February 5, 2010

Symptoms & Treatment for Vitamin B6 Deficiency

Posted in Category : Common Ailments

Vitamin B6, also more commonly known as pyridoxine, is a nutrient that can hardly ever be deficient in the human body. The main reason for this is that it is not only present in practically every kind of food; it is also very easily absorbed by the human body. As a matter of fact, in order for this nutrient to be poorly absorbed, or for someone to suffer from a deficiency of it is practically impossible. The circumstances for such a deficiency to occur would have to be a serious condition. In case it does happen, you can prepare for the worst. The symptoms of vitamin B6 deficiency can have such symptoms as weakness, severe diarrhea, depression, disinterest in sex, anxiety, walking problems, the body having trouble processing sugars, paranoia, a sore mouth with the skin at the corners cracked to bleeding, irritability, water retention that may be mistaken for weight gain but is not, and the body being unable to process simple sugars as well as complex ones. In order to experience the worst of the symptoms, the human body would have to be severely starved or having suffered from severe trauma due to an addiction like alcohol or some kind of strong drugs. Additionally, this deficiency makes for a disorder that can also have been inherited. Any and all cases of this deficiency would have to de physically examined and diagnosed by a doctor. You should never try to make a self diagnosis for this, as it can only seriously backfire on you.

Treatment

It is impossible to isolate any specific foods that could possibly be of exceptional help. The simple reason for this is that almost everything you eat contains vitamin B6. This is a reason why a deficiency of this nutrient can only happen to a severely malnourished person. There is the remote but very real possibility that you may have inherited this disorder. If this is the case, it would require a proper course of treatment before you can start with taking anything specific to treat yourself. In any case, please do not attempt to treat yourself with any kind of supplements or over the counter drugs. Understand that toxicity is a state that may arise if excessive amounts of anything are taken. Then you will have an entirely different problem to deal with. In all likelihood, treatment lies in eating a balanced diet and being regular about your eating habits.