By choice, there are not a lot of pictures or graphics on this website. This graphic drawn by group member, Thomas H., puts Rebound in a visual perspective. This graphic aid helps you understand the roller coaster of symptoms AND the emotions that you will be experiencing for the next year plus.
The below paragraph is from member, Lyndon J. He was helping a new member understand the severity of Recoil and Rebound. His words clarify the intensity of both.
Lyndon J says, “sure happy to share. Yes, they were pretty bad at the beginning/recoil and again during rebound (but not quite as bad). Couldn’t sleep laying down for 4 months, waking up every 10-15 minutes gasping for breath and burning acid under the skin, numb limbs at night, sometimes half of my whole body, neuropathy/pain in extremities and face, hot skin flushes/vasodilation, tiredness/exhaustion, heavy pressure on the chest like I couldn’t breathe, low blood pressure, sudden drops in 02, dizziness, joint pains, anyways list goes on! I would mostly cycle through one set of symptoms and then when they eased off a new set would start all over again. Most of the above are completely gone, I still get flare-ups but the heavy stuff is all gone. I’ve been on the protocol for about 8 months, I would imagine being back to normal in another 4 months or so, I would say I’m at about 75% recovered now. I don’t think it’s a problem reducing to normal B6 quickly, but what has been discovered in the group is that when you go BELOW RDA, that is when the symptoms become unbearable. Many of my really bad symptoms were during that classic recoil phase and then it started to taper – with many ups and downs. I managed to make it through without any drugs to handle symptoms; what was most helpful to me was having this group and knowing I would make it through, my neurologist begrudgingly made my diagnosis – which is hilarious for him to be uncertain for someone who had about 45 x the max range! Thankfully he checked with his other colleagues to finally make the diagnosis. I had many many tests at my insistence – including nerve conduction studies.”
You’ll notice that Thomas’ graphic takes you out of the danger zone for Recoil straight into an euphoria of healing and hope followed by the ups and downs of Rebound. Lyndon’s story doesn’t have the euphoria stage. Lyndon’s story is several months of a continuous battle paired with fewer and fewer symptoms as time goes on. We see both patterns with the current RDA B6T Protocol.
Rebound is not described in the literature. There are no long-term studies on the aftereffects of B6 toxicity on the nervous system. The only data that exist are the member-told stories within the Understanding B6 Toxicity Facebook group. We also had several members join the group AFTER they healed themselves from B6 toxicity. They described experiences were the same sensory, autonomic and motor issues that the Facebook group was experiencing. We knew from their contribution that Rebound was going to happen. Period.
One of the group’s goals was to understand, explain and alleviate the intensity of Rebound for members. It took two years-plus of diving into the research to get a handle on Rebound. We are the only entity trying to understand it. We are the only entity explaining it. We are the only entity that has created a Protocol to help get through the worst of it.
The first break in trying to understand Rebound came in the first year of the Facebook group. The Original Protocol was a low B6 diet with about the same hydration protocol. Members hit rebound all about the same time. The rebound was characterized by increased autonomic, motor and sensory symptoms which included burning pain. The burning pain level was an eight to nine on a scale of ten with ten being the highest. The rebound was harder on the Original Protocol. Also during this time, three members went almost no-B6 in their diet. This was never recommended. Their rebound started faster. The burning pain was a twelve plus on the same scale with ten being the highest. We recognized this as a significant difference. We realized that the no-B6 diet created an environment worse than the low B6 diet. This difference between the low B6 diet and the never-recommended no-B6 diet was the reason we created the RDA B6 Protocol. As expected, the RDA B6 Protocol, eased the pain of Rebound, but it also extended the timeline to heal.
Although no research discusses Rebound, we get a glimpse of why it is happening from Berger, A.R. et al, 1992 paper entitled, “Dose Response, Coasting and Differential Fiber Vulnerability in Human Toxic Neuropathy: A prospective study of pyridoxine neurotoxicity”. As these authors are discussing Recoil they state, “Additionally, despite progressive symptomatology, the serum pyridoxal phosphate levels of subjects 1, 2 and 4 soon returned to normal. These features suggest that clinical progression was not due to a persistently elevated body burden (excess B6 in the blood), but either due to TOXIN REMAINING IN THE LOCAL NERVE ENVIRONMENT OR TO PERSISTENT NEURONAL METABOLIC CHANGES THAT SLOWLY REVERSED”.
These authors who subjected themselves to the excess B6 in this study have the best first-hand knowledge of B6 toxicity. They realize that it’s not the excess B6 in the blood that is creating the symptoms, but instead the B6 that has been stored in the nerves. In their continued discussion in this paper, they summarize that the lower dose (1 gram) subjects had predominately small fiber dysfunction. They suggest that in previous research on human subjects the small fiber dysfunction was ignored because it was overshadowed by the clinically more obvious large fiber dysfunction.
A known neurotoxin (B6) that creates small fiber dysfunction is being stored in small fiber nerves.
A known neurotoxin (B6) that creates small fiber dysfunction is being stored in small fiber nerves.
A known neurotoxin (B6) that creates small fiber dysfunction is being stored in small fiber nerves.
We also find evidence for the symptoms of Rebound in Medscape’s, Toxic Neuropathy Clinical Presentation. The author, Jonathan S Rutchick, states, “Spencer and Schaumberg emphasized a gradual insidious onset, as well as slow recovery. Recovery proceeds at a rate of 2 mm/day and may take months or several years. Function is restored in the reverse order to the sequence of loss. Intensification may occur for weeks before improvement. This often reflects continued axonal degeneration AND reconstitution.” In English, the last two sentences say pain increases due to damaged nerve clean-up and the regrowth of those nerves. We consider this the recalibration of these damaged nerves.
Also in the same article, again Spencer and Schaumberg report the clinical features with pyridoxine (B6) associated neuropathy. They discuss the collateral sprouting from surviving axons. Although the B6T intellects need to discuss the topic in more detail, a preliminary discussion is that the nervous system is graphing dead nerves to nearby undamaged axons. Basically, the nervous system is rewiring itself. Nice job! On top of collateral sprouting, we are assuming that damaged nerves which were offline are now coming back online. As these nerves come back online, they need to integrate with the rest of the nervous system.
Rebound then is the aftereffects of removing this known neurotoxin (B6) from small fiber nerves. Rebound is our B6 paralyzed nerves walking up. These nerves don’t wake up healed. They wake up damaged. Damaged nerves are painful nerves. Rebound is also recalibrating of these damaged nerves. Finally, Rebound is the reintegration of these healing nerves into the nervous system. Although it doesn’t feel like it, Rebound is the start of healing.
Your question to us right now is “How do I get through rebound?”. The answer is the RDA B6 Protocol. The RDA B6 diet will slowly remove the excess B6 from the nerves so that you are slowly waking up paralyzed nerves. The water, salt and potassium are to keep your blood volume up so you can continue to move blood (thus nutrients) to those damaged nerves.
Salt and potassium are your friends during rebound. If need be, increase the salt in the Protocol by another 1/8 teaspoon (total 3/8 to 1/2 teaspoon). Also, add in pickle spears for lunch and dinner. Check the Potassium tab for high potassium foods and low B6 foods.
It is also important not to add any excess unnecessary vitamins, minerals, herbs or enzymes during Rebound. Your body does not need the extra stress of excess right now.
Every, every, every, every day the Facebook group is asked, “Is this new symptom part of Rebound (or Recoil)?” We depend upon members who have been through both to answer and 95% of the time the new symptom is part of what other members have experienced before while healing. There are many new and different symptoms that awaken during Rebound and Recoil. This symptom link contains symptoms that report during the entire process of healing. As always, if any new symptom creates concern or alarm please go to the emergency room and/or follow up with your doctor.
Until you’ve lived this hell it is very hard to even imagine that a vitamin can create so much havoc on your body. It can. It is up to us to educate. Your help is greatly appreciated. Please take the time to fill in this B6 Toxicity Basic Questionnaire. The more data that we collect the more information we have for regulation, education and future research.
Any unlinked research can be found in our Index of Sources.