I have done Freddd's protocol also after developing CFS. In my opinion taking large doses of these vitamins are not at all safe during pregnancy (or actually ever other than for a short time to build up a vitamin/mineral that is stored). I also experienced wonderful things and improvements following the AMP as well as crashes. I recently started Christine's vitamin suggestions instead after a very long phone conversation with her. I think Freddd's protocol works so well because we are short on B2 which is needed to use B12 and folate and all other b vitamins so his protocol gives us a way for our body to get those vitamins which relieves a lot of our symptoms. However, if the problem really is b2 and you are low on that to begin with, then you are making things worse by following Freddd's protocol. You should not experience crashes on a protocol after the first month or so or else it is masking a deficiency in something else.
B2 in very small RDA level doses needs to be taken in conjunction with manganese. I had very bad back pain that started when I was pregnant with my second child and completely disappeared when supplementing with manganese. Also, after several days on b2, I also had the same improvements that I did on the AMP but they have lasted rather than disappearing and then reappearing in a crash as they did on the AMP. This supports the reasoning that b2 is what is missing when we are deficient in b12 and folate.
Even if you don't want to follow Christine's vitamin suggestions, what you are describing is VERY BAD for a pregnant woman to start experiencing so late in her pregnancy. At least please cut out the high doses of vitamins and try 1 manganese supplement every day for a week to see if that helps with the back pain. You should know within a few days if a supplement is working for you and if not, then stop taking it.
In my non-medical opinion, high doses of a vitamin/mineral should only be taken on a temporary basis if your stores are low in that vitamin/mineral. It should not take long (maybe a few months at the very most) to raise those stores and then you should stop unless you know your diet is deficient in a particular mineral or vitamin. If you are not raising those stores with supplementation then you should look elsewhere for your solution (a very good example is with people who take increasingly higher levels of calcium for osteoporosis with small effect!).
American non-vegetarian diets are not low in b12 or folate so there should be a good reason why you are supplementing with them. The "good reason" so far has been that we have an enzyme with a genetic defect; which is a good reason indeed. However, other people in this forum have linked to studies showing B2's positive effect on people with MTHFR deficiencies with the reasoning being that perhaps B2 (or Christine thinks more likely manganese deficiency which affects enzyme functions) can correct these enzyme problems or even that deficiencies possibly caused these problems. The point being that we should start a deeper level of questioning to see if there is a way to naturally correct this rather than spending a lifetime on high doses of supplements to do the work that our body should easily be doing for us.
Hi Blossom,
American non-vegetarian diets are not low in b12 or folate so there should be a good reason why you are supplementing with them.
There are all sorts of reasons why a person may be low on b12 or folate despite an diet that has adequate amounts. With foltate, we have people who are deficienct all their lofe becasue they can't utilize folinic acid and have the what appears to be the most serious form of paradoxical foilate deficiency. They can't utilize folinic acid, folinic acdi in vegetable source food or tpyically folic acid. Eating too many folate containing veggies, taking a folinic and/ot folic acid supplement will cause a worsening of folate deficiency. Then there are those who can't utilized folic acid at all: 20% of population, can only utilize fiolic acid a little: 30% of population, and those who can utilize up to about 800mcg of folic acid: 50% of population. Many of these people will have paradoxical folate deficiency because unconverted folic acid accumulates and blocks methylfolate. When a person is in folate deficiency or insufficincy they dump more b12 into the urine faster than when they have satisfactory amounts of folate. This is readily observable in those who take large enough doses of b12 of any varieties that can show up in th urine. No matter the mechanism, most who are deficient in folate also exhibit b12 deficiencies, in body and CNS..
As people age their stomach puts out less acid. By 50% it is estimated that as many a 50% of population may be functionally deficient of b12 in body and CNS.
Then there is the group specifically represented here, CNS deficiency. People with CFS, FMS, Parkinson's, MS, Alzheimer's, Supra Nuclear Palsy, ALS and some others all exhibit the characteristic low CSF/CNS cobalamin level regardless of body level. This is often accompanied by elevated CSF- MMA and/or CSF - HCY indicating mb12-methylfolate and/or adb12-l-carnitine fumarate deficiencies. This appeaers to be a not yet defined genetic polymorphism(s). If the research showing this is correct everybody actually having CFS/FMS (ME hasn't been tested yet but I would include it as very likely) has these b12 deficiencies. The indicator for these CNS deficiencies is a strong to acutely hyper response to mb12 - SAM-e - TMG - methylfolate and/or adb12 - l-carnitjne fumarate. Sometimes hycbl, folic acid or folinic acid can be converted well whough to also cause these hyper-response patterns, rarely cyancbl. Body response is optional as the defining characteristics appear to flow very much from the CNS.
What other causes of b12 deficiency are needed? If the research is correct everybody with CFS/FMS is b12 deficient in their brains and spinal cords. Actual IF deficincy for various reasons is quite rare. These above causes are subtle enough that they will not be recognized at all in the body centric testing for b12 deficiency and comparison to a chroniclly deficient population for norming.
In my opinion taking large doses of these vitamins are not at all safe during pregnancy (or actually ever other than for a short time to build up a vitamin/mineral that is stored).
And there is a major problem. Methylfolate doesn't "store" but the inactive folinic and folic acids do store and in building up can block methylfolate for some people. Also the "storage" of b12 is one of the worst mythologies to haunty healthcare. For your "stores" of b12 to be released into the blood, the muscles and or liver have to start having cellular breakdown. When the muscles do that it can also cause high serum potassium, the opposite of build up cells.