وٹامن بی 12 · cobalamin, methylcobalamin
Mixed evidence
A genuine deficiency can look exactly like depression. Test rather than guess.
This is information, not medical advice. This page is information, not medical advice. Nothing here is a prescription, a diagnosis or a recommendation to take anything, and none of it replaces a doctor who knows your history. Supplements are not harmless because they are natural: they interact with prescription medicines, some are unsafe in pregnancy, and a few can cause real damage. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist before starting anything here, especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, have a liver, kidney or heart condition, or take any regular medication. Never stop a prescribed antidepressant to try a supplement instead.
A vitamin found almost only in animal foods - meat, liver, eggs, dairy, fish. Needed for nerves and for making red blood cells.
Correcting a real deficiency can improve fatigue, concentration and low mood, and untreated deficiency causes nerve damage that does not always reverse. Giving B12 to people who are not deficient has not been shown to treat depression. The value is in finding a deficiency mistaken for depression, not in adding a pill to an antidepressant.
Oral supplements commonly 500 to 1,000 mcg daily. Injections are used when absorption rather than intake is the problem - a doctor's decision.
Recorded because a person who has decided to try something will find a number somewhere, and a forum's number is worse than a trial's. It is not a recommendation, and the right amount for you depends on things only a doctor who knows your history can weigh.
Very safe in itself. The risk sits elsewhere: folic acid can hide a B12 deficiency while nerve damage continues underneath, so check both. Metformin and long-term acid reducers lower B12 over time.
Common in people eating little meat, in older adults, and in anyone on long-term metformin for diabetes - which is a great many people here. The test is cheap and widely available.
Tell your doctor or pharmacist about everything else you take, prescription and herbal both. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, or have a liver, kidney, heart or thyroid condition, ask first. And if what brought you here is that you have been feeling low or frightened for weeks, that deserves more than a supplement — ask us anything, anonymously, or talk to us on WhatsApp.