Peripheral Neuropathy symptoms: low vitamin D and high B6

[guitarguy251]

Does anyone have experience/knowledge of symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy? I have been experiencing symptoms for 4 months. Cold sensations, pins and needles, numbness and tingling happen in my hands and feet. Sometimes achy arms. Makes it hard to play guitar, which is my career.

Doctors are having trouble finding the cause. All that was found was my B6 is high (26.7 ng/mL)  and my vitamin D is low (20 ng/mL) . For a month they've been treating me with amitryptaline 25 mg and Vitamin D3 5000 IU, and I stopped taking my B complex and multivitamin because of the the high B6. I also had long COVID since June 2022 but these neuropathy symptoms are new as of August 2023. 

Normal A1C checking for diabetes (4.4%), thyroid, syphilis blood test negative, B12 (370 and later 449 pg/mL), blood tests were normal except high monocytes auto (10.4), Iron was normal (96 mcg/dL), Ferritin was okay (44 ng/mL). 

 

 

[The0Self]

I got it for several months from too frequent nitrous oxide use (which likely caused temporarily low blood active b12).

But the PN caused by B6 is usually not harmful as far as I’m aware — if this was the reason in your case, no longer taking such high doses of B6 should help.

Also regular methionine (via protein consumption) can possibly help — as in never going more than about 8-10 hours at a time without a significant amount of complete/animal protein.

[flowboy]

On 23/11/2023 at 0:01 AM, guitarguy251 said:

Does anyone have experience/knowledge of symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy? I have been experiencing symptoms for 4 months. Cold sensations, pins and needles, numbness and tingling happen in my hands and feet. Sometimes achy arms. Makes it hard to play guitar, which is my career.

Doctors are having trouble finding the cause. All that was found was my B6 is high (26.7 ng/mL)  and my vitamin D is low (20 ng/mL) . For a month they've been treating me with amitryptaline 25 mg and Vitamin D3 5000 IU, and I stopped taking my B complex and multivitamin because of the the high B6. I also had long COVID since June 2022 but these neuropathy symptoms are new as of August 2023. 

Normal A1C checking for diabetes (4.4%), thyroid, syphilis blood test negative, B12 (370 and later 449 pg/mL), blood tests were normal except high monocytes auto (10.4), Iron was normal (96 mcg/dL), Ferritin was okay (44 ng/mL). 

 

 

I actually got it several times, every time it was my own fault for taking a supplement that had a high level of vitamin B6.

Apparently I'm sensitive to that and get the pins and needles and muscle twitching easily.

But it went away after I stopped taking it.

I'd try taking a high quality fish oil to remyelinate your nerve endings, and actually keep the multivitamin if it's properly balanced.

And perhaps the nerve growth stimulating effect of psilocybin microdosing could help too.

[guitarguy251]

@The0Self @flowboy @The0Self Thank you so much for the help. That's interesting to hear about the benefits methionine, fish oil, and psilocybin have for these symptoms and nerve growth.

Can I ask, how long did it take for you to recover or for the symptoms to go away? So far it's been a month for me but still have some symptoms.

 

Edited December 1, 2023 by guitarguy251
Grammar

[guitarguy251]

@flowboy By the way, which brand and how much fish oil would you recommend?

[flowboy]

31 minutes ago, guitarguy251 said:

Can I ask, how long did it take for you to recover or for the symptoms to go away? So far it's been a month for me but still have some symptoms.

A few weeks to a month for it to slowly improve, as far as I remember.

I was also a cigarette smoker back then, perhaps I quit and that also helped, I don't quite remember the order of events there.

17 minutes ago, guitarguy251 said:

By the way, which brand and how much fish oil would you recommend?

I don't have a specific brand recommendation, I know I try to take pure cod liver oil from an ocean that hasn't been completely poisoned, so I recommend using a brand that states explicitly where the fish is from.

Back then I took 2-4 1000mg capsules a day, these days I only take 1.

It's pretty safe but has a subtle blood thinning effect, so you shouldn't combine it with aspirin or blood thinning medication, also be careful if you are at risk for stroke for some other medical reason or have a blood clotting disorder.

I know this because once I got bruises on my muscles after a gym session, that's likely a side effect of fish oil, but it went away even though I didn't stop taking it. The internet said it wasn't anything to worry about anyways.

 

For more diet tips to optimize nerve health, I recommend looking up the Terry Wahls diet.

She's a very interesting story, because she's an MD who got multiple sclerosis - a neurodegenerative chronic autoimmune disorder - and decided she wasn't satisfied with the treatments available, and that she would improve her condition through just diet and supplements. And she did - which is amazing, because no conventional treatment can currently improve that disease. The way she eats is probably great for anyone wanting to optimize nerve health - and it contains lots and lots of omega 3.

Edited December 1, 2023 by flowboy

[Charlotte]

@guitarguy251 you still dealing with Long COVID? 

[Charlotte]

The time between a COVID-19 initial infection and neuropathic pain development ranged from 1 month to 15 months for long COVID patients [23,28]. Upon discharge, half of the long COVID patients went on to report new-onset pain 4 weeks later [28].20 Feb 2023

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pmc

COVID-19-Related Neuropathic Pain: A Systematic Review ... - NCBI

 

Apologies I can't upload screenshot. 

[Leo Gura]

Research Alpha lipoic acid, it helps many with neuropathy issues.

[guitarguy251]

@Charlotte I am somewhat still dealing with long COVID, but right now this is my main symptom. Before that we thought I had recovered. It's been about a year and a half since catching Covid. Thanks for the source! 

Thanks @Leo Gura and @flowboy . I've heard about Alpha Lipoic acid, might be worth giving it a shot. Fish oil and improving my diet seems to be helping a little bit.