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Vitamin supplements causing anxiety?

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 4:34 pm
by driveon2985
I'm 20 y/o male. I exercise everyday and eat pretty well (probably not enough vegetables). 5'7" 140 lbs.

I work with kids and I try very hard to keep my immune system in good order to prevent sickness. (You know how kids are with spreading germs) I noticed that I get sick less often when I drink orange juice everyday. Sometimes I don't have orange juice cause of money, etc. and I've tried taking supplemental vitamins as a replacement and I've noticed that they cause me to feel a great deal more anxiety than normal.

This happened once before with a supplement called ultra vitaman or something along those lines (which I quit using due to the anxiety) and it's happened again after using Solaray Vitamin C 1000 mg a day.

Is this a normal side-effect? Do you think it's temperary? (I've only used supplements up to maybe a month before quitting due to anxiety) or do you think maybe there's a psychological explanation?

Normally I'm not anxious.

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 5:44 pm
by DanSco
When I went to 10,000mg over the course of a day I had a difficult time sleeping for a few nights, so I know that there can be some temporary effects.
You could be sensitive to an additive or filler in the pill.(like magnesium stearate for instance) Was the first supplement (ultra vitamin?) a vitamin C? Ultra vitamin sounds like a multi-V to me. You could try to find a vitamin C that was in a capsule as ascorbic acid or get the powder that is sold on this web site.
The only other thing I could suggest is to try to work your way up on the dosage. Try cutting the 1000mg pills in half and see what happens. Also, if the pills have a hard coating, try scraping the coating off.

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:44 pm
by driveon2985
I may ask a doctor about it one of these days but in the meantime I'm gonna stick to orange juice. Feeling nervous cause I hear my parents open the front door is not cool.

Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 6:52 pm
by DanSco
99% of doctors are not trained in nutrition, only drugs and surgery. Asking your doctor is a good way to get an ignorant answer.

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:53 am
by driveon2985
who should i ask?

I have had something like that happen to me, sort of.

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 1:04 pm
by STUARTCBRANDT
I have had something like that happen to me, sort of.
When I take Lysine over 500mg I seem to start wigging out, why I am not sure.
But when I take my VC and Lysine in 500mg doses it does not seem to bother me.

Stuart Brandt :D :) :o

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 7:10 am
by eliu
Maybe B6 may help.

B6 help sythesize GABA and serotonin.

Posted: Mon Oct 09, 2006 6:04 pm
by Kathy
Driveon, if you want to get vitamin c from natural sources, you should also look into that. Orange juice isn't the only or even the best source of vitamin C. First, unless you're buying oranges and squeezing them yourself, it's pastuerized. Vitamin C is destroyed at temperatures well below those of pastuerization. Additionally, it degrades over time. So, if that container of orange juice has been sitting in the warehouse, the store, or your fridge for a week or two, there won't be much C in there at all by the time you drink it.

Other raw foods are much higher in C than oranges, for example:

Code: Select all

                                  Amount of C
Fruit                         (mg per 100g of fruit)

Acerola Cherries                    1677.6
Red Bell Pepper                      127.7
Green Bell Pepper                     80.4
Raw Peas                              80.0
Orange                                53.2


The nutrition content of food also can vary greatly depending on whether they are harvested in or out of their natural seasons. For example, the average amount of C found in tomatoes in the summer months is 26 mg per 100 grams of fruit. The average in the off season is only 10 mg. The citrus fruit season is winter when not so many other fresh frutis are around, which is one of the reasons it has the reputation of being very high in vitamin C.

If you are interested in the content of certain foods, you can check the USDA Nutrition Database or one of the many alternative sources such as Nutrition Data

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 9:04 am
by storm
Wolfberries / goji berries have 500X Vit. C than oranges much better source of vit c - get them from a chinese supermarket - I put them in green tea about 10 at a time .

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:03 am
by joiv
Rose hips 1000-2000mg (/100g)
Black Currant 200mg (/100g)
Red paprica 200mg (/100g)

Solaray

Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2006 11:55 am
by ofonorow
I am curious about the contents of those "Solaray" tablets. Do they contain bioflavonoids? Rosehips? Extra "junk"? You might try a pure vitamin C and see if the anxiety persists.

Here is an experiment if even pure vitamin C raises anxiety. Purchase the Do-it-yourself capsule kit from a health food store. Teach your significant other how to make the capsules, and have him/her put pure vitamin C into about a dozen, and lets say baking soda (or corn starch) or something else equally as harmless, in another dozen. I don't know how long it takes you to feel "anxious" after taking supplements, but have your partner give you either vitamin C or the placebo (you shouldn't know which), wait that long, and have your partner record whether you became anxious or not.

If you only do become anxious taking PURE vitamin C, then you are a very interesting case and I would like to know more.

Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:16 am
by driveon2985
Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately I have obligations and a life to maintain so increasing my levels of anxiety for the sake of experimentation isn't an option.

You guys have been really helpful, keep up the good work.