My husband had surgery on his intestines about 20 years ago. The part that apparently assists in absorbing B-12 was removed or partially removed.

Recently he discovered that his B-12 level was 299. His stupid doctor never tested him for B-12 previously...EVER. But that's another story. My husband is NOT a vegetarian (never has been) and eats a balanced diet and takes a multi-vitamin and D3 (although, no B-complex -- I'm trying to convince him to take a B-complex).

Ever since finding out that he was low in B-12, my husband has been taking Jarrow 5,000 mcg sublingual Methyl B-12 every morning. I need to know....when he gets a blood test to assess his B-12 level, should he stop taking the B-12 a week (or several days) before the test?

He is arguing with me that it wouldn't be necessary to stop taking his B-12. I keep telling him that taking the B-12 before the test will artificially inflate the test result.

Who is right....me or him?

Thank you!

I came here asking the same question. I was advised by Mrs. D. to stop taking the pills about 5 days prior. I didn't want there to a false spike in the numbers based on the supplement. I would do the same when I was getting injections, I would wait until the week before I was due for a shot to get my numbers tested.

It won't hurt to stop & at least if the number is high, he'll know it wasn't from taking the supplements. My number went from 505 to 1297. If I had been taking the supplements all week, I would have been worried that it jumped because I had taken them. So I at least have peace of mind that it's a true number & I can be confident that my number went up. If he's still resistant, call the Dr and ask. If he/she agrees he should stop taking them before the blood work, he wouldn't be able to argue.

Yes, I would stop a few days before the test. Oral ingestion is less of a worry than an injection would be. But it still will inflate the numbers. Any good high number in his case however is good...because it shows the oral route is working for him. If after 3 months or so on the oral 5mg, there is little change because of loss of intestinal surface area, he will have to have injections. Stopping the B12 for 3 days or so is not going to harm him since there are stores in the liver for this situation.

There is one area of the small intestine that deals with intrinsic factor and if that is lost, the only method of absorption is passive thru the membranes. There is little on the net or PubMed about people with removed small intestine however.
I think since passive absorption IS possible and we know it works, from other studies, that he may do okay this way.

If he has taken the 5mg methyl form on an empty stomach and still tests low, then passive absorption is not working well enough for him. If he does move on to injections, make sure they are tailored to him, and not the once a month fits all dose.
Some people need once a week, or twice a month. Some doctors stop testing once injections are begun. I'd suggest to follow this up with testing, in case it is not offered to you.

Thank you, Mrs. D.

Hey, I was wondering....you know so many things....how did you come to be such an expert in so many areas? I thought I remembered reading that you had many health issues of your own. Just wondering!!!

I have training in pathology, chemistry, physiology, anatomy, drugs, biology, botany, pharmacology, microbiology... 5 yrs of technical complex things. 40+yrs with patients and endless problems, and my own pain issues.

A decade ago we got our first computer. And PubMed became accessible to me at home, opening many doors. I am an avid reader, and don't do sports TV or much TV in general. I READ.

I am very inquisitive and a puzzle solver so all those things rather
come together for me. Some of medicine is plain old common sense, which seems to be lost these days with "specialists". While I was blessed with pain and arthritis from a relatively early age, my mind is still very sharp and I still use it. I am a good holistic thinker, and find lots of things "outside the box". Right now I am doing further experiments on myself with my neodymium magnets. Magnets have been very good for my own pain control.
Like my signature quote... There are many truths out there, you just have to FIND them.

I think doctors memorize too much. They don't step back and see how things really work, or mesh together. It is sort of how I work with my plants, seedlings, and garden as well. School misses the boat and does not teach "process"...only facts.

I found it interesting the author of The 4 Hour Body, says a similar thing in his introduction of that book.
http://www.fourhourbody.com/

He claims that there are many answers to medical problems today --HIDDEN in the research and never applied in the real world. And I believe that.

Mrs D
since you were mentioning magnets, Have you ever considered doing TMS for any issue? I was considering it for depression but I think the price is too steep, so if i did it i Would have to do the research clinical study associated with it.

(I have recently gotten botox for my migraines, and I found it to be extremely helpful. I got it from a dermatologist, since no neurologists in my area that i know of, perform botox. But whenever i talked to the secretary about getting it through my insurance, she was somewhat helpful, but not helpful in other ways. All along she said that I have to submit it myself. So I said yeah I'll try that and I called my insurance etc etc. Now that I have the actual form and everything filled out. I said to her is there any way I could get the treatment done again by this doctor? And she was basically like go somewhere else, find a neurologist who can do it. I also was very uncomfortable going in there. And feel almost as if, it's all women in there getting stuff done, and i was not welcome.)

maybe i should have put the stuff about botox as a message on your page but anyways.

And also i know u like pubmed, but i usually read drugs.com updates through twitter. As well as medscape. I get the daily news from medscape. and it seems very detailed as well as well written articles and also on their website it has tests or quizzes to guess the diagnosis. I no longer am going to be a nurses aide, because I've hit a trough in terms of Physical issues and mood/depression amongst other things. I also am on disability from it.

Magnets work really well for me. I buy very inexpensive ones, and they last forever. No side effects.

They have to be placed carefully, over the nerve path that is
over firing however. And they have to be strong. We now have much stronger ones easily available compared to 10 yrs ago.

Back then 2 little neodymiums cost $30.
Now you can get 50 of them for less than $10.

The plastic coated ones, are about $1 each. Compared to "medical" magnets, they are an amazingly low price!

This is my magnet thread:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ghlight=magnet

People with implanted devices cannot use magnets at home.

I wanted to edit my post above because it contained too much personal information, plus too much information. but it wont let me now.