This article on About.com attests that multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers have a significantly higher rate of vitamin B-12 deficiency. Apparently vitamine B-12 deficiency can make MS symptoms worse. And unfortunately it might be a little more difficult to diagnose deficiency in people with MS, too – one study found that while blood B-12 levels were normal, the cerebrospinal fluid B-12 levels were low.

The suspected culprit behind this is problems with the binding and transport of vitamin B-12 in the gut. Which seems to be the case for most medical reasons for B-12 deficiency! As was mentioned in this post you can do some ugly damage to your nervous system without enough B-12: the sheaths of fat (myelin) on certain types of neurons are destroyed. If it goes on long enough, the damage is permanent. And with severe deficiency, you get enough destruction to cause MS-like symptoms. Even with just minimal B-12 deficiency you can have symptoms of fatigue, depression and memory loss.

Fortunately, vitamin B-12 supplementation is easy – especially with a transdermal patch! Patches are much less expensive than visits to a doctor’s office for vitamin B-12 injections. Less painful, too. Make sure to talk to your doctor and get his opinion on the patch option. You should also talk to your doctor and make sure smoking, drinking or any of these medications aren’t contributing to your B-12 deficiency.

Oral supplementation may not work well, given the digestive issues sometimes accompanying MS, and can upset your stomach to boot. Tho if you can, you should eat more foods that are naturally B-12 rich.

Further reading:

• “Vitamin B-12 Metabolism in Multiple Sclerosis”, Reynolds et al., Arch Neurol.1992; 49: 649-652.
• Miller A, Korem M, Almog R, Galboiz Y. “Vitamin B-12, demyelination, remyelination and repair in multiple sclerosis.” Journal of the Neurological Sciences Volume 233, Issues 1-2 , 15 June 2005, Pages 93-97.
• “Vitamin B-12 and its Relationship to Age of Onset of Multiple Sclerosis.” Int J Neurosci. 1993 Jul-Aug;71(1-4):93-9.

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Damage and symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency – kinda scary!