I thought it might be useful to people if I posted a link to the time line I kept ... I've kept them a lot, not all the time.

The first one I kept shows what I experienced after I began B12 replacement therapy.

http://www.health-boundaries-bite.com/TimeLine.html

My mom for awhile kept a daily record of my sypmtoms and meds to see. I'm not sure if she still does. I need to start on my own though to see the connections of daily activity,mood,meds so on. I'm also wondering if something I'm eating is making me feel sick sometimes which doesn't have to do with the leg issue but still.Thank you

All,

Do keep notes. And do so for the long haul. When nerves are damaged, the repair process can take a very long time. If you expect the process to be like getting over an ordinary injury (better every day or week), you will likely be more frightened and confused than necessary.

And if the central nervous system has been affected (brain, spinal cord, or eyes), whatever damage can be repaired will likely be repaired over a period of years.

Be prepared for fluctuations in symptoms, often especially wild and weird prior to vast improvement.

rose

For me, I had significant improvement in all of my symptoms related to low B12 right away and consistently.

When I look back over my Time Line I see that stress always lowered my B12 levels, as shown in tests, though I don't think I put my test results on my site... and in an increase in low B12 symptoms.

I found after my holistic M.D. gave me a prescription for a shot a day for a year, that I had really REALLY HUGE improvement. I got rid of peripheral neuropathy that I had thought was there for the rest of my life.

I can now sleep without an air mattress, just as one example.

So for me, I wish that I'd had a lot more B12 a lot earlier...

I feel that if I had, then I wouldn't have had such numb toes that I didn't feel the broken bit of darning needle that eventually gave me tetanus...

etc.

I just think that more B12 is a way to address serious B12 issues that are of long standing.

Even now, it is helping with the damage I had from living in the hydrogen sulfide in my condo... I just looked again at that time line, and the problems I was having were severe...

So for me, waiting paitently for improvement over many years was a mistake.

But how I would have found the holistic doctor who gave me the generous prescription earlier, that I don't know.

Hi daniella, yes, that's a good idea.

The connections aren't going to be exactly the same for everyone.

In terms of something you're eating making you sick... it can be that if you lack hydrochloric acid that happens. I have a page on hypochlorhydria... you can google it... and it explains this and also that not everyone can or should take hydrocholoric acid.

For me, it's great, but not so for everyone.



(((((((((daniella)))))))))))

If the damage has been limited to peripheral neuropathy (not the central nervous system), it is not surprising that repairs would be made within a year. Even less if the damage was less, and in some of those cases it is a nice direct road to fewer and less severe symptoms.

It is the central nervous system that often takes such a long and convoluted repair route.

And no one should "wait patiently." There can always be another problem, and one should alert to all possibilities, but one should not be alarmed unnecessarily or think that the process is not long and weird when damage is severe and especially when long-standing.

One size definitely does not fit all. It is a very good idea to keep track and see whether there are immediate correlations to what you are doing or not doing.

It is also important to recognize that there usually is no immediate correlation with B12.

Stomach acid is soooo important, for many things more than B12, calcium and iron absorption. Betaine hcl would be a good idea for many here. The standard method of use is to begin with one capsule with a meal, and increase the dose one at a time, backing off one when there is a warm sensation in the stomach in response. And, of course, there is a maximum dose, which may appear on the bottle.

rose

Boy, I sure know about the Central Nervous System, having had tetanus.

For sure the improvements are continuing now, and when I have a lot of stress I still have the awful feeling in my stomach muscles that I never had anytime in my life before I had tetanus, and the muscles tighten and bend me over. This is years later. (and it's not because of a muscle disease, it's because tetanus is a Central Nervous System disease.)

But the fact is that I felt improvement immediately. I felt it and recorded it. Things would improve, even vastly improve, but then stress would increase and I'd be set back...

My experience has always been that taking B12 results in improvement that I can feel on the same day or within a couple of days.

That is, if my hands or left arm is numb, and I have a B12 shot, that numbness is reduced within three hours, and reduced more a day later unless there is stress. Etc.

Similarly, when there's a lot of stress my eyesight worsens... I have a B12 shot, and within hours things are not as blurry... But for my eyesight to be quite clear, it takes a longer time, continued low stress, etc.

What I am saying is that B12 is effective in a way that can be felt pretty quickly.

If someone has symptoms of low B12 and takes B12 and there is no change in the symptoms, then that is a clear warning sign, it seems to me, that there may be something else wrong, in addition.

For instance, when I was living in the hydrogen sulfide, I had many extreme symptoms of low B12, and I had the normal shots I was being told to have for my B12 deficiency... but the hydrogen sulfide was causing more nerve damage than that amount of B12 could vanquish... so to speak...

I believe that had I understood B12 better at the time I could have taken more B12 and not had as bad of damage from the hydrogen sulfide because the B12 would have sort of kept up with ongoing repairs...

For me, it's been a God send that the neurologist told me to keep a Time Line. If I hadn't kept a Time Line I couldn't be so sure of what I am saying.

I encourage people to keep a Time Line so that you can see what your personal reactions are, your personal improvements and what causes you to get worse... what stresses.

I remember a GREAT book I had called Know Your Nutrition, in which the author, who I think was Linda Clark, said that if she were stranded and could have only ten nutrients, the one she would most want to have with her was hydrochloric acid.

I love it myself.

But when I was working on my web site and realized how many different people come and read the different pages, I realized it was important to warn people that it is NOT recommended for people on certain medications and with certain conditions.

I got the impression from the severity of the warnings that it could be dangerous for people using those medications or having those conditions...

So, not everyone should try it, without checking the warnings and seeing if they apply to them.

Karen,

All that may be true for you. Assuming that you do react very quickly to changes in B12 doses, you are in a tiny minority. It is very important that people not believe that "B12 is effective in a way that can be felt pretty quickly." A very small minority find that.

And although there may be something else going on, one size does not fit all in the change of symptoms department either. As a matter of fact, a small minority do not see evidence of the great changes going on in their bodies for many months.

When people assume that there will be short-term differences if they are benefitting from B12, they are in danger of stopping even though they need it. This is very dangerous if the person needs it.

People can take B12 long enough to get their stores up good and strong and then stop. If their body has been working on that stored B12, they may see a positive change after they stop. If they do not realize that most people store B12 for a long time and use it very slowly, they will decide they do not need the B12, even though the B12 is the reason for their improvement.

Those people are then likely to stop taking B12 altogether and eventually (within months or years) begin to incur damage again.

One size does not fit all. Most people do not see those immediate and linear changes that correlate with B12 taken in the short term.

rose