Hi,
I got the results of some blood work back and want some opinions. My Vitamin D was 43 and B12 is 611. Are they OK?
CARNITINE CARNITINE, TOTAL 25 () mild decrease
CARNITINE CARNITINE, FREE 21 () mild decrease
CARNITINE CARNITINE ESTERS 4 () mild decrease

Any ideas?

Everything else states normal.
MRI states chronic white matter lesions including brainstem. No changes. I knew I had just a few lesions in the brain but did not know about the brainstem. They told me before they could not say what the lesions were from. Again any ideas? Should I be concerned about this?

Fasting glucose was normal at 90. No A1c was done. All the antibodies came back normal.

Isn't it crazy, I don't know about everyone else, but in some weird way I get disappointed when everything comes back normal. I guess I just keep waiting for an answer.

Well, thanks for any answers you can provide.
Kim

Well, um....

If you are taking B12, 600+ is not sterling. It is okay, but for people having neuro symptoms it would be nice to be a bit higher IMO. B12 has to get into the CNS...and the higher the gradient from the blood serum the better it crosses into the CSF.

I just read that toxicity from Flagyl can cause brain lesions.
Let me see if I can find that again.....

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963744/
also there are reports of unilateral lesions on Google as well.
It is an example of a drug actually damaging the brain. So who knows
what yours could be from?

I'd take some acetyl carnitine just as insurance if you aren't already. Start at 250mg twice a day.

The D is good... not perfect but very close to my results too.
Considering how many people have results in the single digits, 43 is okay. My doctor wanted me at 70 but I've never made that goal. 50 is the "new" low norm now with the new research.
Given lab error possibilities you are very close.

Hi Mrs. D.
I went to the all natural store by me and brought l-carnitine 500mg. I didn't realize you had said 250mg twice daily. Is this ok? It was $30 for 60 pills what do you think?
Also, I do not take B12 supplements as I wrote before my level was 611. Should I take B12? I have a b complex here and I also have just B12. I brought them but then a doctor told me not to take any supplements because they are useless. Obviously, I disagree. Dko you think I should be taking B12?
Thanks, hopeful

500mg is okay since you already have it. Carnitine is not 100% absorbed anyway.

Just take 500mg a day to start. See what happens.

I'd take 1000mcg methylB12 just as insurance ..daily on an empty stomach. Dr. Snow found some people in his study who were in the normal range but not high, did improve on extra B12.
I have that quote on the B12 thread:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post698522-70.html

Because B12 is so safe to use, trying it can't hurt. You have those "lesions" which may need help remyelinating.

It is a sad shame that doctors don't understand the biochemistry of the body. In fact we are all complex chemical factories where movement of ions, messenger RNA, and building blocks like Omega-3 fats, and choline, are used to repair daily wear and tear and injuries to all our tissues.
Doctors will give toxic drugs that damage us, as "treatments" but they fail to understand the mechanisms of healing on a chemical level! sigh.

Thanks Mrs. D.
I will start both the carnintine and B12. I am now taking CoQ10, R-lipoic Acid and adding the adding these two. I take my meds and supplements when I wake all on an empty stomach except the CoQ10. I wait until I eat and add a brazil nut before I take that for the fat. Can I take the B12 and carnitine with the other supplements and meds first thing in the morning?

I appreciate your support with difficult emotional time right now. You are so right, doctors really do not understand. I think they just want to help and be right and the thing they have are meds. I just wish they would be more open minded. Maybe some day they will become more open to adding more alternative medicine to their regime.
hopeful

Yes, you can take the supplements that need empty stomach
together. Make sure you take a full glass of water with them for best dissolving.

MrsD,

My D level is 42 . I read somewhere we should be near 60-70. Do you think we should be increasing it for better health results?
Also, my B6 just came back at 65. My neurologist called to tell me it was high and that "normal range" is between 12-25 and to stop taking all B vitamins including B6! I stopped taking B6 (Metanx & P5P) over 2 months ago because I ran out, but its still "elevated". Doc thinks this could be contributing to my SFN pain. Also, my B1 level is 1200. (I started Dec 2012) Doc told me to stop that too, but Im still taking 150mg benfentamine (Sp) anyway, is 1200 too high even though the lab range is a lot lower? Should I stop taking it? I dont want to make things worse..
By the way, I still take methalcobamine (sp) (B12), 1,000 once a day even though and my level is "high" 1711 . Please let me know what you think...Thank you

If you do not stop vitamins for about a week, they will register in tests as a false high.

B6 is stored for a short time in muscles, as pyridoxal and this may be a source for serum elevations. However there is a study on PubMed done with autistic children, who tested high in B6 when there were no vitamins being taken. This could be a feature of a metabolic error in that population we don't understand yet, or it could be from fortified foods. Many foods have B vitamins added.

Doctors do not understand lab ranges of nutrients at all. I wouldn't expect much useful advice from them on this subject.
The ranges were made from statistics gathered from people at random who were NOT taking vitamins. One would expect higher results when supplements are being used.

Intracellular testing labs measure what is inside cells, and not just the serum, like the common tests use. This is thought to be more accurate.
This lab does more accurate testing:
http://www.spectracell.com/