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I read the thread the other day about Vit D but, how much B12 can one take? I know I am extremely low and was supposed to take shots but instead I bought lozenges with 3000mg (with folic acid). Should I be taking 1 or 2 of these a day?
Thanks
Jenny
B12
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Jenny,
I am not an expert, but can tell you that I am taking 2000mcg/day, in addition to the B12 that's in my B-complex. One factor is which form of B12 your lozenge contains - some are apparently more effectively absorbed than others. I looked for that form methylcobalamin, because it's the type that is in the prescription form that Tex takes (and I want to be just like Tex when I grow up, MC-wise). That is called Metanx: the ingredients, amounts and forms are here. (That 2mg = 2000mcg, as you probably know.)
The B-100 complex I take agrees with me much better than the previous brand, and I think it's been helpful particularly with mild neurological symptoms I'd been having.
So 3000mcg would be a very generous dose, though you have to take into account that you are extremely low. Hope this helps you decide - I think I shouldn't 'advise' ahead of my actual knowledge! Hopefully you'll get additional responses with more conviction,
Sara
I am not an expert, but can tell you that I am taking 2000mcg/day, in addition to the B12 that's in my B-complex. One factor is which form of B12 your lozenge contains - some are apparently more effectively absorbed than others. I looked for that form methylcobalamin, because it's the type that is in the prescription form that Tex takes (and I want to be just like Tex when I grow up, MC-wise). That is called Metanx: the ingredients, amounts and forms are here. (That 2mg = 2000mcg, as you probably know.)
The B-100 complex I take agrees with me much better than the previous brand, and I think it's been helpful particularly with mild neurological symptoms I'd been having.
So 3000mcg would be a very generous dose, though you have to take into account that you are extremely low. Hope this helps you decide - I think I shouldn't 'advise' ahead of my actual knowledge! Hopefully you'll get additional responses with more conviction,
Sara
Jenny,
I really can't add much to what Sara has already said, except to relate some personal experience. Metanx is recommended to treat peripheral neuropathy symptoms in diabetics. The manufacturer claims that up to 50% of individuals are unable to fully convert folic acid into the active form of folate, L-methylfolate, and since methylfolate is necessary for the proper utilization of B-12, making sure you have a good balance is presumably important, (which you seem to be doing). Metanx contains 2,000 mcg of B-12, (as Sara pointed out, and 3,000 mcg of L-methylfolate calcium, (plus 35,000 mcg of B-6). The recommended dose is 1 or 2 tablets daily, so your dosage is within that range.
I've been taking Metanx for almost 2 years now, (one tablet per day), and while my B-12 was in the upper part of the "normal" range, when I had it tested a year ago, it wasn't out of range. It tested 903 pg/mL - normal range, (180- 914 pg/mL). My 25(OH)D tested only 46 mg/mL, (about half of what I would like to maintain, so since then I've been taking 2,500 IU of D3 daily, during the summer, and twice that during the rest of the year, even though I live in sunny Texas, and I spend a fair amount of time out in the sun). I plan to request tests for vitamins D, B-12, and folate with my next CBC, sometime in the fall.
Tex
I really can't add much to what Sara has already said, except to relate some personal experience. Metanx is recommended to treat peripheral neuropathy symptoms in diabetics. The manufacturer claims that up to 50% of individuals are unable to fully convert folic acid into the active form of folate, L-methylfolate, and since methylfolate is necessary for the proper utilization of B-12, making sure you have a good balance is presumably important, (which you seem to be doing). Metanx contains 2,000 mcg of B-12, (as Sara pointed out, and 3,000 mcg of L-methylfolate calcium, (plus 35,000 mcg of B-6). The recommended dose is 1 or 2 tablets daily, so your dosage is within that range.
I've been taking Metanx for almost 2 years now, (one tablet per day), and while my B-12 was in the upper part of the "normal" range, when I had it tested a year ago, it wasn't out of range. It tested 903 pg/mL - normal range, (180- 914 pg/mL). My 25(OH)D tested only 46 mg/mL, (about half of what I would like to maintain, so since then I've been taking 2,500 IU of D3 daily, during the summer, and twice that during the rest of the year, even though I live in sunny Texas, and I spend a fair amount of time out in the sun). I plan to request tests for vitamins D, B-12, and folate with my next CBC, sometime in the fall.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
I would have switched to the lozenges, too.