I was already having moderate, intermittent burning pain on my soles last year, then began taking a B vitamin complex as a remedy for my hair which had suddenly become very thin and limp. A few months later, the burning became severe and occurred nightly, and I started developing other strange and unpleasant sensations, as well as autonomic symptoms--abnormal sweating and salivation, and patchy baldness on my legs. My B6 and folate levels were measured and were high, so I was instructed to cut back on the B vitamins. After that, the symptoms tapered off, although new ones continued to develop; overall, the pain and other symptoms have been much diminished.

The neuropathy definitely preceded my taking the B vitamins (in fact, I had a year of severe burning pain on my soles many years before), but my neurologist suggested it might be possible to have an underlying neuropathy that can be triggered by various things.

In researching B6 toxicity, I found information such as this from drweil.com: "The current recommended maximum daily intake is 100 mg. High doses of vitamin B6 can, over time, be toxic, and may result in nerve damage or numbness and tingling in the extremities that may eventually be irreversible." I had originally been taking 20 mg in my B complex, but then discovered B6 in my calcium, multivitamin, and melatonin pills, and I think I may have been taking 50 mg total per day for a while. Still well within what is considered safe in the US. However, I discovered that in European countries 50 mg or even 25 mg is considered the maximum safe amount.

I don't know whether it was a coincidence, but I sure had a horrible flare of symptoms during the time I was taking the higher doses of B vitamins, and they've gotten much better as I've cut back to less than 20 mg per day of B6. One curious thing is that my serum B6 continues to measure high, (and I stopped taking any supplements for a week before the bloodwork), at 282.6 nmo/L, where the standard range is 20-125.