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Doctors call for use of spinal cord stimulators to be reconsidered

Doctors call for use of spinal cord stimulators to be reconsidered

9 News21-07-2025
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here Australian doctors and health fund providers are calling for the use of spinal cord stimulators to be reconsidered after research revealed one-in-four people are having revision surgery for complications. Spinal cord stimulators have been used to treat chronic pain, including back pain, neck pain, nerve pain, and complex regional pain syndrome. The devices are made up of a small battery pack, which is implanted beneath the skin and attached to electrodes. Pulses of electricity are theoretically supposed to interfere with pain signals coming from the nerves. An image showing what a spinal cord stimulator would look like when inserted into a patient. (iStock) However, a study by leading Australian doctors, published in this week's Medical Journal of Australia , found 23 per cent of patients fitted with the device will go on to need revision surgery for complications within three years. The median cost for the permanent device is nearly $56,000, with some patients' treatment adding up to more than $500,000. "Given the lack of supportive data for their efficacy, and a concerning harms profile, use of spinal cord stimulators for pain control should be reconsidered," the researchers wrote in the journal. Lead author Dr Caitlin Jones, from the University of Sydney's Institute of Musculoskeletal Health, told The Sydney Morning Herald the risk posed by the devices was much greater than the likely benefits. "Patients should know they are taking on a substantial risk, that is exorbitantly expensive, with very little likelihood of any benefit." Private Healthcare Australia, which represents health insurance funds and their 15 million members, has backed the researchers' calls for the use of the devices to be reconsidered. PHA CEO Dr Rachel David said while the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) last year cancelled the registration of some spinal cord stimulators and imposed conditions on others, they were still available and being used on patients. "The regulatory action taken so far has been insufficient. Put simply, if these spinal cord stimulators were new technologies trying to get listed for Medicare funding in Australia, they would be deemed too dangerous," she said. "The Australian Government should ask the Medicare Services Advisory Committee to assess these devices and consider if they meet contemporary standards for listing. If not, the Medicare items and devices should be removed. This would protect patients from unnecessary harm and reduce wasteful expenditure for taxpayers and people with health insurance who are effectively being forced to fund this." At least 90 per cent of spinal cord stimulators are inserted in the private health sector. "Health funds are committed to continuing to fund evidence-based treatments which have demonstrated safety and efficacy in the treatment of chronic pain," David said. The Medical Technology Association of Australia (MTAA), which represents device manufacturers has said the devices are safe and effective. Stimulators were "a demonstrably safe and effective alternative to long-term drug therapies, notably opioids", a spokesman told The Sydney Morning Herald. "[Stimulator] suppliers stand behind the safety, quality and efficacy of our SCS technologies that have demonstrated positive outcomes for patients, which are backed by robust clinical trial data and real-world evidence." health
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Penny Thompson spent nearly 13 years and thousands of dollars trying to get a diagnosis for her "mystery illness", which paralysed her vocal cords, damaged her nerves and left her unable to work, socialise or study. Finally, last year, with a litany of specialists left scratching their heads, the NSW Illawarra region woman began to suspect that the very things she had been using to ease her symptoms were actually poisoning her. Now, grieving and overwhelmed by all she has lost over more than a decade, Ms Thompson, 61, of Wollongong, south of Sydney, has registered her interest in a class action against supplement giant Blackmores, as health practitioners and patients begin to realise the extent of vitamin B6 poisoning. "Before this happened, I was a bloody fitness instructor and now I struggle to work," she said. "I haven't been out socially at night for 10 years. I can't drive for more than 20 minutes. I can't go travelling, I can't go bushwalking. "I struggle to work in my garden at home and it took me nine-and-a-half years to complete a three year university degree. "I just feel overwhelmed, I get angry, I get full of grief for all I've lost." In recent months, there have been growing reports of toxicity related to vitamin B6, which is naturally found in meat, fruit and vegetables but which is also now added to many vitamin supplements, shakes and energy drinks and is present in thousands of products on the Australian market.. According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, taking too much can cause nerve damage, which many people experience as peripheral neuropathy - or numbness and tingling in the fingers and toes. After an increase in reports about this condition, the regulator recently recommended stricter regulations and stronger warnings. It has also noted that there is no consensus on a safe level of B6. 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"I just didn't feel right and my hands and feet were a bit numb but my GP said it was my age, or probably menopause," she said. "I said, 'I've seemed to lose weight', and he just went, 'fancy a woman in her 40s complaining of losing weight, ha ha ha', so I just left it." "But I was getting more and more fatigued and so, in 2013, I started keeping a really detailed health diary because I thought maybe I had a food allergy because I thought I was being poisoned." That kicked off a "pretty expensive" 10-year journey of seeing specialists, including neurologists, ENT doctors, cardiologists, pain specialists, rheumatologists and having nerve conduction studies or tests for heavy metals poisoning. "I was always very thorough when I saw them, because I was studying science, and I was keeping these diaries and they'd always ask you on the new patient form, please list all your medications, prescription and non-prescription so I'd write this huge list of stuff down, but none of them said anything." By late 2019, when she was working as an English teacher at TAFE, she noticed her voice changing. "I was working about three days a week and I just noticed that my voice was starting to get very, very soft, very weak, very tired," she said. "It was when the drought was happening and there were lots of bushfires, smoke and dust and I thought that's what was causing it. "But that winter I'd had a doctor who said taking zinc was good for preventing respiratory disease - I wanted to choose the best and so I bought Blackmores Bio Zinc, but what I didn't realise was that it had 50mg of B6 in it." "I was popping these things every day, and I can see now that my symptoms - like headaches and migraines and gut pain and constipation were adding up, and by September my voice had become really weak and strained. "I just thought it was the dust and the bushfires and I just kept taking the B6, and then I'd lost my voice completely and had to give up work." As COVID hit, she was diagnosed with a completely paralysed left vocal cord, but was left without medical support. She began experiencing cramps, and started taking another supplement called Super Magnesium. "It also had 50 mg of B6 and, because I was getting all these migraines and I was pretty stressed because I'd lost my job and the whole COVID crap was starting, I was also taking Blackmores Executive Stress, which had another 25 milligrams of B6," Ms Thompson said. "At one stage that I was taking 125mg per day of B6, and just feeling worse and worse and worse." Years and many more appointments on, in September 2024, Ms Thompson saw a warning on the Therapeutic Goods Administration that made her suspect that her vitamins may have been poisoning her. She stopped taking them. "Magically, the gut pain, the constipation, the food intolerances all just disappeared within a couple of months," she said. "The anxiety lifted, the migraines eased off, the twitching and all that stuff just disappeared." "I've still got a base level of numb hands and feet, my voice hasn't improved and the fatigue hasn't improved. The weight loss and the muscle wasting has, in fact, got worse. "So I still can't work because I'm so fatigued and my voice is pretty crappy." In January, B6 poisoning hit the news, with the ABC's 730 running a report featuring patients who had similar symptoms and experiences to Ms Thompson. "I recognised my story and I just went, 'oh God, that's it'," she said. "I went back through all my diaries, 10 years of diaries, with orange highlighter and calculated all the B6 and just went, 'Oh my God'." Then, armed with a print-out of an Illawarra Mercury -an ACM mastheadarticle on the issue, in which Fairy Meadow, Wollongong, GP Kate McCullough issued a warning about high doses of the vitamin, she managed to convince her doctor to run a test. She has since been diagnosed with "B6 hypervitaminosis", and in recent months registered her interest in Polaris' proposed class action, which she hopes might stop others from going through her ordeal. Already the law firm says its has received more than 900 inquiries about the class action. "I just remember at one point, my doctor said, 'oh gee, Penny, I hate to think we're missing something'," Ms Thompson said. "Of course, I'd given him all the big lists of all the supplements I was taking, but he didn't know anything about it. None of the specialists knew about it." "Despite all the media coverage this year, and repeated alerts from the TGA, most doctors and allied health professionals are still completely unaware of B6 toxicity, how serious the resulting symptoms can be and how widespread it is becoming. "I'm really hoping the class action will generate enough publicity to turn this issue around." "And I'm hoping that this kicks up so much of a stink that all of these vitamin companies and the energy drink companies and the processed food manufacturers, they all stop putting more than the recommended daily dose into their products. "I want everybody to know about it, so every doctor in Australia knows about it and we can stop the tide of this epidemic of poisoning." A Blackmores spokesperson said it had received no formal legal claim, but was aware of reports about the class action. Penny Thompson spent nearly 13 years and thousands of dollars trying to get a diagnosis for her "mystery illness", which paralysed her vocal cords, damaged her nerves and left her unable to work, socialise or study. Finally, last year, with a litany of specialists left scratching their heads, the NSW Illawarra region woman began to suspect that the very things she had been using to ease her symptoms were actually poisoning her. Now, grieving and overwhelmed by all she has lost over more than a decade, Ms Thompson, 61, of Wollongong, south of Sydney, has registered her interest in a class action against supplement giant Blackmores, as health practitioners and patients begin to realise the extent of vitamin B6 poisoning. "Before this happened, I was a bloody fitness instructor and now I struggle to work," she said. "I haven't been out socially at night for 10 years. I can't drive for more than 20 minutes. I can't go travelling, I can't go bushwalking. "I struggle to work in my garden at home and it took me nine-and-a-half years to complete a three year university degree. "I just feel overwhelmed, I get angry, I get full of grief for all I've lost." In recent months, there have been growing reports of toxicity related to vitamin B6, which is naturally found in meat, fruit and vegetables but which is also now added to many vitamin supplements, shakes and energy drinks and is present in thousands of products on the Australian market.. According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, taking too much can cause nerve damage, which many people experience as peripheral neuropathy - or numbness and tingling in the fingers and toes. After an increase in reports about this condition, the regulator recently recommended stricter regulations and stronger warnings. It has also noted that there is no consensus on a safe level of B6. In May, Melbourne's Polaris Lawyers announced it was pursuing a class action investigation against Blackmores, on behalf of anyone who has suffered injuries after taking its supplements "containing higher than recommended levels of vitamin B6". A Blackmores spokesperson said the company was committed to the highest standards of product quality and consumer safety. "All our products, including those containing vitamin B6, are developed in strict accordance with the regulatory requirements of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)," they said. They said the company would "ensure full compliance" with any changes the regulator makes. Ms Thompson's health struggles began back in 2012, when she went to the GP complaining of numbness in her hands and feet. She had recently moved back to Australia, and was busy and tired working three jobs and buying a house, so started taking vitamin supplements "to give me energy". "I just didn't feel right and my hands and feet were a bit numb but my GP said it was my age, or probably menopause," she said. "I said, 'I've seemed to lose weight', and he just went, 'fancy a woman in her 40s complaining of losing weight, ha ha ha', so I just left it." "But I was getting more and more fatigued and so, in 2013, I started keeping a really detailed health diary because I thought maybe I had a food allergy because I thought I was being poisoned." That kicked off a "pretty expensive" 10-year journey of seeing specialists, including neurologists, ENT doctors, cardiologists, pain specialists, rheumatologists and having nerve conduction studies or tests for heavy metals poisoning. "I was always very thorough when I saw them, because I was studying science, and I was keeping these diaries and they'd always ask you on the new patient form, please list all your medications, prescription and non-prescription so I'd write this huge list of stuff down, but none of them said anything." By late 2019, when she was working as an English teacher at TAFE, she noticed her voice changing. "I was working about three days a week and I just noticed that my voice was starting to get very, very soft, very weak, very tired," she said. "It was when the drought was happening and there were lots of bushfires, smoke and dust and I thought that's what was causing it. "But that winter I'd had a doctor who said taking zinc was good for preventing respiratory disease - I wanted to choose the best and so I bought Blackmores Bio Zinc, but what I didn't realise was that it had 50mg of B6 in it." "I was popping these things every day, and I can see now that my symptoms - like headaches and migraines and gut pain and constipation were adding up, and by September my voice had become really weak and strained. "I just thought it was the dust and the bushfires and I just kept taking the B6, and then I'd lost my voice completely and had to give up work." As COVID hit, she was diagnosed with a completely paralysed left vocal cord, but was left without medical support. She began experiencing cramps, and started taking another supplement called Super Magnesium. "It also had 50 mg of B6 and, because I was getting all these migraines and I was pretty stressed because I'd lost my job and the whole COVID crap was starting, I was also taking Blackmores Executive Stress, which had another 25 milligrams of B6," Ms Thompson said. "At one stage that I was taking 125mg per day of B6, and just feeling worse and worse and worse." Years and many more appointments on, in September 2024, Ms Thompson saw a warning on the Therapeutic Goods Administration that made her suspect that her vitamins may have been poisoning her. She stopped taking them. "Magically, the gut pain, the constipation, the food intolerances all just disappeared within a couple of months," she said. "The anxiety lifted, the migraines eased off, the twitching and all that stuff just disappeared." "I've still got a base level of numb hands and feet, my voice hasn't improved and the fatigue hasn't improved. The weight loss and the muscle wasting has, in fact, got worse. "So I still can't work because I'm so fatigued and my voice is pretty crappy." In January, B6 poisoning hit the news, with the ABC's 730 running a report featuring patients who had similar symptoms and experiences to Ms Thompson. "I recognised my story and I just went, 'oh God, that's it'," she said. "I went back through all my diaries, 10 years of diaries, with orange highlighter and calculated all the B6 and just went, 'Oh my God'." Then, armed with a print-out of an Illawarra Mercury -an ACM mastheadarticle on the issue, in which Fairy Meadow, Wollongong, GP Kate McCullough issued a warning about high doses of the vitamin, she managed to convince her doctor to run a test. She has since been diagnosed with "B6 hypervitaminosis", and in recent months registered her interest in Polaris' proposed class action, which she hopes might stop others from going through her ordeal. Already the law firm says its has received more than 900 inquiries about the class action. "I just remember at one point, my doctor said, 'oh gee, Penny, I hate to think we're missing something'," Ms Thompson said. "Of course, I'd given him all the big lists of all the supplements I was taking, but he didn't know anything about it. None of the specialists knew about it." "Despite all the media coverage this year, and repeated alerts from the TGA, most doctors and allied health professionals are still completely unaware of B6 toxicity, how serious the resulting symptoms can be and how widespread it is becoming. "I'm really hoping the class action will generate enough publicity to turn this issue around." "And I'm hoping that this kicks up so much of a stink that all of these vitamin companies and the energy drink companies and the processed food manufacturers, they all stop putting more than the recommended daily dose into their products. "I want everybody to know about it, so every doctor in Australia knows about it and we can stop the tide of this epidemic of poisoning." A Blackmores spokesperson said it had received no formal legal claim, but was aware of reports about the class action. Penny Thompson spent nearly 13 years and thousands of dollars trying to get a diagnosis for her "mystery illness", which paralysed her vocal cords, damaged her nerves and left her unable to work, socialise or study. Finally, last year, with a litany of specialists left scratching their heads, the NSW Illawarra region woman began to suspect that the very things she had been using to ease her symptoms were actually poisoning her. Now, grieving and overwhelmed by all she has lost over more than a decade, Ms Thompson, 61, of Wollongong, south of Sydney, has registered her interest in a class action against supplement giant Blackmores, as health practitioners and patients begin to realise the extent of vitamin B6 poisoning. "Before this happened, I was a bloody fitness instructor and now I struggle to work," she said. "I haven't been out socially at night for 10 years. I can't drive for more than 20 minutes. I can't go travelling, I can't go bushwalking. "I struggle to work in my garden at home and it took me nine-and-a-half years to complete a three year university degree. "I just feel overwhelmed, I get angry, I get full of grief for all I've lost." In recent months, there have been growing reports of toxicity related to vitamin B6, which is naturally found in meat, fruit and vegetables but which is also now added to many vitamin supplements, shakes and energy drinks and is present in thousands of products on the Australian market.. According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, taking too much can cause nerve damage, which many people experience as peripheral neuropathy - or numbness and tingling in the fingers and toes. After an increase in reports about this condition, the regulator recently recommended stricter regulations and stronger warnings. It has also noted that there is no consensus on a safe level of B6. In May, Melbourne's Polaris Lawyers announced it was pursuing a class action investigation against Blackmores, on behalf of anyone who has suffered injuries after taking its supplements "containing higher than recommended levels of vitamin B6". A Blackmores spokesperson said the company was committed to the highest standards of product quality and consumer safety. "All our products, including those containing vitamin B6, are developed in strict accordance with the regulatory requirements of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)," they said. They said the company would "ensure full compliance" with any changes the regulator makes. Ms Thompson's health struggles began back in 2012, when she went to the GP complaining of numbness in her hands and feet. She had recently moved back to Australia, and was busy and tired working three jobs and buying a house, so started taking vitamin supplements "to give me energy". "I just didn't feel right and my hands and feet were a bit numb but my GP said it was my age, or probably menopause," she said. "I said, 'I've seemed to lose weight', and he just went, 'fancy a woman in her 40s complaining of losing weight, ha ha ha', so I just left it." "But I was getting more and more fatigued and so, in 2013, I started keeping a really detailed health diary because I thought maybe I had a food allergy because I thought I was being poisoned." That kicked off a "pretty expensive" 10-year journey of seeing specialists, including neurologists, ENT doctors, cardiologists, pain specialists, rheumatologists and having nerve conduction studies or tests for heavy metals poisoning. "I was always very thorough when I saw them, because I was studying science, and I was keeping these diaries and they'd always ask you on the new patient form, please list all your medications, prescription and non-prescription so I'd write this huge list of stuff down, but none of them said anything." By late 2019, when she was working as an English teacher at TAFE, she noticed her voice changing. "I was working about three days a week and I just noticed that my voice was starting to get very, very soft, very weak, very tired," she said. "It was when the drought was happening and there were lots of bushfires, smoke and dust and I thought that's what was causing it. "But that winter I'd had a doctor who said taking zinc was good for preventing respiratory disease - I wanted to choose the best and so I bought Blackmores Bio Zinc, but what I didn't realise was that it had 50mg of B6 in it." "I was popping these things every day, and I can see now that my symptoms - like headaches and migraines and gut pain and constipation were adding up, and by September my voice had become really weak and strained. "I just thought it was the dust and the bushfires and I just kept taking the B6, and then I'd lost my voice completely and had to give up work." As COVID hit, she was diagnosed with a completely paralysed left vocal cord, but was left without medical support. She began experiencing cramps, and started taking another supplement called Super Magnesium. "It also had 50 mg of B6 and, because I was getting all these migraines and I was pretty stressed because I'd lost my job and the whole COVID crap was starting, I was also taking Blackmores Executive Stress, which had another 25 milligrams of B6," Ms Thompson said. "At one stage that I was taking 125mg per day of B6, and just feeling worse and worse and worse." Years and many more appointments on, in September 2024, Ms Thompson saw a warning on the Therapeutic Goods Administration that made her suspect that her vitamins may have been poisoning her. She stopped taking them. "Magically, the gut pain, the constipation, the food intolerances all just disappeared within a couple of months," she said. "The anxiety lifted, the migraines eased off, the twitching and all that stuff just disappeared." "I've still got a base level of numb hands and feet, my voice hasn't improved and the fatigue hasn't improved. The weight loss and the muscle wasting has, in fact, got worse. "So I still can't work because I'm so fatigued and my voice is pretty crappy." In January, B6 poisoning hit the news, with the ABC's 730 running a report featuring patients who had similar symptoms and experiences to Ms Thompson. "I recognised my story and I just went, 'oh God, that's it'," she said. "I went back through all my diaries, 10 years of diaries, with orange highlighter and calculated all the B6 and just went, 'Oh my God'." Then, armed with a print-out of an Illawarra Mercury -an ACM mastheadarticle on the issue, in which Fairy Meadow, Wollongong, GP Kate McCullough issued a warning about high doses of the vitamin, she managed to convince her doctor to run a test. She has since been diagnosed with "B6 hypervitaminosis", and in recent months registered her interest in Polaris' proposed class action, which she hopes might stop others from going through her ordeal. Already the law firm says its has received more than 900 inquiries about the class action. "I just remember at one point, my doctor said, 'oh gee, Penny, I hate to think we're missing something'," Ms Thompson said. "Of course, I'd given him all the big lists of all the supplements I was taking, but he didn't know anything about it. None of the specialists knew about it." "Despite all the media coverage this year, and repeated alerts from the TGA, most doctors and allied health professionals are still completely unaware of B6 toxicity, how serious the resulting symptoms can be and how widespread it is becoming. "I'm really hoping the class action will generate enough publicity to turn this issue around." "And I'm hoping that this kicks up so much of a stink that all of these vitamin companies and the energy drink companies and the processed food manufacturers, they all stop putting more than the recommended daily dose into their products. "I want everybody to know about it, so every doctor in Australia knows about it and we can stop the tide of this epidemic of poisoning." A Blackmores spokesperson said it had received no formal legal claim, but was aware of reports about the class action. Penny Thompson spent nearly 13 years and thousands of dollars trying to get a diagnosis for her "mystery illness", which paralysed her vocal cords, damaged her nerves and left her unable to work, socialise or study. Finally, last year, with a litany of specialists left scratching their heads, the NSW Illawarra region woman began to suspect that the very things she had been using to ease her symptoms were actually poisoning her. Now, grieving and overwhelmed by all she has lost over more than a decade, Ms Thompson, 61, of Wollongong, south of Sydney, has registered her interest in a class action against supplement giant Blackmores, as health practitioners and patients begin to realise the extent of vitamin B6 poisoning. "Before this happened, I was a bloody fitness instructor and now I struggle to work," she said. "I haven't been out socially at night for 10 years. I can't drive for more than 20 minutes. I can't go travelling, I can't go bushwalking. "I struggle to work in my garden at home and it took me nine-and-a-half years to complete a three year university degree. "I just feel overwhelmed, I get angry, I get full of grief for all I've lost." In recent months, there have been growing reports of toxicity related to vitamin B6, which is naturally found in meat, fruit and vegetables but which is also now added to many vitamin supplements, shakes and energy drinks and is present in thousands of products on the Australian market.. According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, taking too much can cause nerve damage, which many people experience as peripheral neuropathy - or numbness and tingling in the fingers and toes. After an increase in reports about this condition, the regulator recently recommended stricter regulations and stronger warnings. It has also noted that there is no consensus on a safe level of B6. In May, Melbourne's Polaris Lawyers announced it was pursuing a class action investigation against Blackmores, on behalf of anyone who has suffered injuries after taking its supplements "containing higher than recommended levels of vitamin B6". A Blackmores spokesperson said the company was committed to the highest standards of product quality and consumer safety. "All our products, including those containing vitamin B6, are developed in strict accordance with the regulatory requirements of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)," they said. They said the company would "ensure full compliance" with any changes the regulator makes. Ms Thompson's health struggles began back in 2012, when she went to the GP complaining of numbness in her hands and feet. She had recently moved back to Australia, and was busy and tired working three jobs and buying a house, so started taking vitamin supplements "to give me energy". "I just didn't feel right and my hands and feet were a bit numb but my GP said it was my age, or probably menopause," she said. "I said, 'I've seemed to lose weight', and he just went, 'fancy a woman in her 40s complaining of losing weight, ha ha ha', so I just left it." "But I was getting more and more fatigued and so, in 2013, I started keeping a really detailed health diary because I thought maybe I had a food allergy because I thought I was being poisoned." That kicked off a "pretty expensive" 10-year journey of seeing specialists, including neurologists, ENT doctors, cardiologists, pain specialists, rheumatologists and having nerve conduction studies or tests for heavy metals poisoning. "I was always very thorough when I saw them, because I was studying science, and I was keeping these diaries and they'd always ask you on the new patient form, please list all your medications, prescription and non-prescription so I'd write this huge list of stuff down, but none of them said anything." By late 2019, when she was working as an English teacher at TAFE, she noticed her voice changing. "I was working about three days a week and I just noticed that my voice was starting to get very, very soft, very weak, very tired," she said. "It was when the drought was happening and there were lots of bushfires, smoke and dust and I thought that's what was causing it. "But that winter I'd had a doctor who said taking zinc was good for preventing respiratory disease - I wanted to choose the best and so I bought Blackmores Bio Zinc, but what I didn't realise was that it had 50mg of B6 in it." "I was popping these things every day, and I can see now that my symptoms - like headaches and migraines and gut pain and constipation were adding up, and by September my voice had become really weak and strained. "I just thought it was the dust and the bushfires and I just kept taking the B6, and then I'd lost my voice completely and had to give up work." As COVID hit, she was diagnosed with a completely paralysed left vocal cord, but was left without medical support. She began experiencing cramps, and started taking another supplement called Super Magnesium. "It also had 50 mg of B6 and, because I was getting all these migraines and I was pretty stressed because I'd lost my job and the whole COVID crap was starting, I was also taking Blackmores Executive Stress, which had another 25 milligrams of B6," Ms Thompson said. "At one stage that I was taking 125mg per day of B6, and just feeling worse and worse and worse." Years and many more appointments on, in September 2024, Ms Thompson saw a warning on the Therapeutic Goods Administration that made her suspect that her vitamins may have been poisoning her. She stopped taking them. "Magically, the gut pain, the constipation, the food intolerances all just disappeared within a couple of months," she said. "The anxiety lifted, the migraines eased off, the twitching and all that stuff just disappeared." "I've still got a base level of numb hands and feet, my voice hasn't improved and the fatigue hasn't improved. The weight loss and the muscle wasting has, in fact, got worse. "So I still can't work because I'm so fatigued and my voice is pretty crappy." In January, B6 poisoning hit the news, with the ABC's 730 running a report featuring patients who had similar symptoms and experiences to Ms Thompson. "I recognised my story and I just went, 'oh God, that's it'," she said. "I went back through all my diaries, 10 years of diaries, with orange highlighter and calculated all the B6 and just went, 'Oh my God'." Then, armed with a print-out of an Illawarra Mercury -an ACM mastheadarticle on the issue, in which Fairy Meadow, Wollongong, GP Kate McCullough issued a warning about high doses of the vitamin, she managed to convince her doctor to run a test. She has since been diagnosed with "B6 hypervitaminosis", and in recent months registered her interest in Polaris' proposed class action, which she hopes might stop others from going through her ordeal. Already the law firm says its has received more than 900 inquiries about the class action. "I just remember at one point, my doctor said, 'oh gee, Penny, I hate to think we're missing something'," Ms Thompson said. "Of course, I'd given him all the big lists of all the supplements I was taking, but he didn't know anything about it. None of the specialists knew about it." "Despite all the media coverage this year, and repeated alerts from the TGA, most doctors and allied health professionals are still completely unaware of B6 toxicity, how serious the resulting symptoms can be and how widespread it is becoming. "I'm really hoping the class action will generate enough publicity to turn this issue around." "And I'm hoping that this kicks up so much of a stink that all of these vitamin companies and the energy drink companies and the processed food manufacturers, they all stop putting more than the recommended daily dose into their products. "I want everybody to know about it, so every doctor in Australia knows about it and we can stop the tide of this epidemic of poisoning." A Blackmores spokesperson said it had received no formal legal claim, but was aware of reports about the class action.

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