other B vitamins

[jammies]

Hi everyone;

I've been doing great since starting methylfolate and methylB12. I got some labs done and found my B12 has increased from 300-500 so I'm absorbing some.

But my homocysteine level was 10.3. Not high by the lab standards, but higher than is ideal from most of what I've read.

It makes me wonder if maybe i am missing B6. Or any of the other B vitamins. I tried searching to no avail so I'm wondering what thoughts are around here on the best active B-multi. I don't want to switch my methylfolate and methyl B12 since they are working well.

Next I suppose it is time to try adding the carnitine fumarate. But I am scared!!

Thanks!!

 

[Critterina]

Hi Jammies,
It's possible that B6 will help.

My experience was that a B6 deficiency was identified, so I started 100 mg of B6 daily. Several months later, still taking the supplements, I still had B6 deficiency. I switched to bioactive B6, also known as P-5-P, 100 mg, just on the off-chance that I have some defect that keeps me from activating it efficiently. Next test I was not deficient. So, I don't know any downside other than price when it comes to bioactive supplements, so I would recommend starting there.

The NutrEval test by Genova can tell you a lot of what you're deficient in, but it takes a practitioner ordering it, and it's way more expensive than the supplements. But if you want to know for sure, it's an option.

If you have BHMT-08 mutations, TMG may also help lower your homocysteine. I don't know if you know your SNP for that.

Good luck!

 

[jammies]

Thanks Critterina; I am heterozygous for

BHMT-02 CT +/-
BHMT-04 AC +/-
BHMT-08 CT +/-

Would that be enough to warrant TMG addition? I'll give the P5P a try.

 

[Critterina]

Thanks Critterina; I am heterozygous for

BHMT-02 CT +/-
BHMT-04 AC +/-
BHMT-08 CT +/-

Would that be enough to warrant TMG addition? I'll give the P5P a try.

Jammies,

I don't really know if your BHMT-08 +/- is worth adding TMG. I know the 08 mutation slows down the "secondary" path for the conversion of homocysteine to methionine, but I don't know how much it slows it. Do you know how to look it up in dbSNP and find the PubMed articles?

I also have MTRR +/+ slowing down the "primary" pathway (the one that uses methylfolate) for this same conversion. I discovered that I had been eating a lot of foods high in TMG during the winter when I started making progress against some symptoms but not when my diet had less TMG. I tried TMG because with all of the above, I figured I could use all the help I could get.

Oh, just FYI, I was put on 100 mg of P5P, but I understand that's a pretty high dose. Some people get headaches, like a tight band around their head, or so I've read, from even half that. It does OK for me, but you might try less. I found some sublingual P5P in 25 mg and tried it. To begin with, it gave me headaches, too, so I was probably absorbing more from 25 mg sublingual than I was from 100 mg swallowed. I bit it in half to spread it out over two doses. That helped. Now I seem to tolerate the whole tablet, but only use 1 per day. It's more expensive, so I'll probably go back to the regular kind when I run out.

If I were you, I would probably try the P5P first, wait until you've tweaked that to something you like (maybe even test again to see if it has the right effect), and then try the TMG.

Good luck with that!