Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Multivitamins containing iron always made me nauseous. My blood iron is normal, so I take Deva iron-free multivitamins, but only half a tablet a day, I don't need more.

I use this supplement, but not every day, 2-3 times a week (in addition to 1/2 a tablet Deva multivitamins I take every day):
http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/now/b-12.html

2000 micrograms, 70% Cyanocobalamin, 15% Methylcobalamin, 15% Dibencozide

I use this guy for iron, which comes highly recommended, but my stomach rejects them just like the other stuff. It's so weird. http://www.amazon.com/Megafood-Blood-Bu ... B000F4ZRCC

Maybe I should try half tablets.

If you have a smart phone there are apps that will remind you to take them. If not, do you have a phone that can set multiple alarms in a day?

I'm not sure if you've all seen it, but contrary to past advice - we're now being advised to in most cases take cyanocobalamin, not methylcobalamin. Jack Norris has the scoop here: http://jacknorrisrd.com/?p=3383

If I take a vitamin every day, drink fortified soymilk, and have no symptoms of deficiency, is it terribly unsafe for me to assume that my levels are fine? I hate having my blood drawn.

That's the policy I live by, I've only been checked once and it was normal. I don't mind drawing blood but I'm just not in a position where I can take off work unless absolutely necessary, and a b12 test isn't covered by my insurance so it's not like a harmless freebie that I'm putting off needlessly. Hell, I only just went to the dentist for the first time in six years.

Just recently I've begun to evolve from being vegetarian to vegan and have begun taking b12. Is there such a thing as taking too much? I got a bottle of vegan b complex from TJ's and it has 50 mcg of b12 which is 833% of your daily amount- that just seems like a lot. Not to mention that my urine is fluorescent :/

I am so glad I came across this thread!! I am buying b12 on my way home from work today! Thanks everyone - there's great info here!

I haven't come across anything about toxicity from B12, but you should be aware that B6 (which is likely present in your B-complex supplement) toxicity is possible, resulting in nerve damage. Is rare, but it does happen. I'm not sure what doses are necessary to be at risk.

From what I've briefly read, it seems okay to take anything under 300 mcg/daily and this only has 50 mcg. It says if I experience any limb numbness to stop the vitamins. :/

The more b12 you take at a time, the lower percentage of it you absorb.

Here's everything you ever wanted to know about b12: http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vitaminb12

Thanks for the link!!

I looked up the amount of b12 in both the deva multi-vitamin as well as the b12 supplement and trader joe's has less than both of those, and what I considered to be a bit high.

Also, I didn't read too much into it but I came across something saying that women on contraceptive's may need to take more b6 due to the bc stopping your body from absorbing it?

B6 is required for progesterone synthesis and taking it helps regulate your luteal phase (the part between ovulation and your period) so that kind of makes sense, since that's the part of your cycle where progesterone is released. taking birth control makes your body think it's pregnant, so i guess it keeps releasing progesterone, which in turn takes the B6 away from other bodily functions. (it's good for lots of different functions:) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B6 ... eutic_uses

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/vegan-epidemic/

I live in London! I need more B12!!!!!!!

This really scared me, I'm forgetting all kinds of stuff lately, I...forget what I was going to....

TAKE YOUR B12!!!!!!!

New tactic: I keep my B12 and Iron pills in the car, and take them on both my morning and evening commutes. That means I'm taking them after breakfast and just before dinner, and so far, the iron hasn't made me sick for a couple of days. Fingers crossed!

Very low levels of B12 can cause dementia in elderly people. Happened to my mil.

Ahh, vijita, but wouldn't the heat affect the vitamins? (I thought b vitamins were very unstable)

Heat? Ha. Friend, this is winter in Canada. :)

It's really interesting how that happens! Does anyone here know more about whether inability to properly absorb B12 is common thing? I just ask because I was first diagnosed with a deficiency as an omni. When I went vegan I made sure to eat nooch and take supplements but I should really get tested again to make sure I'm ok. My sister is deficient and apparently my cousins are too. Also, an older member of our family had Lupus, which I know is an autoimmune disease but I don't know if it's linked to B12 at all.

I just hope I'm absorbing what I'm taking in.

I heard that it was a concern for older people, I found this but it is fairly old, not sure if there are updated estimates:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10448529

There are a number of conditions/situations that can affect vitamin B12 absorption.

Ahh, we're in Australia. Even our rock salt is melting at the moment.

I don't know how common it is but my brother and I were both diagnosed as B12 deficient as omnis in our early thirties. I thought in my case that it may have been caused by my last pregnancy (during and after which my body went loopy) but it may be genetically linked or a symptom of a bigger issue. We were tested for other things but nothing showed up. It is a malabsorption problem in our case.

I take a sublingual B12 every day but he takes a swallowed pill and says that works for him. I think the new research shows that swallowing a high dose B12 does work as well as sublingual. My neighbour was diagnosed in his 60s and had shots but I am not sure if they do that any more.

They definitely do shots if you are really low and need to catch up or if pills/sublinguals aren't working well.