How Important Is Vitamin B In The Treatment Of Nerve Damage

Today's post  from cidpneuropathysupport.com (see link below) looks at the role of Vitamin B in both the prevention of and treatment of neuropathy. This article looks at it from the inflammatory neuropathy angle but it can be argued that all neuropathy is inflammatory by nature. The nerves become inflamed and/or damaged through inflammation and a vitamin B deficiency is often seen as contributing to that. That said, you need to be tested by your doctor to establish a deficiency before embarking on vast amounts of supplements. For neuropathy patients with a normal Vitamin B level, there'll be enough extra in your daily multivitamin. There are also different forms of vitamin B and excessive amounts can bring about side-effects - best discuss it with your doctor.

CIDP Type Neuropathy and Vitamin B
Author: Shiraz Abbas May 27, 2017

Studies are now suggesting that vitamin B may have an important role in healing or easing the pain of peripheral neuropathy and CIDP type of neuropathy in particular.

Peripheral neuropathy is a disorder of the peripheral nerves. It is often characterized by weakness of limbs, numbness and pain. CIDP type neuropathy is a form of neuropathy in which there is a progressive and gradual destruction of the nerves through inflammation.

The vitamin B family of vitamins (also known as B complex vitamins) are critical for the proper functioning of the human body. They play a role in our immune system, energy, and red blood cell formation. Vitamin B12 is particularly important for neurological health and is a vitamin of choice to help treat neuropathy.

Vitamin B is commonly used to treat neuropathy. According to one study, people given high doses of vitamin B for four weeks had their pain reduced and saw improvement in their vibration perception threshold (VPT), that is, a testing that is used to measure large nerve fiber function in the body. People with lesser doses in a 8 week span saw lesser improvement.

Deficiency in B vitamins may lead to neurological problems. B12 in particular is important for the development of the central and peripheral nervous system. It has a critical role in maintaining the myelin sheath which ensures the transmission of nerve signals in the central and peripheral nervous system.

In neuropathy, especially CIDP type neuropathy, the signals between the spinal cord and other parts of the body are disrupted. With CIDP in particular, the myelin sheath is gradually but progressively damaged through inflammation and hence leading to an impairment of the transmission of nerve signals. This process of demyelination leads to axonal destruction. The disease is thus characterized by the following symptoms: weakness of the limbs, numbness, tingling sensation and pain. Loss of sensation and activity also happens depending on where the damage is occurring.

As B vitamins, particularly vitamin B12 play a role in maintaining a healthy peripheral nervous system, the vitamin may also play a role in the reconstruction of the nerves and more particularly the myelin sheath and hence helping the reduction of pain and improving sensation.

Some people with neuropathy may not be able to absorb vitamin B12 due to the loss of the “intrinsic factor” that is produced in the stomach and hence the loss of ability to absorb B12 through the digestive tract. In these cases like these, B12 may be injected into the body. Please check with your doctor if you have digestion problems with it comes to B12.

For those who can absorb it through the digestive tract, the following foods are high in B12 in addition to B12 supplements:

Beef Liver (71 mcg for a three-ounce serving, provides 2951% of the daily recommended intake).
Mackerel (16 mcg for a three-ounce serving, provides 661% of the daily recommended intake).
Sardines (8 mcg for a three-ounce serving, provides 333% of the daily recommended intake).
Read Meat (5 mcg for a three-ounce serving, provides 208% of the daily recommended intake).
Salmon (4 mcg for a three-ounce serving, provides 167% of the daily recommended intake).


Shiraz Abbas is the founder and manager of the CIDP Neuropathy Support Group. He is also one of the main community educators of IVIG therapy. He resides in Fresno, California. Shiraz can be contacted through our free CIDP advice service at 1-855-782-0574.

http://cidpneuropathysupport.com/cidp-neuropathy-and-vitamin-b/

How important is Vitamin B in helping with neuropathy symptoms

This article concerning B vitamins, comes from The New York Buyers Club Blog.
This Blog is edited by staff, volunteers and members of the New York Buyers’ Club, claims to be a non-profit co-op and information exchange founded in 2004 to help people buy the supplements they need in order to manage their health and also find reliable information on how best to use supplements. Nevertheless, although there is no reason to doubt them, they are a commercial organisation which sells supplements. You need to make your own mind up as to how much validity you give their information. HOWEVER having said that, I have checked and double checked the scientific accuracy of their information regarding vitamin B12 and I can't find anyone who argues with what they say although the potential for improvement by using B12 supplements depends on the individual - the claims made here are very optimistic!

B-12 may play a very critical role in preventing HIV disease progression: a large Johns Hopkins University study found that people with HIV who are deficient in B-12 have a two-fold increased risk of progression to AIDS. In this study, those who were B-12 deficient progressed to AIDS four years faster than those who were not. The exact mechanism by which adequate B-12 in the body may slow progression is not known, but the finding is not surprising, given all the roles B-12 is known to play in healthy human function.

B12 and another B vitamin, folic acid, are critical to prevent or eliminate the often-overwhelming fatigue that so often accompanies HIV disease, as well as to help prevent some forms of neuropathy and brain and spinal cord changes. Maintaining adequate B12 levels also supports the bone marrow’s production of blood cells (crucial to prevent white and red blood cell decreases), and helps protect the heart.

There are countless anecdotal reports from people with HIV that using B-12 supplementation has dramatically improved their lives by its ability to reverse fatigue, often restoring normal energy to people who had previously been so exhausted that their daily functioning had been greatly affected. Many people have also reported significant improvements in memory and mental functioning, improvements that have made a huge difference in daily life. The possibility that B-12 supplementation might also help prevent or reverse the spinal cord changes that can have such devastating effects on some people is also very encouraging.

B-12 and folic acid should always be given together. Doses of B-12 (1000 mcg given daily via pills, or one to several times weekly via prescribable nasal gel or injections) and folic acid (800 mcg daily via pills) may be useful for restoring energy, treating neuropathy, protecting the heart, increasing overall feelings of well being, and boosting mental function (especially when combined with thiamin, niacin, and folic acid, since all four of these B vitamins are needed for normal neurological function) even when tests don’t indicate obvious deficiencies.

Deficiencies of B-12 can result in deterioration of mental function and neurologic damage that will yield such symptoms as memory loss, decreased reflexes, weakness, fatigue, disorientation, impaired pain perception, tinnitus (chronic ringing in the ears), neuropathy, burning tongue, and various psychiatric disorders. B-12 deficiency can also cause canker sores in the mouth, impaired bone marrow function, loss of appetite, and loss of weight, as well as impaired antibody responses to vaccines.

Folic acid deficiency can also cause fatigue and weakness, along with irritability, cramps, anemia, nausea, loss of appetite, diarrhea, hair loss, mouth and tongue pain, and neurological problems. In addition, folic acid deficiency is believed to play a role in the development of numerous and varied types of human cancers.

A combination of B-12 and folic acid deficiency can allow increases in blood levels of homocysteine, a chemical that can damage artery walls and contribute to heart disease.

One of the known causes of B12 deficiency is chronic viral illness with resulting poor gastrointestinal absorption. AZT use may contribute to deficiencies of both B-12 and folic acid. Many other drugs may worsen folate status in the body including TMP/SMX (Bactrim, Septra), pyrimethamine, and methotrexate (all three of which are folate antagonists), as well as phenytoin (Dilantin), various barbiturates, and alcohol (all of which block folate absorption). B-12 deficiency can also worsen folate levels in the body because B-12 is required to change folate into its active form.

NYBC members often supplement with B-right B complex and/or with Methylcobalamin, a form of B12 that is better absorbed by the body than other forms of B12.

http://nybc.wordpress.com/2011/05/28/1159/

What Is Vitamin B12 Deficiency

The last 2 posts and the next 3 posts all relate to Vitamin B12 and neuropathy. If you weren't a hypochondriac before reading these, you may well be afterwards, so taking a sensible view of the many symptoms shown here is advisable. Strangely, most HIV and/or neuropathy patients aren't standard tested for B12 deficiency but it may well be worth asking your doctor to do exactly that - it may explain several things. All 5 posts come from the same site B12patch.com (see links below the articles), which is pretty much an 'all you would ever want to know' type of information site but the descriptions of what neuropathy is are accurate and honest and explained in language that we all can understand. Very interesting and worth discussing with your doctor if there's time, especially if you're considering taking B12 supplement pills (usually need Folic acid to help absorption) - injections may be better in your case.

Is Vitamin B12 Deficiency an Autoimmune Disorder? Yup.

If you’ve been diagnosed with vitamin B12 deficiency, you’re probably wondering, “How did this happen?” Unless you’re a vegan or a gastric bypass patient, it’s possible that vitamin B12 deficiency resulted from an autoimmune disorder that causes pernicious anemia.

Vitamin B12 deficiency- what are the symptoms?

Vitamin B12 is essential for maintaining your nervous system, psychological health, and your metabolism. Pernicious anemia causes a wide range of debilitating symptoms that interfere with daily life, and is one cause of B12 deficiency.
Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency-pernicious anemia may include:

• Everyday fatigue, despite sleeping well
• Brain fog- confusion
• Impaired concentration
• Impaired memory
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Mood swings
• Irritability
• Painful numbness and tingling in hands and feet
• Tingling or burning sensation in mouth and tongue
• Slower reflexes
• Difficulty walking normally
• Stomach upset
• Infertility or frequent miscarriages and stillbirths

Vitamin B12 deficiency- what are the causes?

There are many reasons why an individual may develop vitamin B12 deficiency. First off, if you eat a diet rich in sources of vitamin B12, including beef, poultry, fish, and milk, then you should not under any normal circumstances become deficient in vitamin B12 levels.

• Following a vegan diet is a major risk factor for vitamin B12 deficiency. Vitamin B12 occurs naturally in animal-based foods, the richest sources being liver, shellfish, and many lean meats. Unless you supplement your vegan diet with vitamin B12, then you will eventually become depleted, as few plant-based products are infused with substantial amounts of vitamin B12.
• Certain lifestyle choices may interfere with vitamin B12 absorption, including stomach or intestinal surgery (such as gastric bypass), alcohol abuse, and using certain B12-inhibiting medications (such as metformin or protein pump inhibitors [PPIs]).
• Gastrointestinal diseases, in addition to other diseases that include GI malfunction, may cause vitamin B12 deficiency. These include Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease, fibromyalgia, migraine disorder, and chronic fatigue syndrome.
• The elderly do not produce enough stomach acid to digest vitamin B12 fully, so they are a separate risk group for vitamin B12 deficiency.
• If none of the above-mentioned risk factors pertain to you, then it’s entirely possible that you suffer from an autoimmune disorder that prevents you from absorbing vitamin B12 from dietary sources. Autoimmune pernicious anemia may take decades to develop and typically goes unnoticed until you reach your thirties or forties.

Vitamin B12 deficiency from autoimmune disorder

In order to get vitamin B12 into your blood supply, you need certain digestive enzymes to help you access vitamin B12 from the foods you eat. Intrinsic factor is that necessary enzyme that your body uses to absorb vitamin B12.
For some people, certain antibodies interfere with intrinsic factor, causing your immune system to malfunction. If you have one of the antibodies that interfere with vitamin B12 absorption, then you will never be able to digest vitamin B12, no matter how many hamburgers or fish dinners you eat in your lifetime.

Three types of antibodies cause vitamin B12 deficiency- pernicious anemia. They include:

• Parietal cell antibody, which prevents the production of intrinsic factor in the stomach.
• Intrinsic factor antibody, type 1, which prevents the bonding of vitamin B12 to intrinsic factor. About 50%-60% of pernicious anemia patients have this type of antibody.
• Intrinsic factor antibody, type 2, which allows bonding of vitamin B12 to intrinsic factor, but prevents bonding with receptor from the ileum (the bottommost part of your small intestine).

If you’ve been tested for vitamin B12 deficiency, it’s important that you also take a blood test for the pernicious anemia antibody. Many doctors overlook this important screening, so you might need to ask for it.
Vitamin B12 deficiency autoimmune disorder requires vitamin B12 from non-oral sources, such as vitamin B12 injections, which are available only through prescription.

http://www.b12patch.com/blog/pernicious-anemia-what-is-it/is-vitamin-b12-deficiency-an-autoimmune-disorder-yup/