for Evelyn - another B12 article

[Guest guest]

- thought you might be interested in one more article. Was at my

naturopath this week and asked her again about injections for me -- as our TC

conversations got me thinking about that again. She said that she never goes by

the B12 blood test alone -- she always goes by symptoms and will often suggest a

trial period of injections if she thinks it might help. Here's one of her

recent articles on B12. Dee

The Benefit of B12 injectionsPublished June 1, 2011 in the North Island MidWeek

Mrs. S age 75, presented with fatigue, declining cognition and osteoporosis. As

part of my treatment program I recommended weekly B12 injections for 5 weeks

then monthly thereafter. Then Mrs. S asked me a common question that I hear in

my practice.“My MD recently checked my serum B12 blood levels and said they were

normal. Why do I need B12 injections?”

Over the last number of years MSP has declined paying for B12 injections unless

there is proof of deficiency. So what I am noticing is that serum B12 blood

tests are done much more frequently and it is rare to see a frank deficiency

(normal range is 207-553 pmol/L) so B12 injections are not recommended.

Early in my naturopathic education vitamin B12 injections were recommended for a

variety of neuropsychiatric symptoms at three times the dosage that conventional

medicine recommends. Over the years I have seen therapeutic doses of B12 by

injection improve the following symptoms: anxiety, difficulty expressing words,

ataxia, cognitive impairment, depression, delusions, fatigue, hallucinations,

insomnia, irritability, mood swings, muscle weakness, neuralgias, neuropathy,

numbness and tingling.

Vitamin B12, cobalamin, is a water soluble vitamin that is non toxic at ten

thousand-fold doses with excesses being excreted in the urine. It is necessary

for nine important functions of the body. 1) energy production; 2)production of

genetic materials DNA and RNA; 3) increased production of SAMe

(S-adenosylmethionine) which participates in the formation of the myelin sheath,

that protective fatty layer surrounding nerves, methylation pathways as well as

neurotransmitters ; 4) production of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that

helps with memory and learning; 6) slowing the cognitive decline that comes with

aging; 7) the synthesis of red blood cells; 8) cardiovascular health (B12, folic

acid and B6 lower homocysteine which is a risk factor for heart disease and

stroke) and 9) anti-inflammatory effects.

I explained to Mrs. S that a trial of IM (intramuscular) B12 would be the best

way to determine if it would be effective. The most accurate test for B12 status

is measuring the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) which is done for research purposes

only. It was found that the serum levels of B12 did NOT correlate with CSF

levels. Urinary methymalonic acid is the easiest more accurate test for

determining B12 tissue deficiency at a cost of $??? The only test that I

recommended for Mrs. S was homocysteine to evaluate her risk factor for heart as

well as bone health. Her level was 13 and optimal is 5-7.

I also explained that as we age we have less intrinsic factor in our intestinal

tract to absorb oral B12 from our diet and that vegetarians essentially don’t

get B12 in their diet so they need to supplement orally. Oral supplementation of

methylcobalamine can be effective at maintaining serum B12 levels but the

injections are the most effective at increasing CSF levels and immediate symptom

treatment. Once her symptoms were improved then I would start her on the oral

chewable or sublinqual form.

Many of us have other risk factors that block the absorption of B12 which

include: zinc deficiency, high levels of copper and neurotoxins such as alcohol,

industrial solvents or halogenated hydrocarbons, mercury and cadmium.

Mrs. S did have her serum B12 measured again after a month of injections and her

doctor was alarmed at how high it was at 1476 pmol/L. I assured her that these

higher levels reflected a more normal level that would now be found in her CSF.

Mrs. S was also happy that her energy was improving, along with her sleep and

her memory.

I also quoted the following research to Mrs. S that showed that B12 prevented

brain atrophy. In one study in 2008, 107 elderly people were evaluated for their

brain size and found that when serum B12 levels were less than 308pmol/L that

there was an increased rate of brain volume