Results of a small experiment: I've been taking 3x/day doses of the oil. Originally I took one in the morning, one mid-day, one at bedtime. But the mid-day one was a pain, I often got oil on my clothes, etc. So I shifted to 1x morning and 2x at night.
That worked OK, but I wondered if I really needed 3x/day. I wondered if the 2x at bedtime was actually utilized, or if I was providing more than my body could use at once. (If you've seen
my previous analogy of the TCII/transcobolamin transport being like "ferry boats" that deliver B12 to the cells, and it doesn't do any good to have 100 cars lined up at the ferry dock if the boat can only carry 10 cars at a time, etc -- I suspected the 2x dose of oil might lining up "too many cars" and that much of it might be wasted.)
So I dropped to 1x morning and 1x at bedtime. Immediately, that same night, I woke up about 2am with agitation and muscle twitches -- my standard night-time symptoms. I had to take another dose of oil to get back to sleep. This happened every night for 4 nights in a row. Then I went back to 2x at bedtime and immediately, that same night, I slept well through the night, and I have for the last 3 night since then.
This says to me:
- One dose of oil does not fully load up the "ferries." Two doses provide more benefit than one (for me at least), so double-dosing does not waste all of the B12. It's possible that two doses DOES provide more than I can use at once, and some of the second dose is wasted -- but some of the second dose is definitely being used.
- The theory of "loading up your B12 reserves" does not seem to apply to me. I dropped from 2x to 1x at bedtime and **immediately** had sleep issues. Either I am not storing the excess for some reason, or even 3x/day isn't enough for me to HAVE any excess. Makes me wonder if I should go up to 4x/day.
There was a slight complicating factor in that I also stopped taking 5HTP the same night (another experiment). I think I slept less soundly without the 5HTP so I might have woken more easily with the B12 symptoms. But going back to 2x at night definitely cleared up the B12 symptoms.
1 dose of oil per day is supposed to be what "normal" people need.
@ahmo and others do well at that level. For some reason I seem to have a voracious need for B12.
I'm really puzzled why 1 dose in the morning keeps my daytime symptoms (RLS, crawling skin, agitation, flight-or-fight feelings, etc) mostly at bay for 15-16 hours -- but 1 dose at bedtime "runs out" within 3-4 hours. Does my need for B12 skyrocket while I'm asleep!?
