How much vitamin B-12 should I take during a flare-up?

Hey all, thanks for being so helpful last time!

Anyway, the enemas are doing their job and my symptoms are beginning to recede. My family urged me to go buy some vitamin B-12 supplements because of all the blood I've lost and to be honest I've been feeling "strange" for months despite the UC flare-up... We came to the conclusion it might be a Vitamin B-12 deficiency. I'd go and ask a doctor this but after seeing 5 doctors in the past five months I've realized that my family collectively actually knows more about this kind of stuff then the average practitioner I keep meeting (and meeting specialists here is difficult). Every time I see a doctor I can't convince them to even do a blood test and they usually just send me out telling me it's stress while refusing to write a referral to a specialist... Thus is the Japanese health care system.

So about dosages. I'm not sure how much I should be on. I took 200mcg of B12 today. Assuming I'm deficient, how much should I be taking? Google says anywhere from 200 to 2000! Thanks.

quincy said...
I think it would be best to take a multi-B with B12 in it. I wouldn't take a high dosage.

You should, however, get your vitamin D checked...are you on any D3?

q

I'm not on any D3... I guess I'll pick up some multivitamins, too. Do multivitamins usually contain D3?

I forgot to mention this but I'm a vegetarian. I've never been on vitamins. I've been discovering recently that being a veg, having UC and not being on vitamins is... a bad idea!

Post Edited (Wavefunction) : 7/31/2010 2:41:24 AM (GMT-6)

Look up the Linus Pauling institute at the University of Oregon. They are an excellent resource and give guidelines for all of the vitamin/minerals out there. Try to get sublingual b complex if you can (don't know how easy it is to get a lot of this stuff in Japan). You might want to look into a good quality multi and then research vitamin supplementation further before looking at specific doses. Can you see a naturopath there?
Also, since you're in Japan are you eating a lot of Natto? It's a very good source of vitamin K2 which you might also want to look up.

quincy said...
Yeah, no extra supplementation while being vegetarian isn't a good thing. Especially if you have a bowel disease.

D3 amounts wouldn't be enough in a multivitamin. I would also add another so that you get almost 2000 IU. I get mine from Costco.

q

So I should take a multivitamin that has B12 and D3 in it while supplementing it with D3 and B12 tablets?

quincy said...
Where exactly are you residing at this time?

Regarding vitamin 12...I think it would be best to take a multivitamin (most have b12 in them) unless you can find vegan formulas which might have different amounts in them.

Are you eating foods with complex carbs...multi grains, etc? If not, you would need a multi B I think...rather than just B12.

I would add a D3...maybe 1000 iu would be a good place to start twice a day.

What foods do you eat since you're vegetarian? Do you eat eggs and some dairy?

q

As for complex carbs and multigrains... I eat a lot of food containing both. I don't want to make a list but you could say that I eat a lot of grains, pastas, breads, etc. etc.

I do eat eggs and drink milk regularly. I also don't shy away from cheeses although cheese isn't really widely available here beyond plain, processed, white/orange cheddar (there is a lot of lactose intolerance here).

I should take 2000iu of D3 per day? That's more than I heard...

Would I be a lot healthier as a UC sufferer if I put fish back into my diet? This is something I've been considering lately...