1965 replies to this topic

[Rotaryracer84]

I just wanted to share my story with people suffering with acne, I had acne starting when I was 13, and i tried everything i could to get rid of it and nothing really worked. Until the day i read about b5, and my life totaly changed. I was a little scared about taking 20 in a single day but I was so desparate that i decided to give it a shot. well let me tell yall that my skin clear up!! i couldnt believe it. amazing. Now Im 24 years old, and the last time used it was problably like 3 years ago, because i got a few break outs then, but with one bottle was enough. I highly recomend this to everyone. I have always but this from www.iherb.com and brand name TWINLAB B5 500mg.

[JayQ]

I just wanted to share my story with people suffering with acne, I had acne starting when I was 13, and i tried everything i could to get rid of it and nothing really worked. Until the day i read about b5, and my life totaly changed. I was a little scared about taking 20 in a single day but I was so desparate that i decided to give it a shot. well let me tell yall that my skin clear up!! i couldnt believe it. amazing. Now Im 24 years old, and the last time used it was problably like 3 years ago, because i got a few break outs then, but with one bottle was enough. I highly recomend this to everyone. I have always but this from www.iherb.com and brand name TWINLAB B5 500mg.

I really do not want to be taking loads of pills daily like a drug addict and am thinking of going the way of just taking a few pills of pantethine daily. Is there anyone here that is currently doing that instead of B5 megadose? Does it play the same role as if you did megadose on B5 in controlling oil production and clearing up acne?

[JayQ]

I just wanted to share my story with people suffering with acne, I had acne starting when I was 13, and i tried everything i could to get rid of it and nothing really worked. Until the day i read about b5, and my life totaly changed. I was a little scared about taking 20 in a single day but I was so desparate that i decided to give it a shot. well let me tell yall that my skin clear up!! i couldnt believe it. amazing. Now Im 24 years old, and the last time used it was problably like 3 years ago, because i got a few break outs then, but with one bottle was enough. I highly recomend this to everyone. I have always but this from www.iherb.com and brand name TWINLAB B5 500mg.

I really do not want to be taking loads of pills daily like a drug addict and am thinking of going the way of just taking a few pills of pantethine daily. Is there anyone here that is currently doing that instead of B5 megadose? Does it play the same role as if you did megadose on B5 in controlling oil production and clearing up acne?

Wow i have spent the last 3 hours skimming this 96 page thread and i must say it got me no where on deciding what to do lol, so confusing, especially on which is better the B5 or just straight pantethine. Why does it have to be so difficult to figure out? I fn hate this!!! Your always left feeling in limbo on what to do and where to turn next to treat your acne.

Pantethine or B5 that is the question now for me.................

[Jay326]

This interests me alot. So if b5 works the way it was described by the OP, does that mean people on a restricted diet can start adding foods back into their diet that once made acne worse?

For JayQ, I'm a big baby about taking pills so I've been searching for a powder form of b5 foreverrrrrrrr and thanks to someone else posting it, I found some. Maybe you can take it in powder form so you don't have to be taking loads of pills?

http://purebulk.com/d-calcium-pantothenate-vit-b5 <- is the link. I read the description and seems like it does exactly what it's supposed to, but any feedback on this product before I buy it is welcomed.

Edited by Jay326, 07 March 2010 - 04:10 PM.

[Jay326]

I've read this complete thread and I'm pretty confused. Some people said to take a B-Complex pill with the b5...other people say it doesn't matter and you don't need to. Then I read something like just get pantethine...how is that different from b5? What about the products that say it has calcium in it, should I not get that? I'm sooooo confused.

[JayQ]

I've read this complete thread and I'm pretty confused. Some people said to take a B-Complex pill with the b5...other people say it doesn't matter and you don't need to. Then I read something like just get pantethine...how is that different from b5? What about the products that say it has calcium in it, should I not get that? I'm sooooo confused.

Dude it is very confusing no doubt and i was banging my head to after all that, but here is what i got mostly out of all of it:

Taking the B-Complex is to supplement the Megadose of B-5 to avoid vitamin B defiency, which would lead to your most common symptom hair loss. I read that peoples hair was brittle or falling out until they started to take the complex which helped the body distribute better.

I also read that the majority of cases when users went from b5 to just pantethine that it got better for them at first, but later on their oil levels actually increased and their acne got worse so they went back on the B5 and it got better. Notice i say the "majority" there were a select few that when they switched it stayed better and they didnt have to megadose.

The difference? Well basically the only difference by definition is the pantethine is just the active strand of pantethenic acid. So even while taking B5 your still going to create pantethine in the process.

Dr. Lit-Hung Leung about Pantethine. Here's his reply:

"Pantethine, and for that matter, Coenzyme A, are but the active forms that pantothenic acid takes once it gets into the body system. They are probably a little more efficient than calcium pantothenate, the commonly available commercial form of pantothenic acid, but they are much more expensive. If you look up pantethine, you'll find that it is the disulfide dimer of pantetheine, the derivative of which is an intermediate in the conversion of pantothenic acid to coenzyme A. As such, weight for weight, no matter if it is pantothenic acid, or pantethine that you are taking, you end up with approximately the same number of Coenzyme A molecules that they generate. Though with calcium pantothenate, you have the added calcium molecule there, making the molecular weight slightly higher, which means that you have to take a slightly bigger dose of calcium pantothenate than pantethine in order to generate the same number of Coenzyme A in the body."


So that tells me it does the exact same thing and i just decided on B5 from the majority of testimonials that said they did better on it. Again it is up to you to decide.

Edited by JayQ, 09 March 2010 - 08:04 PM.

[Jay326]

Okay that helped to clear up alot of my questions.

What about this link...http://purebulk.com/d-calcium-pantothenate-vit-b5

I don't know what that calcium crap means and if there is a different type I should get. I'm looking for powder form.

[RachaMacc]

I'm curious...are there any other side effects of this, besides the hair loss? It sounds like sound science. Wondering what I would risk starting this.

[Jay326]

Well you should know that the hair loss seems to be rare. More common side effects are headaches, stomach aches, and diarrhea. These typically go away soon after starting when your body gets used to it.

[Maldition]

Is it possible to combine with zinc?

Does vitamin b5 modify my level of estrogens or testosterone?

[caliente]

if you plan to start this I really suggest you take some time to plan your regimen and how much you need to buy and for how long. Do this just in case because what I did was I figured two weeks would clear me yet I'm on my 4th week.

[howIroll]

OK, I was doing the megadose for about 4months with decent results,but not perfect.However, taking the 20 pills, plus the b-complex(yes, I did notice thinning hair a bit )was hard to keep up, even ordering from Swanson where things are cheaper.

Somewhere in this long thread,someone mentioned and posted a link about trying to take only 1 or 2 B5 with 1 L cysteine 2 or 3 times a day. I decided to try myself. I have been on this regieme for almost 2 months now and I think the results are better than the mega dose B5. I am clear more often than not, and no more cysts,at least not the past 2 months which I cannot say has ever happened.Plus, as a woman I don't want to lose my hair, so I am thrilled with the results.

I take 1 b complex, 2B5 and 1 L cysteine in the morning

same minus B complex at night

sometimes I will also take them in the afternoon if needed,but mostly 2 times a day

Before you start, find that link and read it yourself, I don;t know if anyone else has tried this, but I think it worked better and its much easier and cheaper than all those B5 everyday

[JayQ]

OK, I was doing the megadose for about 4months with decent results,but not perfect.However, taking the 20 pills, plus the b-complex(yes, I did notice thinning hair a bit )was hard to keep up, even ordering from Swanson where things are cheaper.

Somewhere in this long thread,someone mentioned and posted a link about trying to take only 1 or 2 B5 with 1 L cysteine 2 or 3 times a day. I decided to try myself. I have been on this regieme for almost 2 months now and I think the results are better than the mega dose B5. I am clear more often than not, and no more cysts,at least not the past 2 months which I cannot say has ever happened.Plus, as a woman I don't want to lose my hair, so I am thrilled with the results.

I take 1 b complex, 2B5 and 1 L cysteine in the morning

same minus B complex at night

sometimes I will also take them in the afternoon if needed,but mostly 2 times a day

Before you start, find that link and read it yourself, I don;t know if anyone else has tried this, but I think it worked better and its much easier and cheaper than all those B5 everyday

Interesting you post this because i was experiencing the same results as well when my B5 dosage was increasing. I started off with 1g of b5 for first week and then went up every week. I got to where i was about to begin with 5g for the week, but ever since from going from 3g to 4g my breakouts was horrible. The worst its been in forever. So i decided that i was not going to cut my dosage back down in half.

As of now i am doing the same thing except without L cysteine. 2 B5 with 1 B-100 complex in morning and just 2 B5 at night. The breakouts have finally stopped so far and am currently have one active and the rest are healing. I am hoping that this is the right dosage for me and if it will be the real fix or not. Only time will tell. Will be glad when these suckers heal all the way up, lots of redness to go away.

[DylanW]

I'll try avoid writing a long post but sorry if it turns out that way.

Like all of us here I can only speak from experience. I'm 30 this
Summer, a British born Asian male and like many was effected by acne
in my early teens. I would have said it was moderate but persistent
until my late teens and I tried typical over the counter remedies as
well as a few anti biotic courses from the doctor.

In my early 20's it disappeared completely, to the point it never
crossed my mind (anyone who has 'gotten over' acne will tell you
that's the best feeling ever; to completely eradicate it from your
thoughts). However as I hit 25 or so it suddenly came back much to my
massive disappointment. I didn't know why, I'd not changed my
lifestyle in any way and had always lived healithy.

I initially tried your usual methods, OTC, anti biotics and what not
but around 26 it got much worse and after much hassle my GP advised I
see a dermatologist. The dermo agreed that whilst my acne was not
severe it was certainly moderate at worst and he sympathised that I'd
tried everything I could and that this wasn't an overnight problem. I
was then prescribed a course of Roaccutane and was a little worried
having read all the reports you see on the internet etc. My course
lasted 4 months (I think) and I must say it was amazing, it completely
cleared up my skin and the results were fast. My skin was the best it
had ever been since pre acne or from 21~25 as mentioned earlier.
However, the acne slowly came back around 6 weeks after completing the
course and my dermo said this could happen so I was prescribed a lower
strength course but over a longer period. Again this worked very well
but my acne came back around 2 months after finishing the course.

So at this point I'm 28, been on 2 Roaccutane courses and still left
with mild~moderate acne. It's dogged me since and up until around 2
months ago I was considering revisiting the GP or dermo until I
stumbled across B5, pantothenic acid.

First thing to say is I'd NEVER heard of it before! Quite why I'd
never know considering all the research I did, maybe I just got
unlucky?! Anyhow...(I'll get to the point!) I've been taking the
tablets (for what will be) 2 months next Saturday (May 1st) and the
results have been unbelievable.

I've been taking the 'time release' 500mg capsules from a well known
UK drug store, Holland Barrett. I started off on just 3g a day, so
that's 6 tablets a day, 2 in the morning, 2 with lunch 2 with dinner.
I took this amount for the first 10 days then basically doubled it, 4
breakfast/4 lunch/4 dinner (6g)

I stayed on this dosage for about 5 weeks and now have reduced it to 4
breakfast, 3 lunch, 2 dinner (4.5g). My skin is not 100%, but it's
only been less than 2 months. If pre B5 my skin was 60% clear and 100%
is perfectly clear skin, I'd say right now my skin is 90+% clear.

I still get the odd pimple but not 'under the skin' (you know the ones
that start off as a red lump then slowly get worse and takes AGES to
heal). I might get the odd pin sized white head which is easily
scrubbed off and healed. If like me you have tried so many things and
failed, you go into a new thing like this feeling pessimistic and not
really expecting much. I was even dubious about writing this post,
thinking I'd jinx it. But it's too much of a coincidence for my skin
now to be clear, it has to be the tablets. The only thing I've changed
is reducing my milk intake at the same time as I'd have cereal almost
every day and thought I'd drop that too. But I still drink milk, with
tea/coffee etc and the odd bowl of cereal here and there.

I am going to stay on my dosage of 4.5g for another 10 days (so I'll
be a total of 2 months on the tablets) and then reduce it to 3g for
2/3 weeks and go from there. I would never recommend someone starts on
10g dosages as some have suggested. And I've been taking a complete B
complex supplement now and then too. I've noticed no side affects, maybe a bit of stomach cramp now and then and the odd headache. I've certainly not lost any hair!

I thank the tablets for my improvement but the fact I'm not touching my
face every morning or night and don't have the stress from bad skin has
to help too, these things all must count towards better skin.

Sorry for writing so much but I wanted to give as much info possible.
I'm not saying these tablets work for all, we all know everyone has
different experiences but I can't see the harm in trying

[iWantBeHappy]

Hey, anyone know were i could buy vitamin B5 with low shipping in euorope (link plz) ? I can only pay with bank transfer , no credit cards.
Thanks.

[eazy^]

Hopefully someone can help me here, i just started taking pantothentic acid 2 days ago, i also take B-Complex, A, C, D, E, and Zinc. I got NOW pantothentic acid and its the calcium pantothenate which i think is the synthetic form? cuz i have been having pains in my kidneys since i started megadosing with these and im not sure if its just because they are synthetic? also can i megadose more than 1 vitamin at a time?

[eazy^]

or maybe because i just started taking all of these the same day ? kidneys are hurtin

[blobuffalo]

I've been on 10g B5 (with one B50 complex and 1000mcg biotin per day) for over a month now and I haven't seen any reduction in oil/acne. Please advise.

[eazy^]

From what i have read it could take up to 3 months to see good results, and i just read something about biotin causing acne i dont know enough to give an answer but i would look into that.

[blobuffalo]

From what i have read it could take up to 3 months to see good results, and i just read something about biotin causing acne i dont know enough to give an answer but i would look into that.

Thanks Blk13. I've also heard that biotin prohibits the B5 from working effectively. What does everyone else think? When you megadose do you take a biotin or bcomplex and has that caused your skin to stay oily?