This may be helpful to some

[ImOK]

Hi All - haven't been here in a long time as I'm not a BFS sufferer anymore. Long story. But I came back because a half year ago I started getting symptoms again; cramping, some fasics, tiredness, lethargy, weird twinges, and easily hurt (sprains, muscle pulls, etc from tight areas), mind fog (trouble concentrating late in the day). My background is that I was Dx'd with a BFS variant (Benign Cramp Fasciculation Syndrome) a long time ago following both a very bad virus (H1N1) and stress due to sickness in my family. I tried everything but in the end just rebuilding my immune system, close attention to my health, and getting my head straight worked for me - it just took very a long time.

When symtpoms reoccurred for me, the lethargy was worse than before and my doc asked me to try B-12 sublingual due to this alone. It worked. I read some research papers on it (yeah, I'm one of those ) and found it is not an uncommon deficiency - some people have trouble processing B-12 in which case they either need to get a shot or take sublingual tablets. B-12 deficiency is not something that is tested for in normal bloodwork unless you are older because as people age they do often have trouble metabolizing enough regardless of how good their diet is. Conditions that may cause a deficiency otherwise are varied i.e. digestive & hereditary problems, diet.

I just wanted to share this with you - it is a cheap try and no danger is involved. I am taking 1000mcg 3x a day Methylcobalamin (I know someone who needs much more) and now my tests show me at the low end but within normal range. I'm much better and almost without symptoms again aside from an occasional cramp. You especially may want to try it if you have a digestive disorder that disrupts metabolism of food, if you are a vegan, or if you are over 50.

Best of luck and hope this is helpful to a few

[chicagobfs]

I'm trying to understand your post more. Are you saying that this vitamin be helps you with twitching and other symptoms? But before you were able to eliminate this condition by healthy lifestyle and other changes without using this vitamin? I'm willing to try or maybe first to make a test and see if I'm low.

Regards
Seweryn

[ImOK]

I'm saying that the healthy lifestyle pulled me through to the point of no longer having most symptoms but when I had a reoccurrence years later it was corrected by taking B12. The reoccurrence was more towards fatigue but the other symptoms were there to a lesser degree. I have no idea if the deficiency was an initial problem or not as I don't think I was ever tested for B12 deficiency before. Usually they just test you if you have a digestive problem like Celiacs or you are getting on in years. If you look at articles for instance in PubMed, you will see many are in reference to gastrointestinal problems as a cause.

Really it all relates to body stress right? You can get stress from illness, emotional situations, deficiencies, etc and if these are not corrected or healed you will get symptoms - some of which are not easily diagnosed. I believe (IMO only) that many BFS, BCFS sufferers just haven't yet found what it is that is stressing their system. While we normally twitch & cramp a little, a lot of it says to me that your body is trying to tell you something. It could be 'hey you need to learn to relax' or 'you're not getting enough B-12' or a hundred other things. We are complex organisms - you only have to read breaking science news in reputable magazines and webpages to see that everyday some new discovery is made that clears up a poorly understood problem in regard to our bodies.

Well, sorry, that's a lot of blahblah but yes try it - you've nothing to lose. Just without a test you won't know where to start but they started at 3000 for me before the results came back so I guess that's standard.