Response of peripheral and central nerve pathology to mega-doses of the vitamin B-complex and other metabolites

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Dec, 2005  by Frederich R. Klenner

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Recommended Treatment Schedule

1) Thiamin hydrochloride: 300mg to 500mg, 30 minutes before meals and bed hour, and during the night if awake. The higher amounts in long-standing cases. This requirement is high, since much is lost through action of gastric juices and loss due to perspiration; 400 mg. daily by needle, given intramuscularly. During summer months this can be given every 12 hours to good advantage. Two to three times each week, and where office access is convenient, 20 mg. per kg. body weight, or at least 1000 mg. is administered intravenously. This is given with 100 mg to 200 mg. Niacin (nicotinic acid) which is available 100 mg. in 10cc ampules. (The concentrated Niacin, available in 30cc vials, must be diluted if employed intravenously.) The intravenous dose is given with the patient in a recumbent position. A 20cc to 30cc syringe, carrying a one-inch 22-gauge needle should be employed. The injection is given slowly (5 to 7 minutes) holding the syringe with one hand. The usually-employed three fingers of the other hand must be on the patient's pulse. An increased pulse rate indicates too fast a flow of the medicine. This indicates the rate of phosphorylization. Thiamin hydrochloride is, indeed, a toxic substance, and anaphylactic reactions have been reported, but I have never seen a case in treating thousands of patients, (not necessarily Myasthenia Gravis or Multiple Sclerosis), in 30 years of clinical observation. I have observed one case of extreme sensitivity in which itching was present within one minute after an intramuscular injection of 100mg. This was immediately controlled with 5cc Benadryl, IM. It must be remembered that once thiamin hydrochloride is phosphorylated, it is no longer a critical allergic substance, but is cocarboxylase, a necessary but absolutely harmless agent. (My problem has been the preservatives now required by FDA regulations, and they should be removed.) Higher doses of thiamin can be used, but then the dilution factor must be greater.

2) Niacin (nicotinic acid): We recommend 100mg to 3 grams, thirty minutes before meals and at bed hour, and also during the night if awake--whichever dose will produce a strong body flush. Niacin dilates the blood vessels, even those that have been compressed by scar tissue, allowing a greater amount of nutrient material to reach the cell laboratory or factor comprising muscles and nerves. This constant, repeated dilatation of the blood vessels acts in the same manner as the dilating urethral catheter to correct constriction. One is chemical, the other is mechanical. Hot fluids taken at the same time as the niacin will enhance the flush. Pyridoxine has been a suggested stimulant. The lack of constant flushing in Multiple Sclerosis is disappointing but not hopeless. It will require a longer time to achieve results. Many times patients will flush with intramuscular niacin when they fail to flush by the oral route. An occasional patient will experience the sensation of a chill following nicotinic acid flush. This is transient and of no consequence. Food, even jelly beans or a glass of milk, will prevent or minimize the experience. Some patients will flush sometimes and not at other times, even during a single day. If no flush develops within 45 minutes, the dose should be repeated. A delayed reaction of several hours can occur, and should this be superimposed upon a previous medication, the result could be severe. Do not scratch when itching from niacin. Just press the area with your fingers, or better still, with a cube of ice. Antihistamines will stop the itching and limit the flush, should this be necessary. Niacin should be given very slowly by the intravenous route in the geriatric patient, with or without cardiac pathology, since it can produce dilatation great enough to effect right-side heart failure. Myasthenia Gravis patients sometimes attain geriatric status. Vasomotor collapse of peripheral vessels, although rare, can occur. Eight mg. Decadron given IM will reverse this condition.

3) Pyridoxine (Vitamin B6): Lack of this vitamin has been shown to induce microcytic hypochromic anemia and neurologic lesions in dogs and pigs. The term B6 includes not only pyridoxine, but also pyridoxal and pyridoxamine, all three compounds being found in nature. These derivatives have biological activity equal to that of pyridoxine, as demonstrated in rats. Pyridoxine plays a part in the metabolism of unsaturated fatty acids. It is also important in the metabolism of amino acids. Pyridoxal phosphate functions as a coenzyme, and in transamination reactions; 100mg to 200mg is given before meals and bed hour. At least 100mg daily is given intramuscularly.

4) Cobalamin (Vitamin B12): It is thought that vitamin B12 acts as a catalyst in the formation of the purine and pyrimidine deoxyribosides which are present in deoxyribonucleic acid. Technically, B12 is cyanocobalamin. Vitamin B12 with pterylglutamic reduces the requirement for choline essential in the treatment of neurological diseases; 1000mcg. is given three times each week by needle (repository type). The incident of dermatitis from continued use of vitamin B12 by needle is roughly 15%. I have never seen this develop in a patient with Myasthenia Gravis or Multiple Sclerosis. B12 is recognized as a factor in the synthesis of myelin.