B vitamins

[erimus]

I've been looking into vitamins etc to make sure I'm not missing anything that could help my MS. This site has been really helpful in my background research. For example, i'm going to balance my D, zinc, mag. I'm also interested in B vits and have a few questions;

- there are many B vits - are there any that I should be concentrating on more than others? I'm going to ask my GP for tests for B vits and might be difficult to pursuade him to test the whole lot!
- Does anyone have info on the optimal reference ranges for b vits for MS?
- In terms of supplements, is a multi b vit good to take or should I look to do them separately.

Many thanks

[jimmylegs]

focus on b12 for testing, you want the level at least 500 pmol/L.

you can address the whole b-complex via a good high quality b-50 complex. if you want to do a short term therapeutic thing you can take 2 b-50s 4x/d for a week (so total 400 of each per day), then switch to 1 b50 a day. for b12, methylcobalamin is the best supplemental form. if you find a b complex that uses that form, great. if not, buy that one separately for use in the shorter term. don't take more than b-100 per day in the long term. you will be getting some from food and at intakes over 100mg/d i nthe long term, vit b6 can cause peripheral neuropathy. also you can google search term klenner4 to get a specific list of b vitamins to use for ms and why. but you can ballpark the approach with oral b-100 complex.

of course food sources are best so hunt them down via sites like www.whfoods.com and nutritiondata.com.

[Slumby]

My physiotherapy(?) dr. Told me last
visit that insufficient B vitamins leads
To nerve damage!

[jimmylegs]

very true.

more details on the various nutritional syndromes and links to different kinds of neuropathies here:

Washington University Neuromuscular Disease Centre
http://neuromuscular.wustl.edu/nother/vitamin.htm

[ursula]

I have been taking vitamin b3 (niacin) for years now.
The trials are very promising.

http://mssociety.ca/en/research/medmmo_ ... 060929.htm

I think only high doses are effective (I take 1000mg daily). The doses in mouse models are even higher but I got stomach problems with 1500mg.
I have been relapse free for 6 years - EDSS 0-1

But maybe it is the placebo effect?

Is there anybody else here who has been taking vitamin B3 for a longer period of time?

please note that if you take high doses of niacin for a longer time, blood tests should be done from time to time (liver, kidneys)

[THX1138]

The book, Could It Be B12?: An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses, says that about 10% of MS cases are actually B12 deficiencies MISDIAGNOSED

It also recommends methylcobalamin injections instead of pills or oral forms.

http://www.amazon.com/Could-It-Be-B12-M ... 884995691/

THX1138

[jimmylegs]

my understanding is that sublingual methylcobalamin approaches the efficacy of injections. straight to the bloodstream through the mucous membranes. I was able to boost my b12 significantly via said method. at the time I was investigating, the form of b12 available for injection was cobalamin only, and I was not interested.

[mrbarlow]

Posted this on Niacin thread but relevant here:

I bought a bottle of 500mg nicotinamide this lunch timne and took one tablet.

So far Im liking the effect - I'm as bright as a buton and my low level tingling in my feet much reduced.

[Kronk]

Be careful with supplementing B6. I had shown a list of supplements to my neuro and the only one he had an issue with was my B complex... he stated supplementing more than 100mg a day can lead to nerve damage over time.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB6-QuickFacts/

[amberfer]

I take B12 orally at my neuro's suggestion. It hurts my mouth if I take it daily, so I take it twice a week. But she made it clear that my diagnosis is definitely MS and not a B12 deficiency, so she doesn't expect this to really help anything. It's just a good idea, because as someone else said, B deficiency can cause visible MRI lesions!