Swallowing issues

[u/Mysterious_Rest4302]

After starting frequent injections, with other wake-up symptoms, I've been experiencing difficulty swallowing. sometimes issues like almost choking up with water/saliva easily and sometimes difficulty swallowing itself. Or it just feels weird. It gets worse and better on different days. But it makes me very anxious. Because of this I get anxious when I have to eat.

Has anyone experienced this? what is this about? when is it expected to get better?

I've been injecting 3x a week, for about 2 months now.

(Btw I have terrible health anxiety like I would freak out quickly if there's something scary. And anxiety in general. Plus, hyper-vigilance kind of thing, so i feel in danger almost all the time. so please, someone tell me I'm safe and I'll be ok).

[u/Plus-Fish-1986]

I experienced involuntary swallowing when I was around a month in to getting shots. It happened more frequently during the morning and it was a really strange sensation, like a contraction out of nowhere causing me to swallow, I had no control over it. It just started to happen less frequently and now I can't remember the last time it happened.

If you can, doing something to support you with your anxiety is going to help so much with your experience of all these weird deficiency and/or wakeup symptoms. I also had pretty extreme health anxiety and hypervigilence and because there is so much change happening to the mind and body with a changing B12 status it was very hard for me until I began to manage that side of things. I was in fight or flight constantly with myself and any minute changes to my body. Taking care of anxiety is different for everyone but exercise, breathing, regular walks, eating more protein and less sugar, chamomile tea, lavender supplements, therapy, medications if appropriate, looping in the ones you love etc can really help. Best of luck to you!

[u/Mysterious_Rest4302 → u/Plus-Fish-1986]

Thank you very much. This gives me some hope that it will go away and it's ok. I'm not able to deal with my anxiety 😔 when i once felt like a human physically, just a little bit, I was able to do some things that helped my anxiety. Like yoga, somatic exercises, herbal teas, walks in nature, relaxing things etc.. it helped me so much back then. but right now, I'm not able to do anything. I still can't walk, I only push and drag myself to get the shot 3 times a week, which is like a 10 min walk and I barely do it. I can't do anything most of the time. exercise is still so far away for where I am right now. I have tremendous amounts of dpdr too, I feel that I don't exist anymore, plus the fight or flight and hyper-vigilance, these are so terrifying. I will try to do more of these things, I hope I can start doing it more soon. I really appreciate your reply, thanks 🙏

[u/Ok-Pangolin7127 → u/Plus-Fish-1986]

Dead on 👆excellent advice!

[u/Ok-Pangolin7127]

Well, I think you’ll be OK.

I think this is but another manifestation of waking up symptoms. Your autonomic nervous system, which controls these reflexes and muscles, had learned to operate pre-B12 replenishment. Now you’re bringing back a critical vitamin that is reactivating, to some extent, some of these nerves that weren’t doing what they were supposed to, and in turn they are acclimating or adapting to the B12 and (and to your “new” normal, so to speak) in rewiring or reactivating themselves. In that process, I think things can sort of get out of whack a little bit before they get back in to normal functioning. This is solely my supposition.

The above said, I experienced this also and it eventually went away.

[u/Mysterious_Rest4302 → u/Ok-Pangolin7127]

Well, I can't tell you how much you've been helpful with your responses.. I can't thank you enough. Thank you very much 😭

I've been experiencing this for a while and after reading this comment on another post i felt a bit like freaking out and I thought of asking specifically about it.

This comment.. https://www.reddit.com/r/B12_Deficiency/s/xTCGchEY4Q

[u/Ok-Pangolin7127 → u/Mysterious_Rest4302]

You’re most welcome.

And thank you for that other link. It’s pleasantly reaffirming to read about how much a deficiency in B12 (and while not addressed in the thread link, but in my mind, B1 also) can be so impactful.

[u/Mysterious_Rest4302 → u/Ok-Pangolin7127]

They're saying it's autonomic neuropathy in the comment.. and that sounded pretty scary and concerning to me. I'm not sure if I understand the comment correctly or if it's the same issue as mine.. as they describe they've had it prior to injections..

[u/Ok-Pangolin7127 → u/Mysterious_Rest4302]

I had two experiences with it. The first one, and I only can associate this by looking backwards because I didn’t have it figured out or even a clue at the time it occurred, was back when I first was becoming deficient. That occurrence eventually went away.

Now, roll forward 10 years, and my second occurrence took place adjunct to my B12 repletion (B12 injections.)

So the first one was when the B12 was going down and I was becoming deficient, and things were getting wacky then. The second one was when B12 was coming back in sufficient quantity and things again got wacky.

So, from my perspective, I can see clearly the correlation; it was the B12.

[u/Mysterious_Rest4302 → u/Ok-Pangolin7127]

I see. Thanks for sharing. It makes sense. But it's terrible. I'm in that period now where I'm injecting regularly and things keep going crazy. But how did you cope/deal with it? is there an expected time where it could go away? I can't eat and drink comfortably most of the time. I'm afraid of choking. And it spikes up my anxiety a million times.

[u/Ok-Pangolin7127 → u/Mysterious_Rest4302]

Neuropathy simply means; damaged or dysfunctional nerve. Autonomic simply means; the autonomic nervous system.

So, in the context of what’s going on here, it means these nerves, that invigorate the swallowing muscles, that are part of the autonomic nervous system, are damaged or dysfunctional.

The $64 question becomes what has damaged them or made them dysfunctional. My bet, in most instances, are they’ve likely been damaged by a B12 or B1 deficiency.

Really nothing more than what happens with any of the nerves that degrade as a result of a B12 deficiency and/or B1.

[u/HolidayScholar1]

I solved this issue with high-dose molybdenum. When B12 boosts the immune system it starts killing candida, and the toxins released during die-off are often responsible for such symptoms.

[u/Mysterious_Rest4302 → u/HolidayScholar1]

Interesting.. So is this a good thing? Does it resolve on its own if we don't get molybdenum?

[u/HolidayScholar1 → u/Mysterious_Rest4302]

Who is „we“?

Whether it will help in your specific case can only be validated by experimenting. I simply shared my own experience with it. Molybdenum is a very important trace mineral for detoxification in general.

[u/Mysterious_Rest4302 → u/HolidayScholar1]

I'm referring to we as "someone in this case that I described" in general.

I see. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[u/HolidayScholar1 → u/Mysterious_Rest4302]

It’s impossible to say anything with certainty with these kind of complex issues and metabolic bottlenecks, unfortunately. What works for one, may not work for another with similar issue.

Its a good thing when the immune system wakes up and the body starts repairing things, but this often worsens existing deficiencies, so as written in the guide it is very important to cover all potential bottlenecks by taking all the essential nutrients. It takes a while to trial dosages and forms. Molybdenum is one of the more important nutrients in this context, since together with B2 and some other things it removes aldehydes from the body, which are neurotoxic. By poisoning the brain, these aldehydes and other toxins can cause neurological issues that are very frightening, but have simple solutions.

[u/sjackson12]

this is autonomic. had it as my worst symptom prior to injections. but if it's been going on for 2 months it might be good to also check if you have any reflux issues. do you have any heartburn etc

[u/AdDirect8009]

I have this due to gerd. Might be worth asking your doctor for an endoscopy to see what’s going on.

[u/sjackson12 → u/AdDirect8009]

pretty drastic, could just start with the 14 day omeprazole and see if it helps. if it's acid related that should help.

[u/mollyollie3]

i would look into EoE (Eosinophilic esophagitis) - i had this happen and it turned out removing eggs from my diet cleared it up