Do I need B12 injections?

[Julie G]

I would warn against unnecessary B12 injections for fear of high levels of cobalt, a toxic heavy metal. I did injections for about a year due to a enlarged RBCs and now have a higher level of cobalt (per my QuickSilver testing) than I'd like. You can read more about it here.

[Plumster]

Oh wow, Julie!

[Plumster]

You might want to dial back the chocolate - Lynch says that more that 1 TBS of cocoa a day will decrease MTRR's activity even more.

Susan, is there a particular place where Ben Lynch mentions which foods or things to avoid or encourage depending on mthfr snps? I don't have his book, but I've listened to some of his videos and been on his site many times.

Also, do I take creatine and choline for three months and take a break? Or is this a continuous thing, indefinitely?

[SusanJ]

The cocoa thing came from his Strategene report. He doesn't talk about MTRR in the book.

His advice is to stop your supplementing when you feel better, assuming you've cleaned up your gut, fixed your sleep, and all the usuals we talk about, which will also help the methylation cycle. For me, I'm watching my homocysteine. I've cut back some, and if I retest and homocysteine goes back up, then I know I need to provide creatine and phosphatidylcholine at prior levels. The PC makes a lot of sense for me because I have a PEMT variants that might not work as well.

It's hard to be specific, because you might just need support for a little while to break some logjam, so my advice is to track some blood markers, make the change and test again. Also check out the methylation wiki and look at the methylation diagram if you haven't already. It might give you some other clues.

[Plumster]

so my advice is to track some blood markers, make the change and test again.

Hi all,

So here I am again with a new MMA test a year later. (My ferritin is now 39.) This time I made sure to avoid taking any B12 two days before my test:

Methylmalonic Acid: 2.5 (normal range is 1.9 or lower)
Tricosanoic Acid: 0.15 (normal range is 0.12-0.18 wt %)
Pentadecanoic Acid: 0.06 (normal range is 0.07-0.15 wt %)
Homocysteine: 6.1

My Genova Diagnostics test show "High Need" for B1, B2, B9, B12. I have been supplementing all of these for a year, though only methyl versions of B9 and B12 the last two months. I believe my hypochloridia is the reason I'm not absorbing some of these vitamins (my B9 and B12 are sublingual). I've been taking hydroxo and adeno versions of B12, 2000 a day for a year. I'm also now taking Betaine HCL for my stomach acid. I will re-start digestive enzymes and probiotics. I am taking PC.

I'm freaking out because of my MTRR++, which means that when I go low on B12, I can't regain it very well. (Chris Masterjohn on MTRR on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkrr6uyZerI) My doctor doesn't know much about MTHFR. What do I do? I plan to take more methyl B12 and methyl folate, though there may be limits to how much I can take, as I am COMT++. What would you do?

[Stavia]

so my advice is to track some blood markers, make the change and test again.

Hi all,

So here I am again with a new MMA test a year later. (My ferritin is now 39.) This time I made sure to avoid taking any B12 two days before my test:

Methylmalonic Acid: 2.5 (normal range is 1.9 or lower)
Tricosanoic Acid: 0.15 (normal range is 0.12-0.18 wt %)
Pentadecanoic Acid: 0.06 (normal range is 0.07-0.15 wt %)
Homocysteine: 7

My Genova Diagnostics test show "High Need" for B1, B2, B9, B12. I have been supplementing all of these for a year, though only methyl versions of B9 and B12 the last two months. I believe my hypochloridia is the reason I'm not absorbing some of these vitamins (my B9 and B12 are sublingual). I've been taking hydroxo and adeno versions of B12, 2000 a day for a year. I'm also now taking Betaine HCL for my stomach acid. I will re-start digestive enzymes and probiotics. I am taking PC.

I'm freaking out because of my MTRR++, which means that when I go low on B12, I can't regain it very well. (Chris Masterjohn on MTRR on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkrr6uyZerI) My doctor doesn't know much about MTHFR. What do I do? I plan to take more methyl B12 and methyl folate, though there may be limits to how much I can take, as I am COMT++. What would you do?

Hi Plumster. What is your B12 level?

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[Plumster]

Hi Plumster. What is your B12 level?

My B12 is 1512 pg/mL

I always get high results: 1500, 1523, 1914, 2000, and then this most recent one above where I deliberately avoided supplementing for a couple of days beforehand.

After looking at my results again, I corrected my Hcy. It is 6.1

[Stavia]

Hi Plumster. What is your B12 level?

My B12 is 1512 pg/mL

I always get high results: 1500, 1523, 1914, 2000, and then this most recent one above where I deliberately avoided supplementing for a couple of days beforehand.

After looking at my results again, I corrected my Hcy. It is 6.1

Im confused why you are worried. Your b12 is excellent, your HCY is excellent, which reflects that the B12 level is optimal from a functional point of view.

Methylmalonic acid is only used when trying to work out tricky causes of deficiency - Im very suprised it was ordered in you. It is not a very specific test: 25% of the time (especially as we get older) a result out of range does not mean an abnormality. ie 25% of the time it is a false positive result.

If I had your levels, I'd be very happy.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[Plumster]

Im confused why you are worried. Your b12 is excellent, your HCY is excellent, which reflects that the B12 level is optimal from a functional point of view.

Methylmalonic acid is only used when trying to work out tricky causes of deficiency - Im very suprised it was ordered in you. It is not a very specific test: 25% of the time (especially as we get older) a result out of range does not mean an abnormality. ie 25% of the time it is a false positive result.

If I had your levels, I'd be very happy.

THANK YOU for alleviating my concerns! I appreciate this so much, especially since I've been working so hard to maintain my B12. I just got my results from my NutreVal Genova test and the reason I was worried is because it shows this, which I now don't understand: