Questions about B12 intake (and withdrawal)
 

Hello.

For my PNP I've been taking 5000 micrograms/day of methylcobalamine (and folic acid plus r-lipoic) during 40 days or so and until a month ago when a doctor suggested to stop it due to high values of B12 showed in serum.

The highs in that analytic were:

B12: >1500 pg/mL
Folic acid: > 24.10 ng/mL
Serum urea: 52 mg/dL
Creatinine: 1.15 mg/dL
Uric acid: 7.02 mg/dL
Cholesterol: 289 mg/dL (btw I'm in strict AIP diet and 1st time in 47 years with high cholesterol)
IgA: 409 mg/dL

Now, ten days ago I feel much worse. In fact worse than before supplementation. More paresthesia in hands, burning, electric pain, and so on. Since the PNP started 7 months ago, my hands were almost without sympthoms. Now are much worse than my feet. The odd is that two weeks ago I was really well. In fact I thought I was almost cured.

So the question is: Was a wise decision to stop taking B12 and Folic acid as my doctor suggested? He also said that B12 levels would take months to be at normal levels despite of stopping the intake.

Could be possible the worsening has been due to sudden withdrawal (from 5000 to 0) ?

Is it safe to keep those so high B12 levels?

I wonder if I should start again the intake asap or wait for a new blood analytic ... :confused:

Thanks in advance.


Regards.

I wouldn't be that worried about--
 

--that B12 serum level given the amount of cobalamin you've been supplementing with. And that folic acid level is barely above the range of most labs, and not above the range for some (have you also been supplementing with any other B-complex?)

If you feel your symptoms are worsening without supplement, you can play with dosage. You can try 1000mcg/day of methylcobalamin and see where that leaves you in a couple of months.

As far as I have been able to research, there is no known toxicity level for B12--there have been studies in which supplementation went as high as 36000mcg/day with no apparent deleterious effects besides very golden urine--but being above the range like that will make less informed physicians nervous. But you have been supplementing aggressively, so it would be more worrisome if your levels WEREN'T high as a result. (I constantly explain my high B12 levels to new physicians by telling them about my supplement regimen.)

Thanks a lot for your comment Glenn.

I decided to take 5k/day of B12 based on this this page from a MrsD's post:

https://www.neurotalk.org/pn-tips-re...ropathy-2.html

I don't know if that information is still valid or is outdated.

Instead of 1k/day, is ok to take 5k every TWO days? Just to finish the cannister :)


Regards.

Don't think there'd be any problem with that--
 

--or you could try it every three days, or you could even split the pills in half, if that's feasible.