Hey flyersfan,

Below is a link to a post I made about my experience with Iron deficiency. It might help you interpret your results.

Keep us posted.

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ron+deficiency

Mrs. D-Thank you very much- I have been reading a lot of your old posts and they are helpful.


Shelley-Thank you so very much for your help and the link-I really appreciate it!

This site is great-Thans to everyone!

Flyersfan

I'm glad to read that you're going to take Methylcobalamin.

I used to be iron deficient and feel dizzy from the anemia whenever I stood up, but after having B12 replacement I've not had the iron deficiency anemia any more.

If you keep a few notes when you're using the Methylcobalamin then later you can look back and see how it worked for you; sometimes that can be useful.

Glen, why do you take tne b12 on an empty stomach? I just got Jarrow 1000 lozenges and it says to take it with meal.

Thanks

B12 is a large molecule and will not be absorbed as well when mixed with food

Do NOT take with food.

It has been found that drugs that are dosed in microgram quantities do not get absorbed properly when food is present.
Micrograms are very tiny amounts.
This goes for thyroid medications and digoxin.
Tiny microgram doses can be absorbed by any fiber present in the GI tract and hence made unavailable for absorption into the blood stream.
Normally B12 from food is bound to intrinsic factor which ensures proper absorption.
Theoretically if you have good intrinsic factor, food may not be a huge issue. But we don't really know that, do we? After all pernicious anemia is failure of intrinsic factor.
People who show up here with neuro issues....have "something" wrong them. So I suggest you take the B12 as if you had NO intrinsic factor activity.

The sublingual lozenges are just a gimmick IMO. B12 is a very large molecule and not much would be absorbed thru the buccal membranes. Think about how many drugs we see for use this way...mostly only those that need to avoid first pass thru the liver. Nitroglycerine is one example. Nicotine from chewing gum is another.

For people with intact intrinsic factor, some oral B12 may be bound but no one really knows whether this is the case. Doctors don't do Schilling tests anymore. Labs don't offer them.

Taking oral B12 and swallowing it, affords opportunity for passive absorption without the helper intrinsic factor, in the small intestine. 10 micrograms or less is estimated to be absorbed this way. Since we only need 2-4 micrograms a day, a 1000mcg tablet would just afford the RDA with a small margin of error.

The article I put up several times from American Association of Family Physicians gives results of a study using oral:
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20030301/979.html
There is still much confusion about oral B12, misunderstanding about desirability of methyl vs cyano, and dosing.

I try to keep up on the newest information for this reason.

Oh MrsD..I have very recently started taking the B12 after reading here but find the problem is that my stomach is seldom empty.

It takes a lot of planning to time the pill between feedings. *grin

Take it first thing when you get up... I have mine with tea and my thyroid dose. (it helps if you have another drug that requires empty stomach like that). I wait at least an hour or more before I have breakfast food. Most breakfast food is loaded with fiber..cereals, bread etc.

Or you can take it before bedtime, and hopefully your tummy is empty then? <cough cough>

When I was going thru the menopause and had trouble sleeping I took it then, at night. It really helped the insomnia.
The reason for this is that methylB12 is in the conversion step from serotonin to melatonin --melatonin is the "sleep" hormone.

Menopause wasn't too bad for me really, except for the sleep issue.

Oh ! I didnt know I had to take B12 with an empty stomach !!! Perhaps that's why I havent seen results...

Oh my... My eutirox has to be taken with empty stomach too !? For my thyroids....

Thanks !

Im useless...

i usually end up biting the vitamin b12 tablets in half and then swallowing it, cause otherwise it's hard to go down, especially jarrows.