Pernicious anemia and B vitamins in general
 

As Lindy said, we want to start a separate thread for this, but until then....
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Wikipedia- "Pernicious anemia (also known as Biermer's anemia, Addison's anemia, or Addison–Biermer anemia) is one of many types of the larger family of megaloblastic anemias. It is caused by loss of gastric parietal cells, and subsequent inability to absorb vitamin B12.

Usually seated in an atrophic gastritis, the autoimmune destruction of gastric parietal cells leads to a lack of intrinsic factor.[1] Since the absorption from the gut of normal dietary amounts of vitamin B12[2] is dependent on intrinsic factor, the loss of intrinsic factor leads to vitamin B12 deficiency. While the term 'pernicious anemia' is sometimes also incorrectly used to indicate megaloblastic anemia due to any cause of vitamin B12 deficiency, its proper usage refers to that caused by atrophic gastritis, parietal cell loss, and lack of intrinsic factor only."
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Wikipedia- "Atrophic gastritis (also known as Type A or Type B Gastritis more specifically) is a process of chronic inflammation of the stomach mucosa, leading to loss of gastric glandular cells and their eventual replacement by intestinal and fibrous tissues. As a result, the stomach's secretion of essential substances such as hydrochloric acid, pepsin, and intrinsic factor is impaired, leading to digestive problems, vitamin B12 deficiency, and megaloblastic anemia. It can be caused by persistent infection with Helicobacter pylori, or can be autoimmune in origin. Those with the autoimmune version of atrophic gastritis are statistically more likely to develop gastric carcinoma, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, and achlorhydria.

Type A gastritis primarily affects the body/fundus of the stomach, and is more common with pernicious anemia.

Type B gastritis (most common overall) primarily affects the antrum, and is more common with H. pylori infection."
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Note: The pyloric antrum mentioned above is a smallish pouch at the point where the stomach becomes the small intestine. It is a point where the nervous system, the GI system, and the endocrine system overlap due to the presence of cells producing hormones, neurotransmitters, and related compounds (i.e. "somatostatin"). It is a busy place.
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The interesting thing to me is how our old friend H. pylori just keeps popping up. HP eradication improves symptoms of PD. Curcumin is one of the best controls of HP there is. HP reduces stomach acidity which presumably affects nutrient absorption. etc etc

Low B6 also leads to low stomach acid production.

Another study.....
 

I'm not sure if it related to vitamin B deficiency but since starting Sinemet I've had lots of ulcers and sores in my mouth, on my gums and palate mainly. Does anybody else get this?

Trixiedee

Lindy:Don't tell me you have read all of this!
 

But a great BRAVO if you did! Because it is so long and impossibly technical for most of us.

I commend your elaboration to find the root of the problem.

As a layman I could understand Rick's explaining (I think) the vicious circle: L-dopa depletes B12 while B12 is vital to the metabolism of L-dopa. And to make things worse, L-dopa and B12 compete with each other for bioavalability.

All the PD spacialists I saw (4 of them) never mentioned this problem or asked for vitamin B tests.

However I take Swanson’s B complex daily (100 mg for each) without any monitoring!
cheers

yesterday i bought some curcumin
 

navigation on the blink. later.

Imad,
Read it all - doesn't equate to understanding it all:D

Lindy
 

You deserve highest respect just the same :cool:.
Imad

Resurrecting another old thread here, primarily because this thread has some good history to it.

I took my first B2 (riboflavin) yesterday. I took my first single 100 mg tab, which by traditional standards is a lot. I didn't notice anything at the time, except a lot of bright yellow urination. Also I have been taking B complex (includes only 1.7 mg of B2) and a number of 250 mg benfotiamine supplements. The B2 was the only change.

However, this morning I could actually smell things! Not a lot but a lot more than I could have for a long time. I didn't even have to get out bed to know things were different. At first I couldn't figure out why but then I remembered the B2 tab.

Also my foot was hurting for a change (in short .. I broke my 5th metatarsal while playing volleyball 5 weeks ago). I haven't had any need for pain meds during the period and it's been doing pretty well with almost no significant pain, aside from a direct hit. But this morning it hurt for no apparent reason, again before I even got out of bed.

For me I think there's something to this B2. So, some very early takeaways ..
It seems that B2 helps in processing endorphins and dopamine overnight. During the night your brain produces and releases hormones and endorphins for the next day. There isn't much known about what B2 does in the brain but B2 is required for a lot of other B vitamin absorption and glutathione production in the brain.

In the main study in this thread EVERY PD patient had a B2 deficiency .. every one. Also it seems that everyone improved on B2 and even experienced regression.

The study has not been taken all that seriously, with a lot of people questioning the aspect that excludes red meat. Maybe that isn't necessary. Last night I just happened to have pork. I don't eat much red meat though. On the occasions over the last couple of years when I do eat a lot of red meat I had incredible stiffness the next morning so I've been avoiding anything more than a hamburger.

I would say that if you have PD you should give this B2 thing a shot, and don't be stingy with it. Perhaps the recommended dosage of B2 is just vastly too low, like we've found over the years with vitamin C and vitamin D. I've read that you do up to 400 mg a day of B2. I'm not planning on that but I will double dose my 100 mg tabs today and see how tomorrow goes.

I did the B2 regimen a few years ago and didn't notice anything. I did eat red meat occasionally, though.