Yeah - mrsD is right about that bioavailablity issue - because it does say "Take with food" on some B12 supplements. But I figured out a long while back that it didn't make much sense -that's why I switched to the sublingual form (The one you let melt under your tongue for a while before swallowing). Still, there's no hard evidence that sublingual B12 is more absorbent than the average pill. I take 500 MCG a day and I got back my B12 test and I can't read it - my doctor says its fine. I listed the number here - figuring my B12 level was 926. Though I don't really know how to read this (926.00 h pg/ml 180.00-914.00) LOL


I'm stlll taking the "Cyno" B12 because I can't get a hold of the Methlycolbamine type, not even at the 3 GNC stores I went to. So, I'm hoping the B12 I take will work, despite being bonded with a Cyanide molecule and supposedly less absorbent.

To Mustang0227:
But back to the PN thing and its causes. Listen -even if they never find out what's causing your PN -they will still be able to treat it and also if PN is caused by Damaged Nerves -which it is - the method of healing is still the same - take things that will regenerate and repair your nerves and you will heal.

926 is fine. Most of us here keep ours at around 1000 or more.

Yes, my B12 is usually high. I had it off the chart bad years ago. Vertigo constantly and many problems. I only use methyl b12.

have you ever had serum lead levels checked?

Thanks -mrsD - I wasn't sure what my B12 "number" meant. ...Glad to know it's not low.

olsen:
I had some kind of serum levels checked -but I don't know what they were. I'm not that skilled in medical jargon. I figure, or more so assume that the serum levels checked were in regards to PN since it was the main issue.

What serum do you mean, do you mean checked for lead poisoning?

Yes, lead, mercury and arsenic are the most typical heavy metals that can poison you from the environment. Arsenic in general is a common poison and causes PN when levels are high, and it can even come from well water.

The test would be a "heavy metals" test. There are other metals that can be included depending on how your doctor writes the order.

Have you read the book "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson. Your knowledge about environmental things amazes me. Mayo clinic had mentioned this stuff to me. I really would like to know. ginnie

my chiropractor wants me to get checked for Charcot-Marie Tooth disease because of my age and also because i get muscle cramping along with the crazy neurological neuropathy symptoms. how do u get checked for this? and could it in fact be that?

From my understanding it's quite easy to test for that (though I myself did not get that test done). I believe these are blood work tests. I had 21 blood tests done and I'm waiting on 1 result for a recent one. These were to eliminate other potential causes of PN. However, they are beneficial tests to get done, even if I were in good-health. Since I just turned 43 Yesterday, it's nice to know you don't have other ailments.

If the tests are easy to take like blood tests, you should do them, just to eliminate other causes. Most of the time, this process pleases your doctor more than you, since they often want to "rule out' other factors.

This is a blood test at a special lab and evaluates DNA mutations. It is expensive.

We have a subforum here with informational threads.
The Charcot Marie Tooth thread is there:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread121564.html

You can get muscle cramping if you are low in magnesium also.

You can also read other threads here by using the search function -- use "charcot" for your keyword.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001741/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charcot...3Tooth_disease

This hereditary nerve problem runs in families, and usually there are relatives with it.

Charcot Marie Tooth is not often rapidly progressive, unless you took medications to trigger and compound it. (There is a report of Levaquin triggering an acute Charcot Marie Tooth positive patient who previously had no symptoms). I have a link to that report in that thread I gave you.