Does anyone use Biotin?

[ibelieveinme]

Hi Jerry,
I am PPMS and I have been taking Biotin supplements for quite some time. I take 2000 mcg daily with the rest of the regime of vitamins. The benefits for me are good hair, nails & skin.

Best wishes ,
ibelieve

[hope2020]

hope2020 re biotin

Hello Fed,
I have been intrigued by the Biotin news recently. I was curious if other MSers were taking the supplement. I want to know if other MSers have found any benefit and, if so, what kind of changes. I am taking 10,000 mcg daily. I have only taken 3 days worth. As long as I don't experience negative side effects, I will continue to take it. Thanks for responding. Good luck.

There are alot of us MSers hoping. Keep us posted, we are checking.

[poohb3ar]

Hi Jer,

I've been taking 10,000 for the last six months to help promote hair growth which it has helped. That's all I noticed.

Diamond

sounds great! does it help with nails also?

i've had an awful time growing mine because of splitting, cracking, breaking, etc.
i take 1200 mg of calcium daily for my osteopenia (pre-osteoperosis sp?)

10,000 mg?

been thinking about taking it, if it helps with MS sxs, all the better!!!

take care & God bless!

[Diamond57]

PooBar

Yes, It helps my nails. My concern was my hair more and it's unreal. It does'nt work for everyone but I feel blessed I'm getting some of my hair back. Go on you tube. Lots of testimonials about Biotin for hair and nail growth.

Good luck!
Diamond

[Benson]

Trying 30,000 mcg per day

I also read the articles also and have started taking three of the 10,000 mcg pills per day and augmenting my diet with swiss chard, tomatoes, peanuts and salmon beccause it cannot hurt. Clearly beats just going downhill without any hope.

[J-Bo]

Maybe we should rethink the OTC supplement idea?

Hey guys, I didn't see where anyone mentioned this, but Wheelchair Kamikaze did an April 26 post that includes some discussion of Biotin. The first part is about the Tisch Research Center stem cell trial, which is interesting because it's also about progressive MS, but if you scroll down, you'll see his take on Biotin.

The pertinent takeaway:

Even if the Biotin itself isn't harmful in large doses, non-prescription Biotin supplements may also contain other stuff like calcium that can be really dangerous in the quantities we're talking about. And as we've recently found out, a high percentage of over the counter supplements do not even have a trace of what's on the label, so you could be pounding all those pills for nothing. I completely understand wanting to just go for it because there's nothing else out there for us. I was almost going to do it myself.

But having said all that, I see no harm in taking the normal dosage because why not?

But really, please read his post and the comments. Very worth your time if you're interested in this! It's much more than just the above caution. He even talks about the idea of having it compounded, so it's not just about naysaying.

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[J-Bo]

Kamikaze Update

Hey guys, I just want to add something about Wheelchair Kamikaze's post about Biotin. He mentioned something about it being ready for FDA approval by the end of this year! I thought, "How is it possible it could happen that fast when the trials are being done overseas?" So I asked him in the comments, and he replied, that yes, it's very possible. After my initial exhilaration, I realized that something being ready for the FDA does not make approval imminent. But still, this seems a lot faster than I imagined.

I don't know how long the FDA will take to do their thing. I wonder, does anyone know what's their typical time frame for approval?

Also, WK speculated that one of the big players, like Biogen, might buy out MedDay. But I guess that wasn't to hard to see coming.

[JerryD]

Thanks J-Bo. I am glad that WK is on top of this. He seems to be a thorough and knowlegable advocate for the MS community. As you can imagine, I don't give a rat's petutie what the corporate pharmabusinesses do to strengthen their hands in this game.
I just want to see a meaningful solution that does change the course of MS treatments, forever. I am surprised that there is so little 'word' of this from the major news sources! What the 'blank' is going on? Am I looking for 'new clothes'? or a 'left handed smoke shifter'?

[Jules59]

The Article I read about Biotin

stated that the patients were given a concentrated amount of 100-300 MILLIGRAMS per day of Biotin for a mean of 9.2 months. I have been searching everywhere for Biotin in such an amount and the only thing I have been able to find (online) is 100MG for animals that is in a powder. The RDA for biotin is in MICROGRAMS (of which 10,000 mcg = 10 MILLIGRAMS and that is not nearly enough for this trial - you would swallow the whole bottle in one sitting, if not two to get 100mg. I went back and re-read the material, wondering if I had mis-read it, and I wasn't mistaken, unless the copywriter messed up. Any ideas as to this?

[Jules59]

I just get mine in the vitamin section at Walmart. According to reviews, Spring Valley was the preferred brand. I get 120 gel-caps for $7.00. It also helped my B levels.
My best.....
Diamond

I hope you have done some research on Spring Valley supplements sold by Walmart - the supplements were tested by some lab and reported to the New York Attorney General's office to contain grass or some other substance, but not (in this case ginko biloba) the item advertised. Interestingly enough, when this news came out, Walmart did NOT stop selling Spring Valley supplements, or even apologize, or take them off of the shelves - they ADVERTISED Spring Valley more heavily (at least in my neck of the woods.) Class action suits are being had in CA and AR. Sorry to be bad news beastie!

[Diamond57]

Jules

Thanks for the heads up on that. Your such a "BEASTIE" tee-hee!

Diamond

[Marco]

I still see a lot of comments asking about "feeling better" on Biotin. Feeling better is not the primary goal of any of our disease modifying therapies. All of our medications, including Biotin, are designed to change the natural history of the disease (slow progression). So while Biotin may improve your hair, nails and give you an energy boost your daily symptoms may never change. The real Biotin benefit will hopefully happen over time where you'll have less progression over months or years.

I would encourage everyone to talk to your neurologist about Biotin and start getting them familiar with the therapy. While you may consider Biotin to be completely innocuous, it's always a good thing that your neurologist is aware of all medications you are taking. Remember the vast majority of Biotin safety data is based on a tiny dose and not a 300 mg mega-dose. Also consider that you are not taking the 1 pill serving, but multiplying it by 20-30 tablets so look at the other ingredients.


Jules - A number of medications are available over the counter (OTC) is one strength and by prescription in another. Vitamin D and Ibuprofen are good examples of this and Biotin will most likely follow this pattern. I have found that Biotin is cheaper in the 5 mg (5,000 mcg) variant than the 10 mg (10,000 mcg) version, but you'll be swallowing twice the number of pills. Based on the current cost of Biotin a one year supply will cost about the same as one week of most of our existing disease modifying drugs. It will be interesting to see how much anyone will be able to charge for a 100 mg pill, but we may soon find out.


J-Bo - At minimum, the FDA should grant a Priority Review for Biotin, but it could easily qualify as a Breakthrough Therapy, Accelerated Approval or Fast Track. The progressive MS population has an unmet medical need for a serious medical condition. When you consider Biotin is already on the market the process should be even faster. Biotin won't move quite as fast as the Ebola trial medications, but it should still move much faster than the normal process.

As always, I wish you all well.

[JerryD]

I want to post some info that I have discovered in the last few days. I have been taking biotin 10,000mcg once daily for about a week. The manufacturer is Solgar which I buy at the Vitamin Shoppe. And if you check out the clinical trials.gov site, biotin is in trials for ON. It is being given to participants in 100mg doses. I don't know if it is given once or three times daily. But I was looking for biotin as a treatment for MS. That was not listed as of 5/14.
I had a thought about the clinical trials being run using biotin to treat ON. If the drug shows safety and efficacy and is approved for use, it should be available to be used 'off-label' to treat other illnesses, like MS. Again, having MS means hopes and promises.

[Diamond57]

Brands

Could the individuals who are taking Biotin tell me the brand your taking? How much is the cost? How many in a bottle?

Thanks in advance.
Diamond

[JerryD]

Diamond, I have posted that I am using Solgar brand biotin 10,000mcg supplements that I buy at the Vitamin Shoppe that can be purchased online. I don't know the price. I haven't seen or felt any physical changes since I began these supplements. I have been taking them for about week.