Vitamin Levels after 1 year of High Dose Thiamine (TTFD)
A short appendix to the second part of my story that was just published on HormonesMatter.com
This is a small appendix to the part two of my story on HormonesMatter.com. I didn’t write about it there because I had already written the article and sent it to Chandler Marrs, PhD. And from experience, it’s very hard to parse information in a very long article when you’re sick and suffering with fatigue.
I went to a general practitioner and asked her to check my vitamin levels since I have been taking such high doses of vitamins and minerals for so long. The doctor said “OK, I’ll order these tests, but just to let you know your insurance won’t cover the costs. It will be about 175 euros.” I told her I knew that and I “accepted” this - it’s not like I had another choice, so accepting this is quite an euphemism.
I received my bill this week and it was indeed 175 euro out of my pocket. In Germany, it is stated that the insurance companies just “assume” that such tests are not needed for anyone. Ever. Unless specific symptoms occur (and their manifestation is 100% textbook or you’re about to die and doctors don’t know why - my own assumption):
“It is assumed that
preventive services and desired examinations do not directly serve medical treatment
. For this reason, the
laboratory services for vitamins and minerals
are usually
not
affordable
through the health insurance fund
. This is only possible if an
indication
(e.g. Suspicion of illness).” (From
this
German article).
Changes in vitamin levels
What stood out in my results: vitamin B1 and vitamin B6 levels.
Vitamin B1: 187 mcg/L; reference range is 28-85 mcg/L
Vitamin B6: 160 mcg/L; reference range is 7-30 mcg/L
Phosphate: 2.3 mg/dL; reference range 2.5-4.5 mg/dL
Magnesium: 0.9 mmol/L; referece range 0.66-1.07 mmol/L.
Vitamin B12: way above the normal limit of 771 (no unit of measure here)
Vitamin B1
I understand why my B1 levels are high. It’s clear I’ve been taking a lot of B1.
The test done appears as “Vitamin B1 (TPP aktiv)”, so they tested thiamine pyrophosphate, the active form of B1 in the red blood cells.
Vitamin B6
I think my very high levels of vitamin B6 can be explained by the fact that I unknowingly bought (maybe in October?) a different supplement for the active B vitamins. The one that I last bought has a very similar label and image to the one which I had bought in the previous months on Amazon and I got fooled.
This one has 20 mg of methylated B6 per capsule, while my regular one has only 3.5 mg of methylated B6 per capsule.
I think I can speculate that, at least in my case, high doses of B6 causes symptoms only when in its non-methylated form and when there’s not enough B1 to be used with it. I don’t have any symptoms of B6 toxicity.
But I stopped taking B6 altogether and take low doses of the other B vitamin separately. I will purchase again the “Active B complex” supplement, with the low B6 dosage per capsule, when I’m sure the B6 levels are back to normal.
I was also thinking that since I had taken the B6 supplement the day before the blood test, it surely appeared influenced the result.
Phosphate
Back in 2017 when I first did a comprehensive mineral panel blood test, my phosphate was just as low. This hasn’t changed with my vitamin and mineral treatment.
I don’t know much about phosphate and what it does in the body and now I have to study it.
The doctor only told me to stop taking so much B6 and that my phosphate is low. She didn’t suggest any supplement for it.
If anyone has any idea about phosphate and what else may be missing since it seems I’m not absorbing/using it, please let me know.
Magnesium
In January 2017, when I first measured my magnesium levels, they were low when measured with a normal blood test at the doctor’s office. They were about 0.69 mmol/L and I was told no deficiency.
Regardless, I took enormous amounts of daily magnesium in the following months. By enormous amounts I mean about 1 gram per day every day.
A few months later, in May I think, I tested my magnesium levels privately, with the comprehensive mineral panel test, and it tested the magnesium levels intracellularly in the red blood cells. It showed I was right at the bottom of the reference range (0.66 mmol/L). I was puzzled that so many months of magnesium intake didn’t increase my levels.
At the end of 2019, I also had another comprehensive mineral panel done, and my magnesium levels were exactly the same, right at the bottom of the reference range, no matter how much magnesium I had been taken daily for about two years.
So, seeing this absolutely magnificent blood test result of 0.9 mmol/L for magnesium clearly shows that what I have been missing was vitamin B1, which is a co-factor for magnesium.
Vitamin B12
They have been high since 2016, when I started supplementing it. Whenever I supplement, there’s very high doses in the supplements and it’s normal that I got this result.
This is all for today. Stay well and in truth!