Elevated b12 question anyone?
 

Hello everyone,

Just a short introduction (and thank you for reading this) about 6 years ago began with violent scalp pain and burning. Visits to numerous doctors turned up nothing. After my own personal research I found that b12 can help with nerve pain. I was trying over the counter but did not seem to work until I stumbled across a methyl product that sold a nose spray bottle. Claim was that it acts faster makes it through blood stream into body quicker. I ordered it and would use it daily in one nostril. Scalp seemed to improve? I was reading you most likely cannot overdo b12 so I continued it.

I saw a random doctor who decided to test my b12 recently.( I never had it checked prior to supplimentation). I told him I was on suppliments. Long and short my b12 came back off the charts high. Above 2000. I decided to cut back on my b12 because of concern of the levels. I have been off all vitamins for about 30 days. My b12 has come back now at 1700. Under normal circumstances I would not be concerned with my b12 but scalp pain is just one of the strange things going on undiagnosed with me and blood cancers run in the family. So this is why I cut back.

Sorry to digress. My question is has anyone had b12 levels so high? How soon would they decrease after discontinuation of b12? Months, years? Should I be worried? All other blood work appears unremarkable.

Thank you kindly if you have made it this far.

There is no published evidence that high B12 levels are harmful.

Most of the people here keep their levels above 1000. There are some at 2000.

I trialed the new Puritan's pride version of methylB12 last year and got test showing 1999 ...mostly to see if the product was
labeled accurately.

The only concern with high B12 serum levels is that it may mislead the doctor, as far as the medical causes for high B12 in the face of NO supplementation. Some kidney disease, liver disease and blood diseases may raise B12 as a warning sign.

If you are using a supplement, a high level is no surprise, however. But in and of itself it is not harmful.

If your scalp pain is better, then try going lower on your dosage and see if you can get by with less. When symptoms return, that will be a sign you need a higher one.

My B12 test was 4,000!!!

Yes, 4,000. I did not realize I was supposed to stop taking supplement before getting the test done.

I am not worried though. My research leads me to believe most of that number is INactive B12 and not ACTIVE B12.

I still take 5,000 mg B12 every single day.

Mrs. D and Stacy thank you. Wow Stacy now I feel normal after your levels. Ladies can I ask do either of you know just out of curiosity, how long after stopping b12 would blood levels decrease to the "in range" levels? Weeks, months?

If my pain creeps back in I'll use b12 quicker then a kid in a candy shop! I wanted to mention not sure if this is useful to any of you but I was using a methyl product that was free of flavors, colorings in a nasal spray. I think it is safe to say it works to raise levels.

I always thought that a serum B12 test only shows how much B12 is floating around in a persons body, not in the cells were it counts.... I would only worry if I got a score below 400.
These days I only take 1 x 5mg methyl' once or twice a week, if any symptoms started to show again I would take one every day again.

High serum levels are needed to "push" B12 into the spinal fluid and hence the brain. There are transporters or some process that carries it there. Higher blood levels, facilitate this process because of the gradient it creates. That is one goal for keeping the serum levels up.

Brian I agree. That is sorta what I meant by active and inactive B12. A serum blood test only shows the total amount in the body, which includes all the INACTIVE.

They have a test that measures only active B12 but I have not had it done.

I think I remember you need to stop 2 weeks before testing but I don't know for sure. I take the sublingual tabs.

My b12 was 2000 or I think even 2500 at one point. This was after I stopped the very short time I was on b12 over the counter supplements. My neuro did not seem concerned but just said to stop the b12 and I did and I think the number actually went up then to the 2500. I have not had it repeated lately though

There is no medical rationale for lowering B12 results. NONE.

People with neurological problems can benefit from higher levels.

Dr. Snow published a paper in that regard:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post698522-70.html

I did see a web page that says excess B12 can cause loss of calcium, which in turn can raise blood pressure. I don't recall seeing that warning here, with recommendations of 5,000mcg of B12 being safe to take. I am on blood pressure medication (that works very well for me) & hadn't checked it in some time. I discovered that my BP is at levels like it was before I started the medication, and I'm taking just 2,000 mcg daily. I plan to cut most of my supplements tomorrow, to see if that is B12, or a different one. I'm also on gabapentin, which in more rare cases, can elevate blood pressure, and that will have to be changed if cutting the supplements doesn't work. For proof of my statement, check this page under HYPERTENSION: http://www.livestrong.com/article/32...lood-pressure/