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Help needed - B12 blood test

Plum

Senior Member
Messages
512
Location
UK
Hi

Apologies for this post as I'm sure the answer is somewhere on here but I'm having a bad brain fog day and my searching has so far not answered my question.

I've just gotten some blood tests back from the GP. B12 is'normal'. I'm seeing articles saying that this doesn't matter with ME as supplementation is needed.

Can anyone explain why to me? Is there a level that it needs to be at to be classed as 'good'?

Thanks :)
 

stridor

Senior Member
Messages
873
Location
Powassan, Ontario
The accepted normal range is considered by many to be too high, for starters.
People with ME/CFS have low glutathione which is needed for proper B12 utilization in the cell. Low glutathione means we need more to get the same result. Also there are other genes such as TCN2 which actively transport B12 into the cell. "Normal levels" aren't going to help here. Levels need to be raised to where the concentration gradient will encourage diffusion into the cell. There are others such as MTRR that decrease the ability to methylate B12 so it doesn't get used. MethylB12 bypasses this deficiency. All of these things and more contribute to a "functional B12 deficiency". We don't tend to pay much attention to lab values.