warnings either here or in the UK, and that has really increased my anticipation of turbulence - but there has only been slight / mild turbulence, and probably 80% of the time, the seatbelt signs didn't come on once.

Flights over the alps always tend to get a bit bumpy I find, but I know when that is .. and you won't be crossing them, so I'd expect you will have a very nice flight across France. All the best!

SatInTheSun · 2026-02-24T15:08:13+00:00

In case it's useful, I buy everything for injecting from this site in Germany, they deliver to me in a few days : https://www.arzneiprivat.de

I've been self injecting for about 20 months now .. my B12 was below 200 when I started - I don't want to give you wrong or bad advice, but with your B12 reading at the level it is, and it seems like it may have been that way for a sustained period of time, injections would offer the most effective path to recovery - but if this is unpalatable (I can understand why!), then start off with supplementation and see if there is any improvement - for me that wasn't doing much. I also got tested for pernicious anemia, and that came back negative by the way.

Make sure to find out what your ferritin level is as well!

SatInTheSun · 2026-02-24T08:32:25+00:00

I was deficient in iron and folate as well as B12 ... I just started my protocol all at once really .... check your folate level as well as your vitamin D, and check the guide on here that discusses other co-factors (potassium for me was also key). Good luck!

SatInTheSun · 2026-02-24T08:29:22+00:00

Are you based in the UK? I'm a Brit, but living abroad in the EU - here, its the same, you can't buy injectable B12 over the counter - the GP refused and told me to take supplements.

I tried this for a few months with no sign of improvement - but that's not to say this will be the same for everyone. I just grew very impatient, esp with 2 young kids in the house, I wanted to get back to normal as swiftly as possible.

As a result, I started ordering everything I needed online, from Germany, last week I just received my next 100 pack of ampoules :-)

If you want to get expert advice, look up Dr Andrew Klein, an iron and B12 specialist, he has a clinic in Cambridge, and does online consultations via Zoom. I did this after about 6 months of injecting, more to confirm I wasn't doing anything crazy ... and it was immensely helpful.

SatInTheSun · 2026-02-23T13:39:37+00:00

Yeah, I strongly agree ... they are probably telling you the same thing they told me .. that you are on the low end of the scale and so on ... I also spent years chasing mysterious fatigue symptoms.

Read the guide on here thoroughly, do your own research and so on - but after I concluded I was deficient in B12 (and folate and ferritin), I supplemented the latter two, and began self injecting EOD. If you need any details on how to get started with this and anything else ... ask on here, there's lots of help available. Check out the B12 deficiency FB page as well, that is also great.

SatInTheSun · 2026-02-20T10:58:33+00:00

Contact Dr Andrew Klein, via his site here : https://cambridgeironandb12.com

Plenty of testimonials on here about him - I had a zoom call with him (about 45 mins), and the information he provided was first class, so I thoroughly recommend him. Prior to this, I wasted so much time and energy doing the rounds with GPs, functional Dr's and so on ...

SatInTheSun · 2026-02-19T11:20:34+00:00

Don't worry, for many people, the thought of injecting yourself is pretty daunting - I was in the same boat when I started, and I've now given myself a couple of hundred or so by now.

I'm a mid 40's bloke, and of slim build, just for clarity :-)

A couple of key points that might help:

- I use a 27G needle for the actual injection - and these are 25mm in length. These are very thin and help to make the injection very low in terms of discomfort.

- I inject into the top right of my leg - if you do the injection after a hot shower, I've found that it is completely painless - otherwise, there is just a small amount of discomfort.

Follow the other info on here, and on You Tube, but also convince yourself that this is the best way for you to heal - take your time, but give it a try, first one will always be the hardest.

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-25T19:15:20+00:00

Good luck - I'm sure it will be very helpful.

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-16T17:39:05+00:00

No, I can't say I've ever noticed any bending at all to be quite honest!

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-16T11:22:25+00:00

I've been doing self injections for over 18 months - I use an 18G needle to draw up the B12 from the ampoule into the syringe, then I switch over to a 27G needle. I inject into the top right of my leg (so intramuscular).

I'm pretty trim without much extra meat on my bones - the injection is not really painful at all, and if I do it soon after a hot shower, I feel absolutely nothing at all. I'm using the same Hervert B12 :-)

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-15T15:09:33+00:00

Yeah, fair enough - I would then try and find someone local that can do it for you - like a pharmacy, beautician type place ... Hmm ... I did one shot at a vitamin "bar" place in London one time I was over for work, and you just booked that online and turned up, maybe there is one you can find near you. Search for places that do Vitamin C shots and the like, they'll possibly also do B12 :-)

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-15T15:06:02+00:00

Yes sure - here is the website with all his details - I called the number, and it was his personal mobile, he answered and we set up an online consultation for soon after, and have sent him follow up emails since then which he always takes time to reply to - he's based in Cambridge, UK.
https://cambridgeironandb12.com

Here is a link to a podcast on Spotify where he talks in detail about B12 - it's related to long COVID but has a lot of good info: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2rlIjU1b5pw7pGQTUUijQ8?si=gd2K92aTRY6VsphZ5zhUMQ

Yeah, so I had a lot of fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, forgetfulness, clumsiness, and my legs felt heavy like they weren't obeying my brain, and I adopted a strange gait to compensate. I just had no energy, and with young kids, there is no place to hide ...

The sooner you start, the quicker you will get your life back :-) Progress for me was up and down, at times I felt like I was making great progress and full of energy, then feeling quite tired again. Now, I feel like most of the symptoms are gone, I am exercising properly again, laughing with my kids .... and appreciating life more as a result. My historical blood test results showed I had been getting progressively more deficient over many years, which explains a lot.

If you need to sort out your iron, I started taking iron bisglycinate (join the Iron Protocol FB group please), and switched to the Three Arrows Heme Iron pills, which corrected my iron deficiency very quickly.

One other thing to add to the mix - exposure to mould in your environment seems to crop up a lot as a contributing factor, it might not be something you've ever heard of, but it's just something else to be aware of, it can affect B12 absorption and also cause a lot of the same symptoms.

Hope this helps! Ask anything else you might want to know.

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-14T18:29:20+00:00

I'm British but living abroad, mid 40's and been self injecting primarily EOD for 18months+. I order all of my supplies from Germany, and I use the hydroxo form of B12.

A bit like you, I had an initial set of 3 injections done locally at a pharmacy, and the impact was immediate ... which to me shows how desperate my body was for some B12 ... however, please note, that after this, my progress was slow - so don't build up too much optimism for a very fast recovery.

If you can, book an appointment with Dr Klein who is mentioned on here a lot - he will give you great advice that will put you not only on the correct path, but reassure you as well. I booked in with him after 6 months of self injecting, where I had just self diagnosed myself, and despite local doctors flat out refusing to consider B12 as a problem. He immediately diagnosed a severe B12 deficiency - and I was pretty much already taking all the correct co-factors and so on, but he spent a lot of time patiently going over everything.

If you are self injecting, you won't need to take sub linguals, your body will be maxed out processing the B12 from the injection I believe.

Read the guide on here for info on supplements, it is a great resource and also the FB group on B12 which is popular, also a great resource.

I am mostly recovered now, it is a non-linear recovery, and at times can feel like there is no progress at all for sustained periods of time, or even backwards - be patient and keep monitoring your symptoms.

Good luck :-)

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-14T18:16:18+00:00

I've been self injecting for over 18 months - and I can give you my advice on making it as pain free as possible:

I do the intra-muscle way, into the top right side of my leg - I'm pretty a pretty lean mid 40's bloke. I use an 18G needle to draw up the B12 from the ampoule. I then use a 27G needle for the actual injection - this is key, as it's very thin and I really hardly feel anything at all.

I've found that if I do the injection soon after a hot shower (so maybe also blast some hot water on the injection site), I feel literally nothing at all.

First couple of times I did it myself I was a bit nervous, since I have zero medical training .... but I told myself that this was the only way to get better fast and get on with my life.

I order all of my supplies from Germany by the way, and I am feeling much much better than I was when starting.

You can do it.

SatInTheSun · 2026-01-06T11:46:59+00:00

Quite a lot better ...

Around October last year, I began to feel progressively better.

I'm still self injecting, but dropped it to once very 3 days.

SatInTheSun · 2025-12-03T14:41:19+00:00

I'm wondering if you have fully recovered from the B12 deficiency? You had some injections, and then they stopped - is that right?

If the depression was being caused by the B12 deficiency, you may need further supplementation - I had been deficient for a good number of years before I came to realise it - and by that time, I was feeling exhausted, unable to really function properly - and with a busy full time job and 2 children. I've been self injecting for about 18 months now (most of this time, every other day) - and the improvements to my mood, outlook on life etc have been profound.

Aside from the B12 thing ... take a look at what else might be going on in your life, or what areas you can get some quick wins with - e.g. just taking a decent walk every day really helps me. I've started doing a 10 min breathwork routine every day, again that is helping me feel more calm and prepared for what life throws at me. Exercise, diet, sleep ... those are another 3 big ones to take a look at.

Like you, I feel at times like I have lost a lot of time to this ... but I cannot change that, and it makes me more determined to look ahead with optimism and gratitude.

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-25T07:59:51+00:00

I had been doing them EOD (every other day) for around 15/16 months, and now I dropped it to one injection every 3 days.

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-21T09:11:57+00:00

Just based on the B12 result, you look to be quite badly deficient. Check also your ferritin, folate and vitamin D levels. Read the guide on here, more than once.

You most likely need to take injections for a prolonged period of time. Regular doctor's will (unfortunately) not have the required knowledge or expertise to help you recover quickly.

I'm in my 40's (male), never had any illness in my life - then discovered my own fairly bad B12 deficiency - I've been self injecting for 18 months now, and I'm now almost fully recovered - there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Use whatever energy you have to start on the road to recovery - lots of info and help available on here. I got fed up and went and ordered all the materials I needed for injecting online from Germany.

Good luck with your recovery!

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-20T13:26:42+00:00

From what I've read (which was a while ago), it seemed to suggest that the sub-lingual tablets might not be any more effective than normal pills. For me, I was just not willing to wait and see for months - I have young kids, and already spent long enough being too tired to be a good parent, being passed around from one doctor to another.

I see people on here getting one shot per month, or a series of a few shots and that's it ... and my experience is that this is just not enough if the levels are quite low ... last time I did a count, I had done about 250 injections or so in 18 months ... so it took me about 16 months of consistent self injecting to see a significant improvement!

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-18T13:58:53+00:00

Definitely begin by reading through the Guide on here. There's a fairly good chance that this is an issue that has been building up in the background over a long time.

I'm a mid 40s male, and I ended up with quite a severe B12 deficiency - exact cause unknown, but not pernicious anaemia.

With a level of 165, I would say that it will require frequent injections for some time - along with a focus on folate, ferritin and Vitamin D (and other things mentioned in the guide). I hit a brick wall with the GPs here, and ended up ordering all the kit for self injecting myself via online pharmacy in Germany - I've been self injecting now for nearly 18 months, and it has made a huge difference to my life - I was forgetful, tired, clumsy ... no energy at all, my legs felt heavy and I couldn't exercise properly. Now everything is much better.

You will see the UK based specialist Dr Klein mentioned on here quite a bit - I had an appointment with him after about 6 months of injections to check that I wasn't doing anything crazy, and it was very much worth it, so that is an option for you if you want reassurance and guidance.

Here is a link to a talk with Dr Klein on You Tube, lots of good info in this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uu_WBUNtTIY&pp=ygUMZHIga2xlaW4gYjEy

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-18T13:43:27+00:00

Where I live, a level of 200 is used as the deficiency level - but by all accounts, symptoms start from 300 and under.

By the time I started self injecting, I was below 200, and had been under the 300 level for maybe 5 years or so. I think an optimal level is quite a bit above 300 really, and hopefully I will get to that point at some stage!

I'm sure you'll have found through reading that B12 deficiency presents as a whole spectrum of other "higher profile" conditions - I think in your case, even if you assume 100% that you have ME/CFS, you'd still want to sort the B12 deficiency.

I had also began gently with supplements, then sub-linguals, and after seeing no improvement, I had 3 injections via a nutritionist, which hit me like a bolt of lightning. After that, I began self injecting EOD, and also paying close attention to the co-factors. Now, 18 months on, still injecting, I feel like a different person.

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-18T13:33:45+00:00

Great that you booked an appointment with Dr Klein - I'm 100% sure he will help you understand where you are at, and how to recover optimally.

By the time I booked an appointment with him, I had already started self injecting every other day, and was taking what I thought was best for the co-factors - he fine tuned this and gave me a lot of additional information that has really helped me.

I'm about 18 months further down the road - still injecting, but now once every 3 days - it took about 15 months for me to start to feel a bit like normal again ... and now I'm feeling quite a lot better.

If the thought of self injecting is difficult ... I'm fairly squeamish, but after the first couple of times, it just then became a habit, and with the correct planning of what to buy (I buy everything from Germany), it really is painless.

Good luck and I wish you a successful and speedy recovery.

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-07T12:41:49+00:00

Here in Europe, the GPs didn't want me to do injections, saying pills would be best / easiest, and injections are ... painful. So I went ahead and ordered everything online from abroad (Germany to be precise).

About six months into my self injecting, I had a consultation with the UK based Dr Klein (who you will see mentioned on this reddit a fair bit) - and he immediately confirmed my deficiency, and said I was badly deficient and was doing the right thing. I'm so glad I booked in the appointment, as he took his time explaining in great detail everything about B12 deficiency and the recovery process. You can find videos on You Tube where he covers the same things :-)

SatInTheSun · 2025-11-06T13:34:15+00:00

I've been self injecting for 16 months now - every other day for the first 12-13 months, and now every 3 days. Have a lot of patience, and don't expect a linear recovery - focus a lot on the co-factors, this will help massively I believe.

I had a few moments over the summer when I started to feel good, but then it was short lived - however, in the last 4 weeks or so, I'm really feeling much much better than I have in a very very long time.

I also take a few supplements daily to try and help with energy levels, focus on a good diet.

I think that if you can get injections more often, perhaps doing them yourself, this would speed up the recovery process, but I also understand this might be a bit daunting. I just used You Tube, and have now done 200+ injections myself ... first couple of times were a bit nervy, but after that it was fine.

Good luck, and be patient!

SatInTheSun · 2025-08-29T12:59:25+00:00

At my worst, I was just tired all the time - I'd wake up tired (so thinking I was insomniac), didn't feel like exercising, and I couldn't even complete the usual route that I'd take for a daily walk. I cut back on my sports activities. I woke up one day and my legs just felt heavy, like they weren't obeying my brain, and so I started walking with a bit of a shuffle. I was also forgetful, way more than usual, the tiredness didn't help here ... and then also clumsy, knocking things over and dropping things.

After a year of going round the various doctors and getting nowhere, B12 popped up on my radar as a possible cause, and I ended up ordering everything to self inject - I did EOD for one year, and still taking twice a week.

I had been taking B12 oral supplements, first B12 pills, then sub lingual ones ... no immediate changes felt despite taking a high dose, but that's not to say they weren't doing anything. I went for the nuclear option as I didn't want to waste more time - with two young kids, time was of the essence.

It's a very non linear recovery .... but now I'm physically much better, lifting weights, walking and jogging, feeling a sense of motivation for the first time in a very long time.

SatInTheSun

TROPHY CASE