This is very horrifying! Have you ever had heavy metal screening tests? I think you should have.

You know artists have been exposed to poisons for hundreds of years.

It is thought that Goya had a heavy metal poisoning, and perhaps Van Gogh (but that one is still being pondered).

Some printmaking artists mixed inks in the palm of the opposite hand... Munch I believe did that and was quite unstable mentally as well. However, the articles change with time, and the theories about "madness" also change.

http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/content/68/1/167.long

Here is an article on pigments, their contents, and what dangers exist. The metals are only half the problem as some pigments have arsenic as the second part of the chemical compound in addition to the metal portion!

http://www.noteaccess.com/MATERIALS/ToxicityPigmt.htm
It discusses what is in some pigment colors. This article mentions pointing brushes with licking them and how dangerous that can be.

Think about meralgia parenthetic compression of the fem cutaneous nerve.

Niacin?
 

MrsD, do you know much about vitamin B3 (niacin)?

I have been feeling very ill recently and discovered that if I take niacinamide (not the flushing kind of Niacin), I feel MUCH better.

I had been living in a moldy environment in 2012 and moved out last year, and have been trying to detox. I thought my symptoms were getting worse as of late (and who knows, maybe they are), and somehow I stumbled upon niacinamide posing strong antifungal properties. I got so sick with strange neurological and psychiatric symptoms such as brain fog, very disorganized thinking, suicidal thoughts/depression, vertigo, dizziness, balance problems, nerve pains in peripheral nerves with joint crackings and muscle weakness, severe weight loss. I took a 500mg capusle of Niacinamide one night out of curiosity and desperation and about 95% of my symptoms went away within one hour.

The problem is that I started on a roller-coaster effect of these symptoms by taking just one 500mg capsule a day. The hours after taking the niacinamide I felt what I called "normal" - better than I had felt in a long time, perhaps even years, because I could think and I wasn't depressed and I could eat, etc. Then after it wore off I crashed into a suicidal depression with all the symptoms again. I later read that people who take niacinamide take smaller doses (100-200mg) throughout the day, like every three hours. I of course went to a doctor to discuss all this, and all these horrific symptoms I'd been having. His recommendation? Take Lexapro (?!) and the "reaction" I had been having to taking Niacin are just placebo (WTH?!) and that I wasn't actually low. I don't understand this at all. He is fine with me taking so much niacinamide, but doesn't think I "need" It (and of course, thinks I need something my body and brain DON'T need and cannot tolerate - an SSRI - which I told him all about my horrid history on those, etc.) Why don't doctors LISTEN to their patients? Good lord. I shouldn't know what to do if this niacin doesn't work and I get worse and worse. I guess if I die dead in their office they may think it's not all just anxiety or in my head???

I guess my question is - what do you know about niacin and niacinamide? Antifungal properties? brain enhancing/nerve enhancing properties? Why do I need so much and crash if I go so long before taking it? How can someone in 2014 be niacin deficient??? if I even was? I read that some people cannot properly absorb tryptophan, and therefore have a hard time with B3 and serotonin levels in the brain, causing depression, psychosis, etc. Given my history, maybe this explains things for me once and for all. That and I had taken all those years of PPI prilosec, destroying stomach acid, led to my B12 deficiency and could it lead to a niacin/tryptophan malabsorption issue in some?

Sorry for all this - just seeing what you think. You're a very smart lady! ;)

PS - sorry for posting this in the B12 Periph Neruo thread... but i couldn't find one for B3! :) I know you have one for B6, B12, and somewhere I believe you have one for vitamin D! :)

yes, niacin is involved with serotonin.

This article is the easiest to understand, as the chemistry is rather complex and difficult to process:

http://accidentalscientist.com/2009/...es-prozac.html

Nicotinamide or flush free niacin has no side effects. Seems your experiment revealed and important fact for you! ;)

You could have some minor genetic defect that makes you more needy of the niacin. Taking it the way you are is not dangerous or expensive. I have used the NOW brand on and off for years to try and help my "cholesterol" problems...

B-12 response
 

I think that B-12 is most crucial and most beneficial to patients who have rsd. However, I found that taking B-12 in tablet form does not absorb as we would want it to. I stopped with the B-12 injections and started on the B-12 liquid concentrate. Easy to take, does not taste bad. Much better than tablets....

B12
 

Hi,
Is that recommended for neuropathy?
Thank you

Could one cup of coffee, imbibed several hours after taking my b12 supplement, significantly inhibit my body's absorption of this vitamin?

Hi there.

I was diagnosed with Peripheral Neuropathy about 7 years ago (perhaps even longer). I have diabetes. I started on the 1000 sublingual Methyl B-12 and in one week I was so much better I went to the 5000 once a day on an empty stomach.

I cannot tell you how this affected me. I have energy, I have NO neuropathy pain. I have feeling in my feet and I wouldn't give this supplement up if you paid me. As a matter of fact last night I was in Dunkin Donuts sitting with several people in their late 70's who were complaining that they have no energy, they don't want to do this and that and they looked at me and said "how the hel* do you have so much energy. I then stood up and bent down and touched my toes (and I have arthritis to boot). They all looked at me and said "HOW???" I then went back to my house (a few doors away), got my little bottle of Methyl B-12, told them I got it at Puritan Pride. None of them have computers but they have children and grandchildren. I wrote everything down for them and when I left, they were all shouting 'GOD BLESS YOU. I laughed my head off. Nice bunch of ladies.

They were ALL goling to go and get some of this via their grandchilden's computer skills.

Will update if they ever start dancing the boogie at Dunkin Donuts. They all know it doesn't take one pill to make a difference, I explained it all to them.

So cool

Melody

I don't think so. It is the food fiber and volume that dilutes out the micrograms of B12 and reduces chances for passive absorption. (this happens with drugs too that are given in microgram doses--they are lost or adsorbed by food/fiber in the intestine.

Levels
 

I have tried to do a lot of reading here, but there's a LOT to cover. My apologies if this has been discussed before and I didn't see it.

My doctor tested my B12 as soon as I began experiencing pain in my feet 13 years ago. (I have PN). He kept telling me it was normal. However, in May 2013 I saw a specialist when I could not sleep (literally, did not sleep for days/weeks), got confused easily, lost my up-close hearing & had my distance hearing go massively hyper-sensitive, had difficulty breathing, my heart started hurting and I began falling down. He found my B12 to be 130 and ordered my doctor to immediately begin B12 injections. I got weekly 1000mcg (I believe) injections for 2 months, then bi-weekly for 2 months, and I now get them monthly. It took 9 months for my hearing to come back. I am sleeping better but still have issues. My last blood test was 325-ish. My doctor says this is in the normal range, but I don't think so. My specialist said he thinks my PN could easily be from prolonged B12 deficiency.

I am 38, and have totally normal stomach acid levels. I take an oral B12 but my doc says I am unable to absorb it. I only feel better for a few days after each injection. What SHOULD my minimum level be? Should I be striving to get it up to 600? 700?