Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Day 1-4: The First Few Days in Recovering from B6 Toxicity

I first had symptoms of B6 toxicity on Sunday, October 25, 2015. Luckily, I was only taking one supplement (B12-B6) at the time, so I was able to immediately identify B6 as the problem and discontinue use.

Unfortunately, in the stories that I'm reading, many people continue taking their B6 supplement days or even weeks after developing symptoms, because they don't know that they have B6 toxicity. This seems to worsen the symptoms. Because I stopped using B6 the same day that I developed symptoms (burning in the arms and legs), I have high hope that I can make a full recovery.

The first day of my recovery was the worst. I began to develop symptoms, and I didn't know how bad they would get. As I read about B6 toxicity, I wondered how bad the symptoms would get, how long they would last, and if the nerve damage would be irreversible (as it sometimes is).

I was not able to sleep that night due to anxiety, which only made the symptoms worse.

Four days later, I am doing better mentally. The heightened anxiety has diminished, and I've accepted that recovery will take weeks at the least. Unlike many people with severe B6 toxicity, I am able to walk and exercise, which helps flush the B6 from one's body.

That said, I am 4 days in and the other symptoms have not (as far as I can tell) abated. My arms and legs continue to burn. Sometimes it feels like a skinned knee or elbow. Other times it feels like carpal tunnel. I wonder if the latter sensation is my body recovering after the burning phases, because the pain isn't constant. It tends to leap from limb to limb; it will go from the legs, to the arms, to one arm, to one leg, etc.

The fact that the pain DOES pass gives me some solace. I figure that means the nerves have time to recover in between bouts of pain.

1 comment:

  1. Have you had your other b vitamin levels checked? Is it possible that the B6 caused a major drop and deficiency in another B vitamin that you were already border line deficient in?

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