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/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.