This isn’t an easy topic to write about nor is it an easy topic to find information about since it’s quite complex.
Recent Blog Articles
Is it true that you can get a tingling feeling from taking too much vitamin B .
Event Abstract
Your browser settings in order to see all the content on this pag.
Abstract
Vitamin B6 at less than 200 mg daily is not likely to cause any adverse effects, but patients should be monitored for changes in symptoms, particularly when high doses are taken over long periods.
Question A 42-year-old woman with carpal tunnel syndrome tells you she has started taking a vitamin B6 supplement to relieve her symptoms. Her work in an automotive parts department involves both lifting moderately heavy packages and typing at a computer terminal. Conservative treatments for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) usually involve a combination of drugs (including corticosteroids), splinting, and activity modification.
2 Although CTS has been linked to repetitive strain injury, other health conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis and type 2 diabetes, could be important causes of CTS. 3 Examining the role of micronutrients, such as vitamin B6, is warranted because these conditions might be related to, and even affect, nutritional status, providing a rationale for such study.
Potential Role Of Vitamin B6 In Cts
Vitamin B6 is involved in several metabolic pathways of neural function, including neurotransmitter synthesis, amino acid metabolism, and sphingolipid synthesis and breakdown.
The main conclusions to be drawn from these studies are that, in some cases, vitamin B6 could improve symptoms of CTS because of an underlying nerve condition not previously diagnosed that might be related to vitamin B6 status or to the fact that vitamin B6 acts as an analgesic by raising pain thresholds.2
Aufiero et al2 reviewed 14 supplementation trials and noted that the results of 8 studies supported vitamin B6 supplementation and the results of 6 studies were unclear or non-supportive. None of the 14 studies provided level I evidence, and many of the supportive studies involved only a small number of subjects. Some of the findings and recommendations in these studies are described below.
Bernstein and Dinesen4 suggested that vitamin B6 supplementation substantially improved pain scores even though electrophysiologic data showed only mild improvement, supporting the theory that vitamin B6 raises pain thresholds. In a case study, Folkers and colleagues6 determined that 2 mg/d of vitamin B6 improved patients’ clinical condition, but that 100 mg of vitamin B6 daily for a longer period allowed patients to avoid hand surgery. Despite the uncertainty about the effectiveness of various conservative treatments, including vitamin B6, they are still recommended as complementary treatments to postpone hand surgery.