B12 tablets, itch skin ?

[bunnymoney]

Hi Guys,

I was on a strict veg diet for the last 10-15 years, and started to develop the typical symptoms of B12 deficiency over the past 5/6 years.

I have re-introduced eggs into my diet, started taking 2 x 500MCG Jarrows B12 methylcobalamin supplements, and one B-complex supplement (which also has another 900MCG methylcobalamin) - so that's a total of 1900MCG a day.

I have been doing this religiously for over 4 weeks now, and things have been good up until a few days ago whereby during the evening I get mild itching on my scalp and on my other limbs. Sometimes it trival, other times it can be quite itchy.

Has anyone else experienced this ? is it temporary ? does anyone know if this is a cue for me to stop or something ? A little confused as to whether I should keep going, or take a break for a few days.

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi bunnymoney The pimples/acne, is likely to be caused by microbes on your skin reacting to the additional B12 by producing substances that your skin is then reacting to. In theory this could be resolved by use of a good skin wash. You might have better luck talking to your pharmacist and seeing what they can recommend.

I am not a medically trained person but I've had P.A. (a form of B12 deficiency) for more than 45 years.

I wish you well

.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

I assume you mean that you have been vegan for 10-15 years so no animal products in your diet. If so and the deficiency is dietary the dosage to correct would be 50mcg/100mcg a day for a few months.

Suggest that you reduce the dose you are taking to that level and see what that does. If symptoms of deficiency return then probability is that you have an absorption problem, but having supplemented at the levels you have supplemented at is going to make it difficult to get a diagnosis.

[pvanderaa]

I get itchy limbs from too much salt. You can’t get too much B12 as your body will pee away the excess. Neurological damage can manifest itself in many ways.

What were some if your “typical symptoms”?

Start a logbook and record all food, drink and meds as well as symptoms, the logbook supports short term memory loss.

See if you can correlate the itch to something you ate 3 to 48 hours earlier. The delay in the onset of a symptom is due to the gut being involved.

Also the repair if nerve damage can manifest as counterintuitive but similar symptoms as the B12 deficiency. These repair or “good” symptoms always follow a pattern within 3 to 48 hours aftet B12 injections and oral B12 supplements. Use the logbook to find your pattern of symptoms.

These “good” symptoms mean you were low in B12 before you got B12 so you probably need more B12 to make them go away.

Nothing changes very fast so don’t expect immediate results. Try to also give a severity score to each of your symptoms and monitor your progress over the months and years it takes to fully repair nerve damage.

[moni4moni]

This could be an excess of some other b vitamins that are in your b complex. I have read that possibly Niacin (I think, but not sure) can give you rash. One time I took an extra dose of b complex and I got a weird rash/flushing in my face and a little itchy. And I’ve taken plenty of b12 on it’s own so it could be other b vitamins.

[Marybrown06]

Hey,

When I take too much B12 I have acne, headache and nausea but no itching.

Maybe you should stop taking your B complex and concentrate on B12.

As Gambit said, you can start to reduce your intake (I took 2000/day then 1000/day then 500 then 250 then 50: I would reduce every time side effects would appear) and see if it is getting better.

Maybe you could also check your iron level if you are a female (I was deficient too, as a vegetarian, not even vegan following miscarriages)

[PiggySue]

I started taking B12 several years ago, due to persistent anemia despite taking large doses of iron. (Low ferritin is affecting my daughters now, so I am about to start finding our more about PA).

When I first started taking it, I itched like mad, so dropped my dose a little bit and it stopped after a couple of weeks, so I now take the full dose.