sunluvva

Hi there, can someone help me please. I am touring Italy at the moment and due to an ongoing medical condition will need to have a B12 injection next week.

My GP surgery in the UK has given me the medication and I need to find someone to do the actual injection. Can you tell me if I can get this done at a pharmacy, a hospital or will I need to find a private clinic. I should be in Bari on the day I need it done.

Thanks

philat98

You could try the ASL distretto (public health centre) in Bari and ask at the information desk or go to the Pronto Soccorso at the hospital where you might have a long wait. You might look for a small Comune outside of Bari that has a clinic or a hospital where things might go quicker.

modicasa

Id go to a farmacia, where the farmacist is more than qualified to help.

37100

I agree with Modicasa. If you are staying in a hotel you could also ask them. In Italy, It is normal to need someone for injections.

Serrano

I also have to have B12 injections every month (the brand I use is Dobetin, generically known as Cyanocobalamin) - if yours is the same, it is an intramuscular injection. Anyone can do it - my wife does mine into the buttock with no training whatsoever - and it can also be done by you, though in that case it is normally into the thigh. I would imagine a pharmacist would do it for you (hopefully not in front of a shop full of customers . Lay people could also do it, but would probably hesitate for risk of being held responsible.

For what it is worth, you'll also need to buy a syringe from a pharmacy - no prescription needed for that, and they are dirt cheap.

Pica

I use Dobetin too (self-injected) but not as aften as I ought to. Can I get Hydroxocobalamin over the counter ? Last time I used Dobetin I had one bright pink wee!

Serrano

Can't answer for the availability of Hydroxocobalamin, I'm afraid. Though I would say probably not OTC.

I've had no wee problems, but given the colour of Dobetin, I can quite imagine it happening (for those not au fait with this, just think Campari, no soda )

sunluvva

Thanks everyone. Would someone mind writing out in Italian what I need to ask for. I tried today in a pharmacy in Pisa, she knew I wanted an injection but couldn't get past that! Not her fault - it's me who isn't speaking the language!

Pica

Try asking for vitamine B12 or Dobetin cyanocobalamin, write it down. They'll understand.
It's readily available over the counter.

sunluvva

Thanks Pica. I already have the actual phials of B12, I just need someone to put it in a syringe and jab it in my arm. I asked at my GP surgery if they'd teach me how to do it so I could do it myself but they said that as it was intra muscular I couldn't do it :-(

Novocastrian

This. My wife had B12 injections too (although off -topic now we're in the UK she uses oral sub-lingua B12 lozenges instead).

But when using the injections she did the injecting herself, It;s not rocket science,

Pica

Yes, they're a bit like that in the UK .
I'm a trained nurse and they wouldn't permit me to do it, I had to waste nursie's time and my own going to the surgery.

Pica

The word you need is iniezione -injection, shot, jab OR puntura

sunluvva

Thanks