I was doing well SI every other day for 3 weeks and the tingling and numbness had completely gone. I then reduced SI down to twice a week and the tingling started to come back. I went back to alternate days and it improved for a week or so and now it's back almost all the time.
I know I read symptoms get worse before they get better but mine seem to be doing the opposite!
My folate was borderline so am supplementing 400 a day. My iron was in the lower range of normal so taking 14mg daily. Am also taking vitamin b complex and magnesium.
Any ideas or observations would be great x
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Padders12
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Hi Padders12. Just a quick thought...might be worth checking the RDA dosage of the magnesium and B6 in your multi-complex.
Over supplementation with magnesium can cause pins and needles (amongst other things) and vitamin B6 is neurotoxic in high doses - can cause neurological symptoms in cases of over supplementation and some multi-dose preparations have 300%+ RDA. Best not to take B6 unless you know you need it (some don't).
Also - you say iron was in the lower range of 'normal'. Assume you mean ferritin? Do you know what it was (and the reference range)? If ferritin was very low you may need a higher dose of iron - 14mg is quite a small amount (but higher doses should only be taken when prescribed by a GP -too much iron can be bad as too little). Low iron can cause pins and needles, exhaustion, postural hypotension etc., so could perhaps be responsible for - or contributing - to your ongoing symtpoms.
400mcg folic acid should do the trick, although if deficient a GP would usually prescribe 5mg daily for three to four months, then re-test and adjust the dose accordingly (some take 400mcg daily as a regular maintenance dose and some don't need it at all). So...when you say borderline, if it was right at the bottom of the reference range, might be worth discussing with your GP to see if you need a higher dose for a short while (or perhaps take 800mcg for a couple of weeks to raise your levels a little more quickly).
No idea if this will help...just some observations 😉.
Good luck with the SI and post again if you need more help 👍
The magnesium I have been taking is 187.50mg which is half the rda. I thought I was taking full rda but just checking now realise I should have been taking 2! Will stop this to see if it makes a difference.
The vitamin b complex has 1.4mg of b6 which is 100% rda. Again will stop this and see what happens.
My ferritin was 64 with a reference range of 11 - 307. So although not desperately low I figured it could be improved and thought 14mg would be enough.
My folate level was 3.8 with a reference of 3.8 - 25. I did buy some 5mg but read on another post that that's too much so have been taking 400 and just realised another 200 in the vitamin b complex. As I am stopping the b complex I may double up on the folate and take the 800.
Hi Padders12. Hmm...supplements can often be a tricky things to get right so that's not an easy question to answer.
When my symptoms change or return, I always ask try and think about what's changed, so if supplements have been added and then things changed for the worse, might be worth stopping them for a while to see if anything changes again.
I usually try to change one thing at a time because it’s easier to monitor what's happening that way.
Think I'd certainly take 800mcg folic acid for a month - and monitor if that has an effect on your symptoms.
About the B complex - 100% RDA is likely to be safe for most people. However, without knowing what your B6 level is, there's no way of knowing if you actually need it - and 100% RDA of B6 might be too much for some people on a regular basis. Might be worth asking your GP to test B6 - some are happy to do this, some not so much.
Think your GP would say that 67 for ferritin is okay - my GP prefers mine to be 80 - 100 (I start to feel unwell if it drops below 80).
14mg iron daily for a couple of weeks probably wouldn't hurt you but to be honest, I'd never advise anybody to take iron unless advised to do so by a medical practitioner...it can build up quite quickly in the body if you don't have an absorption problem. So, hmm...
Magnesium can cause gastric issues and pins and needles, so think I'd stop that and see if that makes a difference...might be one of the things you don't need...if the pins and needles diasappear, might be what's causing them.
None of this and easy and sometimes it's trial and error and working out what works for you..and being aware of what the potential side effects are ...cause supplements can have some surprising (and sometime dangerous) side effects.
One more thing...some find that eating a potassium rich diet helps (lots of ideas on the Internet). Low potassium can cause pins and needles, muscle weakness etc. But don't be tempted to take potassium supplements - medical supervision only since over supplementation with potassium can (at worst) cause cardiac arrest...and levels in the body are very finely balanced. So, food sources only 😉.
Thanks for you very knowledgeable advice. As I am newly diagnosed and have only recently started supplementing it's hard to know what I changed. I guess it's obvious to just change one thing at a time but it hadn't occurred to me. I will give your suggestions a go and see what happens. Thank you.
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