B12 and Water

[Frank77]

I was wondering if anyone has come across a connection between B12 and dehydration. My brother who, like me appears to have PA, has been doing his own research and has advised me that for B12 supplements to work properly they need "an excess of water to work". Blood apparently needs to be at a certain viscosity for B12 to work, and this needs lots of water. Like many people I am sure I don't drink enough water, but in all the time I have been reading posts on this form I have never come across any suggestion that the injections I give myself will not work properly if I am dehydrated. If true this might in fact explain why, on occasions, they don't seem to work very well. Does anyone have any knowledge of this? Many thanks.

[EllaNore]

I have PA and have had bouts of dehydration in the past before diagnosed and after, that made me light headed and once pass out. I never heard anybody say that B12 needs water to be absorbed better, so I can't say, but I did run across this statement. I don't know if it's accurate or not.... And this is for a normal person not for somebody with a b 12 deficiency.

according to MedlinePlus. B-complex vitamins can help reduce excess fatigue caused by dehydration. Consult your doctor before you using over-the-counter B-complex vitamin supplements. The doctor may advise you to first seek medical treatment for dehydration before you take vitamin B supplements. B vitamins are water-soluble, which means excess amounts of the vitamins are not stored in your body. The vitamins are usually excreted from your body in urine. When you are dehydrated, your body produces less urine, which may lead to accumulation of B vitamins in your blood.

[Frank77 in reply to EllaNore]

most interesting, thank you!

[Bellabab in reply to EllaNore]

There is no damage done by having high B12 - just lowering of potassium easily corrected by eating a small banana a day. Plus raised blood platelets that may be the cause of lumps similar to acne on face/neck.

[prillyb12 in reply to Bellabab]

Bananas aren't enough for my potassium needs. I have to take around 650 mg daily or I get muscle cramps.

[Technoid in reply to prillyb12]

Despite inevitably coming up whenever potassium is mentioned, Bananas (though convenient) are not a particularly great source of potassium, there are many, many better sources as can be seen from this table : nutrients.food-nutrients-ca... . They are quite a decent source of B6 though.

[Bellabab in reply to Technoid]

Bananas provide enough potassium - don't need huge amounts hence convenience wins for me.

[EllaNore in reply to Bellabab]

Thanks Bellabab, My potassium seems to be good. The only issues with my blood is my MCH is 99.6, it should be no higher than 96. But they don't think that is an issue. It points to macrocytic anaemia, but they don't think it's that bad. And my folic is >24 which is too high. But I don't take folic acid and it went up since injecting not down. But if I'm injecting B12 everyday why aren't my MCH and folic going down? MCH is consistently high for years now. Since I've been treating my deficiency, I would expect it to go down. So I'm not real sure why the B12 isn't helping with that. Or my feet. The doctors don't have any explanation.

[WIZARD6787 in reply to EllaNore]

For me it was not enough B12. Current which is effective after about two weeks.

.50 mg Sc Hydroxocabalamin three times a day

5 mg SL liquid methylcobalamin/adenasolcobalamin 66%/33% three times a day at the same time as injections and extra as needed.

Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate .25 mg liquid in water twice a day.

“Simple Solution” 1 scoop in juice a day in lieu of B-complex.

[EllaNore in reply to WIZARD6787]

Wow I've never even heard of the other things. Thank you for your regimen. I just inject either cyanocobalamine or hydroxycobalamine, whichever one I can get my hands on at the time. One ml a day. There's been times that I've injected twice a day because of my feet and legs. And sometimes that I've missed a couple days.

[WIZARD6787 in reply to EllaNore]

Hey EllaNore, I should have written a disclaimer on my regimen. It is from my reading. I am not following any specific protocol. The Simple Solution has many ingredients including Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate and B12. It also has ingredients that should not be taken with some conditions or medications. The frequency and amounts are my own.

[EllaNore in reply to WIZARD6787]

Gotcha. It's all good. Thank you. I will research it.

[Cobalt1312 in reply to Bellabab]

Bellabab, can you say more about B12 causing "raised blood platelets" that are lumps similar to acne?

[Bellabab in reply to Cobalt1312]

B12 is known to raise the platelet count - its believed that these can concentre in the skin and caused small white raised lumps that look like acne - they are harmless yet itch so people tend to scratch them. This means they can become infected. The itch can be considerably reduced by any skin scream rubbed well into the surface.

[Cobalt1312 in reply to Bellabab]

Thank you, I appreciate that description. I'm pretty sure I get those on my face from my injections - sometimes on my forearms too

[WIZARD6787]

Yes I have always had to work at staying hydrated. This got worse when I started treatment for B12 D. It seems to be less of an issue as I go forward with more B12 more frequently. I swim a lot and my fingers 'prune' I know I am dehydrated.

[dot-dash]

Needing "an excess of water to work" sounds very unlikely. Your body needs to be pretty good at regulating the levels in your blood and tissues, so any excess water outside a narrow range will quickly be excreted (assuming your kidneys etc are working as they should, overhydration is also a thing if not). Again, assuming your kidneys are working, your urine colour should be a pretty good indicator of your hydration state. Blood viscosity as dependency hasn't come up in any of my reading about B12, though there is this paper which identified lower blood viscosity in B12 deficient children (doi.org/10.3233/ch-131740).

[WIZARD6787 in reply to dot-dash]

I like being me more when I drink more water than seems to be 'recommended'

[dot-dash in reply to WIZARD6787]

That's completely up to you! "To exceed the body’s ability to excrete water, a young adult with normal kidney function would have to drink more than 6 gallons (about 23 liters) of water a day on a regular basis." (msdmanuals.com/en-gb/home/h...

[WIZARD6787 in reply to dot-dash]

>>That's completely up to you! Easy for me to choose to like being me better. Hard part is finding out what makes that happen! 🤔

[Frank77 in reply to dot-dash]

Interesting, thanks!