What do vitamin B12 deficiency, fibromyalgia, and multiple sclerosis have in common? More than you realize. For one, vitamin B12 deficiency occurs often with fibromyalgia, MS, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Another clue is homocysteine, an excitotoxin that rattles your nervous system, sometimes with debilitating results.
Part I introduced you to excitotoxins…now in Part II, find out how to keep neurotoxins from disrupting your life.
Born with it: Clumsiness and Two Left Feet from Dyspraxia
What illnesses are linked with excitotoxicity?
Many neurodegenerative illnesses and other conditions are linked with elevated levels of excitotoxins such as homocysteine:
- Fibromyalgia
- Migraines
- Multiple sclerosis
- Pernicious anemia (Vitamin B12 deficiency)
- Hypoglycemia
- Seizures
- Stroke
- AIDS dementia
- Huntington’s disease
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Parkinson’s disease
- Infections
- Lyme borreliosis
“Glutamate and aspartate are doubled in viral meningitis, acute multiple sclerosis (MS) and myelopathy compared with control subjects and patients with peripheral facial nerve palsy.”
What causes elevated homocysteine levels?
When your body produces homocysteine, it is immediately broken down by vitamin B12 (cobalamin) and vitamin B6 (pyridoxal phosphate). Vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 keep your homocysteine levels down to a healthy minimum where already healthy homocysteine levels occur.
However, if you have vitamin B12 deficiency, including pernicious anemia, then you don’t have enough vitamin B12 to break down homocysteine.
As a result, homocysteine levels spike, permeating your neurons, causing irreparable damage to your nerve cells and increasing your risk for stroke, heart attack, blood clots, and memory problems.
“…increased homocysteine levels in the central nervous system characterize patients fulfilling the criteria for both fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.”
Here’s Your Brain on B12 Deficiency- Memory Loss and Aging
If you have pernicious anemia, then you may not be able to digest dietary forms of vitamin B12 (food, pills), due to a digestive system disorder.
In order to maintain healthy homocysteine levels (and thus gain the neurological health benefits of B12), you need to insert vitamin B12 directly into your bloodstream through vitamin B12 shots.
For maximum vitamin B12 benefits, experts recommend supplementing with extra over-the-counter (OTC) vitamin B12, as well. Many patients experience improved neurological health in as little as a few days following vitamin B12 supplementation.
Please tell us…
- Do you have one or more of the symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency as described?
- Do you suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency and other comorbid illnesses such as fibromyalgia or multiple sclerosis?
- How likely are you to change your diet and increase your vitamin B12, now that you know about the risk factors involved?
- Please share your comments!
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Read more about vitamin B12 deficiency:
Vitamin B12 Deficiency is Excitotoxic, Part I
Can Vitamin B12 Deficiency Cause Brain Lesions?
Sources:
Relief of fibromyalgia symptoms following discontinuation of dietary excitotoxins
Neurotransmitters in cerebrospinal fluid reflect pathological activity-PubMed, NCBI
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