B Vitamins?

[Bruce42]

My wife (a non-HCM'er) started taking B Complex vitamins recently. I was reminded of when I used to take them years ago--they're a real energy booster. In fact, my wife had to stop taking them at night, as they were making her sleepless. I told her to take them in the morning.

I don't know why I stopped taking them, but it was years ago--before HCM symptoms or diagnosis. I was thinking of starting again. But since they seem to have such an energy boosting effect, I wonder whether they fall into the forbidden "stimulant" category.

I do take a regular men's multivitamin each morning, plus a fish oil caplet morning and night (plus my toprol).

Anyone have any info or experience?
(Pam, I know you always come up with the published medical reports--you are an amazing source of info.)

[aDoug40s]

My heart Doc said that I shouldn't need to take any extra vitamins as I should be getting all that I need with the normal foods that I eat.

I did buy some B Complex vitamins but have not found it makes me feel any different when I take them.

It makes one wonder how many pills one could be taking every day. There are vitamins, Alpha lipoic acid, Q10, carnitine, ribose, creatine, lecithin, omega 3-6-9 the potential list seems endless and very expensive. Most say to take 2-3 pills 3 times per day which would be a **** of a lot of pills.

If your body doesn't need it then it just ends up going into the john.

[mtlieb]

Bruce,

I take a B12 sublingual daily (1000 mcg) on the advice of my physician as my bloodwork showed I was deficient. I did see an energy boost but what's really interesting is that about two weeks after starting it my heart rate began to drop.

My doctor is still a bit befuddled over it but nonetheless I've been able to reduce my dose of beta-blocker over the past few months with no ill effects. As of this week I'm down to 25mg of atenolol per day, my lowest dose in over six years, and at the doctor's office yesterday my BP was 120/80 and my HR was 64. No increase in chest pain, sob, etc. I'm rather excited to see how these changes will effect my exercise tolerance, metabolism, and weight management long-term.

I don't take anything without the guidance of my physician though and it's impossible to say what's really going on. B12 deficiencies are known to cause tachycardia so perhaps I just fixed an extra problem that other HCM'ers don't have.

Regardless... I'll take it! :cool:

Jim

[LindaSo]

That's great news, Jim. Glad things are going in the right direction.
Linda

[Pam Alexson]

Also they have found a tie in I believe with dilated cardiomyopathy and those lacking complex B vitamins and in cats with HCM this has been one of the treatments for their cardiomyopathy... dosing them with complex B and other supplements

[Equestriansrock]

That sounds like something I should ask my doctor about if the switch from atenolol to verapamil doesn't show any improvement in my energy levels. Some days I don't even want to get out of bed. If a simple vitamin would help, I'd definitely take it. They tell me caffeine is a no no which I typically ignore, although I usually end up crashing and feeling worse when I drink soda anyways. Let me know what you find out.

[Bruce42]

Thanks, everyone.

Jim, your experience was really interesting. It would be interesting to know if that was because of the deficiency, or if that's a general effect of the B12 (or if it's for some other reason entirely). I guess we can't know without broad-based studies. Glad you're doing better, though.

Pam, I had no idea that cats had HCM, or that people were studying them. I feel bad for the cats, but I hope we learn something.