Diagnosing and Treating Vitamin B12 Deficiency

[Natalia]

"Vitamin B12 deficiency can sneak up on you, and can lead to a myriad of diseases and disorders. Know the signs and symptoms. You could be deficient yet still test in the so-called range of "normal B12" on a blood test, especially if you have taken an oral B12 supplement of uncertain quality, or you have been."

BvEizypoyO0

[ElfeMya]

Thanks for this, it is often thrown at vegan however anyone can suffer from it and it can be hard to figure it out...

[Natalia]

Thanks for this, it is often thrown at vegan however anyone can suffer from it and it can be hard to figure it out...

It's true, it could happen to someone with any kind of diet. My teacher had it and she is a meat eater, and my friend who is a vegan and who had CFS like symptoms started injecting himself with B12, and it made him feel a lot better. They both lacked B12 in their body because of lack of intrinsic factor. From what I can see, medically there is no way of really knowing this unless you have a tissue test of B12 levels (to see how much has been absorbed) and most people will not have this.

I have just bought a B12 spray that goes under the tongue (sublingual absorption) and B12 patches that are soon to arrive (to take instead of injection)
Surprisingly, a little while after I took 4 sprays (1200 mcg or 1.2 mg of B12) under my tongue and on my mouth cheeks yesterday, my body felt a bit more relaxed...(I wasn't expecting that).

There is a bit of a debate on how effective these sprays and patches are for B12 absorption (as B12 is a big molecule) but some people say that it has helped them, and some use DMSO to dissolve a tablet in it and then apply it to their skin, while others inject B12 themselves at home.

I bought this, and it tastes nice as well!

BetterYou B12 Boost Oral Spray
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BetterYou-Boost-Oral-Spray-25ml/dp/B0072D7GPA

These are the patches that I am going to try (there were others ones that looked better but they were too expensive)

Viepatch Vitamin B12 Plus 10 High Strength Patches 5000mcg - 6 week supply
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Viepatch-Vitamin-Strength-Patches-5000mcg/dp/B008ATOU7M/ref=sr_1_1?s=drugstore&ie=UTF8&qid=1415073423&sr=1-1&keywords=b12+patches

[ElfeMya]

Thanks for the links. I use to have a spray bought in Australia but there is no such thing available here and import rules are quite strict. I found some liquid form at the pharmacy ( far less concentrated than the other ways used ) so I am doing with it at the moment. Your body reaction is quite impressive. I bet there is a lot more of us deficient and not knowing it...

[Olaf]

How to diagnost a B12 deficiency
Wrong: Testing B12, holocobalamine or transcobalamine in blood.
Right: Checking methylmalonacid in urin.

There are several medical studies out in the last year that show clearly, that B12 in blood is no marker for a B12 deficiency. The reasons for this are:


blood is the transport medium that transports nutrients from intestine to the organs. So in blood you just see what someone has currently assimilated via food. It does not show a deficiency.
"B12" in serum mostly is the transport molecule for B12 (haptocorrin) which you can find even if there is no B12 on it. 80% of that value is haptocorrin. So it cannot go very low.


When using blood values one always have to use intracellular values which is the amont of nutrients inside blood cells, not in serum. There are very few medical labors that offer this procedure (for instance here in germany we have one that makes intracellular diagnosis and only one other that at least uses a mixture of serum and intracellular measurements).
Because of this flaw the best way of measuring nutrial deficits is to find a marker for each nutrient that rises or falls, when this nutrient is missing.
In the case of vitamin B12 this is methylmalon acid. Methylmalon acid is a chemical byproduct in the body that usually will be degraded almost competely. This process needs vitamin B12. When you have a deficiency of B12 methylmalon acid cannot be degraded fully and so it rises. That's why it is a marker for B12 deficiency.
There are several medical studies out there which shows clearly that methylmalon acid is a marker for B12 deficiency and B12 in blood is not.

The same is for Vitamine B6.
Wrong marker: B6 in blood (it can even rise in blood when it cannot be activated because a lack of zincum or magnesium). So you can have a deficiency of activated B6 while having even increased blood values of B6.
Right marker: cystathionin in urin


How to treat a B12 deficiency
Wrong: Taking cyanocobalamin orally, taking only some mg per month
Right: Taking methylcobalamin or acetylcobalamin by holding it in mouth. Do not swallow it.
Take additional daily 0.5 mg biotin and 400 ug folic acid, because all three need each other.

When beeing swallowed B12 needs a protector, a transport molecule to pass the stomach without being decomposed. Not all people have that. When this intrinsic factor is missing, only about 1% of the B12 that was swallowed will reach intestinum.
There are other forms of B12 (methylcobalamin and acetylcobalamin) that can directly go into blood via the oral mucosal membrane. You have to hold it just in mouth.

Another secure method of applying vitamin B12 to the body is injection. But who will get daily injections about a time span of 1...4 months?


Which is the right amount?
When you control the trend of the B12 deficiency via methylmalon acid in urin you will find, that it needs rather large amounts of B12 until it disappears.
Typically someone with a large defeciency will need a daily dosis of 2,000 ... 5,000 µg orally for 1...4 months on a daily basis.

I have seen people where even this amount was too small. These are people where a over movable neck joint is causing inflammations and circulatory disorders in the brain, which happens quite often. This leads to the production of large amouns of NO (nitrosative stress) which is immediately reacting with B12, so that B12 is consumed.