Simon never linked the pain in his hands and feet to multivitamins – but a pathology test did A growing number of consumers are presenting with symptoms linked to high levels of vitamin B6, pathologists say, while the supplement industry goes unpoliced When Simon Bogemann’s hand began cramping around the steering wheel in a claw position on his commute from Geelong to Melbourne, he began to worry. Bogemann, then 43, was also getting pins and needles in his feet and fingers every night in bed, and while sitting down during short lunch breaks at work. His GP put it down to a lack of magnesium and recommended a supplement, in addition to the multivitamin he was taking for a chronic condition. Bogemann was unaware that both capsules contained added vitamin B6, too much of which could lead to the symptoms he was experiencing – a type of nerve damage known as peripheral neuropathy. A blood test recommended by his dietician showed his levels of B6 were 36 times the recommended range. LINK
yes b6 also seems an oft combined add on to a lot of things but you only see it when you check the small print ingredients eg 5HTP often has it added, also magnesium.
Aside from some treatments/supplements that cause problems if stopped, I highly recommend anyone who takes something long-term to occasionally stop taking it to see whether it's still helping at the dosage you're taking. Just because 50 mg/day of <whatever> worked well for you at one time, doesn't mean that the same dosage is optimal 5 years later. I've had several symptoms that responded to supplements, but some months later, when I tested how I did without them, the symptoms remained gone. Pointless to waste money on something that you no longer need, and, as the above example shows, potentially risky.
Hypophosphatasia is a condition with high vitamin B6 levels. Its symptoms overlap with fibromyalgia and, to some extent, ME/CFS. If you have low ALP levels, this paper suggests that it could be worthwhile testing B6 and PEA levels. Could Some Patients With Fibromyalgia Potentially Have Hypophosphatasia? A Retrospective Single-Center Study 2023 Injean et al
Yes - Healthspan do several supplements which have B6 added, and I therefore avoid them, as I have enough B6 in what I'm already taking.
Every time I asked the nutritionists who work for the manufacturers they say mega-dosing is scientifically formulated and needed because we all know the daily requirements are set too low and tests showing harm were done on rats using mega-mega-mega doses we'd never consume so totally irrelevant, and anyway the body sheds whats not used. Not every nutrient has a set upper and lower limit determined by a government. Looks like anyone can order a bulk mix of trace nutrients from a lab and bottle it up and sell it, but maybe there is more quality control than I know. Some dangerous conditions show high or low levels, and some people can't regulate levels for other reasons. If the applied science for testing nutrients were not so very contradictory at every turn, I'd say anyone needing or taking nutritional supplements, fortified foods or full meal replacements needs to be routinely monitored and well-advised, as well as full safety labelling made mandatory, and prompt referral when needed. Such attentions are accorded to people who are known to need supplementation for ever-more
Genetics affect B6. Vitamin B6 is a co-factor in many biochemical reactions. A person with MTHFR variants may experience disruptions in the metabolism of vitamin B6 because of the impaired conversion of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) to its active form pyridoxal 5′-phosphate (PLP) due to lower folate availability .
Thats 5 related things with 2 unkowns all in a row: > diverse MTHFR > less of the available folate > so B6 as a co-facor > can't properly activate > into PLP < just one of many liable reactions Its so complex the biology of it. The molecualr interplay gets more and more intricate. Sometimes I can more or less follow it, then inbetween my brain fails to make enough connections and recoils from any complexity, then I'd much rather it was simple. I suspect there may be a simple outline to sum up much complexity, but that won't help engage with it from a truncated interface. So I thought the labs +/- the clinics might forge the way for me but they don't know that much either because all each one knows is different from all the other one knows
IF assuming the symptom was a sign of some deficiency or unmet need then is it possible that a supplementary top-up can put some recycling system back in order so no more of the nutrient is lost so no more symptom of some lack? Or might there be other reasons for the sufficiency eg some extra use of the nutrient depleted it until enough was provided and the extra use stopped ? Also I once had some feeble indication that some nutrients if stored in the liver may be lost while the liver is inflamed. Given so much fluctuating disruption of so many bodies with no obvious tissue damage I guess it might be flares of disruptive but repair-able inflammation lay waste to what’s held in tissues, but then I can show markers of inflammation which can be clinically ignored
I would always suggest to anyone considering taking supplements to always check before starting the supplement what the symptoms of deficiency and toxicity are. If someone has none of the symptoms from either the deficiency or toxicity lists it makes me wonder why someone would decide to take it. And if any symptoms are possibly caused by toxicity then avoid the supplement anyway. Anyone who goes ahead and takes a supplement should check themselves against those deficiency and toxicity lists every month or two or three as long as they are taking the supplement. It is always worth noting that vitamin B6 can cause neuropathy in cases of both deficiency AND toxicity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6#Deficiency https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megavitamin-B6_syndrome
Known symptoms of deficiency and toxicity. Researchers keep discovering new effects/symptoms of assumedly well-understood nutrients.
same with any relatively safe (modern) pharmaceutical medicine I was offered in the standardardised response to a known problem - within a year or so the harms got discovered, also it often happned that trying out some heavly advertised food or drink packaged or bottled by a factory coincided with some recall due to a heavy contamination
