Question about vitamins, especially B6
 

I know a lot of people on here recommend taking supplements. I have two questions...

1. What is the correct way to take vitamins? It doesn't seem like one should take supplements 365 days / year. So is it advised to take breads from them, or take them every other day? Or should you just take them for a few months and then stop?

2. The vitamin sticky here recommends a B Complex and a multi-vitamin. The B Complex my doctor gave me has 96.7 mg B6 total (in 2 different forms) and the multi he gave me has 33 mg total B6 (in two different forms). Is this too much B6? I have read that 100 mg / day is the max dose.

Thanks you for your help.

Did your doctor sell you those vitamins? What brand are they...do they have a "brand" name on them?

Some people do have issues with high dose B6.

A good affordable b-complex is B-Right. It has modest
amounts which are not likely to bother most people.

Amazon.com: Jarrow Formulas B-right Complex, Supports Engery, Brain and Cardiovascular Health, 1 Veggie Caps: Health & Personal Care

This is all most people need, in fact I only take 2 a week or so.

Did you ask your doctor why you need both of those vitamin products? Did he answer you intelligently?

My doctor suggested the vitamin regimen as a lifelong regimen.

I used to take almost 400 mgs of B-6 combined. I never had a problem with that.

No, he didn't sell me the vitamins. They are Pure Encapsulations. It is what he recommends for people with TBI along with Vit E, Vit D and NAC. He is an endocrinologist that treats people with TBI. These are the 2 products...

http://www.pureencapsulations.com/pr...anutrient.html

http://www.pureencapsulations.com/b-...d-bio-pqq.html

He said the Bs are very important and he likes the PQQ for brain injury. He also said I need a lot of the nutrients in the other one. I have not had a chance to ask him about the B6 specifically.

How would I know if it is too much for me?

Many people cannot tolerate high dose B6... We have had a good number of them appear on our PN forum who had nerve damage/symptoms from less than 50mg a day.

Another issue is that pyridoxine (B6) is not active in the body and is activated in the liver by pyridoxal kinase. This may fail or vary from person to person and some drugs are known to interfere with this conversion also.

The first link you put up requires 6 capsules to deliver what is on the ingredient list. You can alter this then by using less capsules per day. It will lower the other nutrients but that is not a huge factor as they are high anyway.
The first link has methylcobalamin in it as so it must be taken on an empty stomach. If you don't absorption may be nil or quite low.

You could also just take them all... the damage tends to
occur after weeks/months of chronic use. I myself do not use high dose anything...including B6.

Some of our posters who had negative results with high doses were given the B6 by neurologists.

Here are just a few posts;
http://www.neurotalk.org/peripheral-...ght=pyridoxine

http://www.neurotalk.org/peripheral-...ght=pyridoxine

If you Google high dose B6, you can find many other medical sites that discuss this. I myself don't think it is really a huge problem, but I do think that some people just don't do well on extra B6 for whatever reason.

Extremely high dose Vitamins as Mark posted can lead to a condition called vitamin dependency. This is a condition that happens with high C intake (think Linus Pauling where it first manifested). This condition causes to body to adjust and need the excessively high dose over time. So if the vitamin is suddenly withdrawn, the person goes into a severe deficiency syndrome. Most of the papers on this concentrated on vitamin C, where scurvy symptoms resulted from sudden reduction in intake.

Also people who can tolerate very high B6, may have a condition called pyroluria. This is genetic, and involves the liver, where HEME is made. Pyrolurics have a defect in this process and produce a byproduct call kryptopyrroles which are harmless but do complex out B6 and zinc from the blood and excrete them so the person becomes deficient. Treatment of this consists of testing, followed by high dose treatment with P5P and zinc. Pyroluria is suspected to cause some forms of anxiety disorders and or other mental illnesses.

So back to you, RRC. Signs to look for with B6 in high doses, would be numbness and tingling in hands and feet, and altered gait. Those would be a warning to cut back on your B6.

There is already 400 iu of Vit E in the Pure nutrient. Why does he want you to take more E ?

It is totally lacking in Vit C at only 40 mgs. Anti-oxidants are needed to reduce oxidative stress.
The calcium / magnesium is low, especially for a woman.

Wow, they are expensive at $1 each for the B Complex.

regarding PQQ
 

Here is a very complete article on PQQ I found:

Pyrroloquinoline quinone - Scientific Review on Usage, Dosage, Side Effects | Examine.com

It might be an alternative to take this separately, instead of mixed with the same vitamins as in your other, product.

You can get Jarrow brand at Amazon... this is a very well known quality manufacturer.

Amazon.com: Jarrow Formulas Pyrroloquinoline Quinone, Supports Heart and Cognitive Function, 2 mg, 3 Caps: Health & Personal Care

From what I have read so far, PQQ has to be taken for a while to see any benefits. There is however little human study done on it.

Thank you.

I am only taking 4 pills / day of the nutrients.

Mark - my doctor said high doses of Vit. E along with high dose of NAC has helped
brain injured people he treats. He has treated a lot of veterans.

Is it possible to take too much Vit. E also?

I take an additional 2,000 mg of Vit C / day.

The dose of Vit E in your Ultra product is not that high.
over 1000IU a day, then can become problematic, but only because a poorly done study several years ago said so.

So I wouldn't worry about E.

But do that for B12 vitamin on an empty stomach...The B12 requires that for absorption.

Some of the first symptoms are anxiety and insomnia, but b6 Toxicity can present in a variety of ways. There was even a recent report of someone who was diagnosed with ALS and lost the ability to swallow due to b6 Toxicity. The most common symptoms though are tingling in hands or feet and anxiety. That is a large amount of b6 to be taking. I don't see why you need that amount. It's just asking for problems. The RDA is 1.3mg.

Vitamin B6 Toxicity can cause a host of... - Vitamin B6 Toxicity Awareness | Facebook