Elevated Vit. B6
 

Hi. I have a neuropathic pain in both my legs (from feet to thighs) with the same degree. I experience almost all the symptoms I read except for the muscle weakness and imbalance. I have severe burning, prickly sensations in the skin of my legs (the closest I can describe the sensation is like an open wound when you put salt, it may not be exactly like that but, yes, close to it). I also cannot stand too long as my feet upto my calves become so painful. I was on Gabapentin for a very long time, but I felt it was not really helping me. So, I stop. Fast forward, I saw a new neurologist at UF Health Gainesville and he gave me tons of blood works, it came back normal except for:
1. ANA - positive but borderline
Please note that I have been monitored for autoimmune ‘cause I
am showing symptoms. All these years, my ANA has been negative. My
Lip biopsy was negative.
2. Vit. B12 - very elevated
3. Vit. B6 - very elevated
These are the initial email from the neuro:
1. ANA - not concerning as it is only borderline
2. Vit. B12 - not toxic
3. Vit. B6 - this can cause damage to the nerves. We will repeat the test

Here is why I am confused, other than my multivitamin (which has 3mg), I have a regular diet. In fact, I am not a big eater. The bulk sources of my B6 are salmon and chicken, and the rest are from fruits, veggies, etc. I guess, my question is, is there a disorder in which the body cannot process the B6 properly thereby it just accumulate in the system (forgive me if my question sounds like no sense). I will stop my multivitamin but i do not know how to change my diet because it has already been adjusted due to some other health issues.

Also, is the damage from B6 reversible once the B6 is lowered down? I do not know how long my B6 has been high. i started this journey in 2012 and no one among several neurologists I’ve been to ever gave me the B6 test.

Thank you very much in advance for your comments.
Oriental0310

Hi Oriental0310

Welcome to NeuroTalk :).

I am sorry to read about your neuropathy.

As far as I can see very elevated levels of Vitamin B6 have not been reported in people who get most of it from their food.

Sensory neuropathy has been reported in people who take more than 1000 mg/day in supplement form. For this reason the Tolerable Upper Intake Level
of it as a supplement has been set at 100 mg/day.

There is more on this here Vitamin B6 | Linus Pauling Institute | Oregon State University .

Best wishes.

This is from a thread on this forum entitled "Elevated B6 without supplementation":

"It is possible your blood was mishandled and therefore resulted in lysed cells (burst). B6 is in red blood cells and when they burst they release B6 into the serum causing a false high reading."

Could that be a possibility with your blood test?

There are also links to info about metabolism of B6, B6 toxicity, etc in that thread.