Anyone had success raising their B12 level using supplements?

[tiredtanya]

Hi, I am just wondering if there are any peeps out there who have raised their B12 readings from taking methylcobalamin B12 sub-lingual. I need to make sure its working! Thanks.....

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

I raised mine by about 300 points in a couple of months using Solgar sublingual 1000mcg. It wasn't dire, in fact quite good, but I wanted it nearer the optimal amount of 900-1000 pmol/L

[Marz]

Once you are supplementing any further testing is rendered worthless as the results will be skewed. Unless you stop supplementing for many months to obtain a reasonably accurate result. I personally do not think it is worth it. B12 is one of those vitamins that is best judged by a reduction in symptoms - a bit like T4 or T3 or both.

The testing is not 100% accurate anyway - just a guideline. ONLY 20% of your test result is available to be utilised at a cellular level where it is needed.

There is the Active B12 test - which is done privately and does measure the amount of B12 that can reach the cells - for which you do not have to stop taking B12 I have read. Best to check with the Lab. There are Guidelines for Folate and B12 Deficiency and it does state that further testing is of no value once supplementing.

I can post the Guidelines and also a list of B12D symptoms if it would help .....

[bluebug]

Blue Horizon do both active and inactive B12 tests in various bundles. A test including an active B12 test costs more.

All you need to be aware of is not to take a b12 supplement 24-48 hours if your doctor offers to test you as some freak out if your level is well above the range. This is because most don't know that most B12 is inactive anyway.

[Clutter]

TiredTanya,

My B12 level doubled from 300+ to >700 8 weeks after supplementing 1,000mcg. I think it is worth retesting 2-3 months after you start supplementing to check you are taking sufficient dose.

[Miniliz]

Mine went from 300ish to 600 ish in 5 months, I'd like it to be higher so as well as the BetterYou 1200mcg spray daily I also take a 5000mcg lozenge once or twice a week.

[humanbean]

I raised my levels a lot with Jarrows Formulas 5000mcg methylcobalamin. I'm one of those people who has always had high B12 levels but still had lots of B12 deficiency symptoms. Supplementing despite the high B12 raised my levels even further, and reduced my symptoms a lot. I always get a result of >2000 now. I'm happy with it.

[Pastille in reply to humanbean]

humanbean do you still take 5000 or have you reduced it since it raised?

[humanbean in reply to Pastille]

I have recently become more erratic in my supplementation of B12 (deliberately). Last year I was taking 5 days methylcobalamin (5000mcg per day) and 2 days adenosylcobalamin (3000mcg per day) each week.

I was taking high doses quite religiously for approx 12 - 15 months, but then became less fixated on it because I felt it was becoming less of a help to me than it used to be. Now I will sometimes miss doses altogether, sometimes I take 1000mcg methyl-B12 per day, and if things feel as though they've gone downhill a little I will take 5000mcg per day for a couple of days. And I still take the adenosylcobalamin once or twice a week.

[LtAngua52]

I started on jarrows 5000mg sublingual lozenges and they have been helpful but wore off quickly. I ended up taking 8-10 a day. This made it even more expensive so have started to self inject. The improvements are even better! Shame I had to go outside th NHS though.

[bear10 in reply to LtAngua52]

Did you find it easy to self inject?

[LtAngua52 in reply to bear10]

Eventually! I was very nervous at first but with practice it's now ok. I don't think much of it now. There are you tube videos of how to do it and I use the z track method to inject into the muscle.

[bear10 in reply to LtAngua52]

Thank you so much that it is really helpful.