# Vitamin B6 Toxicity?? FREAKING OUT



## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

For the last week I was thinking I had a B6 deficiency, but now I'm not even sure if it's a deficiency. I did go off them and my antidepressants felt like they were working less but I still have general chills and shivering almost ALL day. 

I have been going on and off 100 mg of B6 since mid July. I probably have taken off 30 days of taking B6, so that's probably 3 months give or take of taking some times 100 mg or a bit less, maybe sometimes it was 50 mg.

CAN THIS CAUSE B6 TOXICITY?

I'm starting to think the shivering may be B6 toxicity/nerve damage. ****. Is there anything I can do other than take no B vitamins to mitigate the damage until I get my B6 test back in 3 days? THIS IS MY ONLY SYMPTOM, SHIVERING.

IF I'VE DEVELOPED THIS PERMANENTLY FROM B6 VITAMINS I'M GOING TO LITERALLY ****ING LIGHT A VITAMIN STORE ON FIRE.


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## peril (Jan 7, 2012)

100mg/day is not high enough to cause toxicity. Vitamins Bs are water-soluble so you just pee everything in excess. Just drink more water.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

So then my spine tingles/shivers are NOT caused by 100 mg doses of B6? Like 90% certain or 100% certain? I just am seriously weirded out by the symptom.

I really should just wait for my test to come back.


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## GotAnxiety (Oct 14, 2011)

I seldom take 400-500mg sometimes. But mostly i stay in the 100-200mg range. Not everyday tho.


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## Broshious2 (Jan 21, 2009)

I've overdosed on vitamin B6(I was taking 500+mg daily) and what you'll feel is peripheral neuropathy. For example when I was taking a shower the needles of water would hurt my skin slightly. As soon as I stopped taking the vitamin B6 it stopped, and there have been no permanent effects.

And no shivering whatsoever.


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## SomniferumPapi (Nov 29, 2012)

gilmourr said:


> For the last week I was thinking I had a B6 deficiency, but now I'm not even sure if it's a deficiency. I did go off them and my antidepressants felt like they were working less but I still have general chills and shivering almost ALL day.
> 
> I have been going on and off 100 mg of B6 since mid July. I probably have taken off 30 days of taking B6, so that's probably 3 months give or take of taking some times 100 mg or a bit less, maybe sometimes it was 50 mg.
> 
> ...


I would blame the antidepressant way before the b vitamin.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

I wouldn't, the antidepressant has been great each time. Only thing different this time is the stupid B6. No idea why anyone would ever go above 100 mg, this **** is dangerous long term. Also, not even 100 mg is safe. The US keeps the requirement at 100 mg while many countries do 25 or 50 as the limit.

B6 is not something you want to mess with.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

GotAnxiety said:


> I seldom take 400-500mg sometimes. But mostly i stay in the 100-200mg range. Not everyday tho.


Jesus man, don't take that much! I've been reading in the past few days that anything over 100 mg is incredibly bad for you. Only reason I took 100 was because of Nardil depleting B6 but even that is WAY too much.

READ UP ON TOXICITY, don't develop this crazy ****. The daily required is 2 mg!


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## jonny neurotic (Jan 20, 2011)

You should really take it as part of a B complex. 100mg shouldn't be too bad especially if you haven't been taking it continuously for a long period of time. Why are you taking it? There is evidence that it interacts with the GABA receptors but I think there are more potent ways of working those receptors. I don't think it has a long enough half life or any where near enough affinity to really be effective. I am interested in derivatives as potential anxiolytics though.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

Regardless, no more B vitamins. Nardil lowers B6 by like 50% but even still it doesn't affect the med, so I don't really know why I was taking it.

I just want my B6 test back, but they're so slow, damnit. 8 day turn around, are you kidding me


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## sgx53e (Dec 7, 2012)

gilmourr said:


> I wouldn't, the antidepressant has been great each time. Only thing different this time is the stupid B6. No idea why anyone would ever go above 100 mg, this **** is dangerous long term. Also, not even 100 mg is safe. The US keeps the requirement at 100 mg while many countries do 25 or 50 as the limit.
> 
> B6 is not something you want to mess with.


Is it pyridoxal-5-phosphate? Upper limit for this type is 50mg. Others are 150mg. Are you taking it on it's own? Take it with other B's, C, E, biotin, chromium, copper, folate, magnesium, potassium, phosphate, selenium, zinc.


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## jonny neurotic (Jan 20, 2011)

gilmourr said:


> Regardless, no more B vitamins. Nardil lowers B6 by like 50% but even still it doesn't affect the med, so I don't really know why I was taking it.
> 
> I just want my B6 test back, but they're so slow, damnit. 8 day turn around, are you kidding me


I assume you are on phenelzine then. How long have you been on this? Why are you getting so stressed about B6. Have you checked the side effects of phenelzine? You are probably just responding badly to it. No surprise: it's an MAOI. Those things are serious. Try stopping the phenelzine for a bit till you get it out of your system then take it from there. Most importantly; stay calm.

Stay calm...


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## Barrett123 (Dec 12, 2012)

Vitamins are very important for keeping eyes healthy, and is also necessary for keeping bones, teeth, skin & hair strong and well maintained All help the body break down fats, proteins and carbs, thus providing you with energy...


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## Ricebunnyx3 (Sep 1, 2010)

It looks like you're answering your own question. You asked this, and then when people try to reassure you that nothings wrong, you go "NAH UHHH" 
You seem to be very paranoid too btw. I'd be more worried about that than the B6.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

Ricebunnyx3 said:


> It looks like you're answering your own question. You asked this, and then when people try to reassure you that nothings wrong, you go "NAH UHHH"
> You seem to be very paranoid too btw. I'd be more worried about that than the B6.


Yeah, you obviously have never known a "paranoid" person. I'm clearly wrong to question why I have brain shivers frequently (even though now I know the B6 caused it).

I better get on an anti-psychotic asap.


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## Emile (Feb 3, 2010)

gilmourr said:


> Regardless, no more B vitamins. Nardil lowers B6 by like 50% but even still it doesn't affect the med, so I don't really know why I was taking it.
> 
> I just want my B6 test back, but they're so slow, damnit. 8 day turn around, are you kidding me


B6 cops a lot of unnecessary crap IMO.

Quote from here:


> The FNB noted that although several reports show sensory neuropathy occurring at doses lower than 500 mg/day, studies in patients treated with vitamin B6 (average dose of 200 mg/day) for up to 5 years found no evidence of this effect.


Chills and shivering is something that's reported all over this forum as a side effect of MAOI's, especially Nardil. I've seen like three threads in the past week specifically mentioning it. I'm on Parnate and I get some weird neurological glitches here and there, but then I've had them for a while, so I don't know what to blame*. Have you upped/lowered the dose recently? How long have you been on it, vs when you started taking B6 100mg/day? Or... any changes at all in your routine?

*along with a huge sensitivity to cold temps, and a tendency to shiver like mad when it happens.

The last good study I read placed pyridoxine toxicity at 300+ mg per day for a few months. I'll try and find it. I can almost guarantee your symptoms are due to Nardil, and not B6.

There is one thing that helps me a lot, pyridoxal-5-phosphate, which has nearly zero risk of toxicity and is a more efficient, better alternative to every other form of B6. It is sometimes a little expensive but is generally worth it.



sgx53e said:


> Is it pyridoxal-5-phosphate? Upper limit for this type is 50mg. Others are 150mg


Source pl0x

EDIT: Brain shivers. I get that when I miss a few doses; got it a lot when taking SSRIs. So maybe the B6 suddenly increased your serotonin levels or something. I don't know.

It all depends on what dose you're on, how long you've been on it, how long you've been on Nardil, etc. If it's not just some 'weird' sensation that's freaking you out but is there ALL THE TIME and is totally bat**** crazy, then I would simply call it a side effect and wait for it to pass. Trust me, you will know if something is causing you damage. "Brain zaps" are a common side effect of almost every antidepressant I can think of. So I would just stay the course and see if it continues without B6 and then you'll have *an* answer.

Besides, pyridoxine causes peripheral neuropathy. That's tingling, numbness, pins & needles etc like Broshious2 said. Got that from alcohol. What you're describing sounds like one of the unfortunate side effects MAOIs sometimes have.


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## Irvine (May 30, 2012)

gilmourr said:


> I better get on an anti-psychotic asap.


Anti-psychotic? I'm sorry to increase your paranoia, but it could cause Tardive dyskinesia if you don't take it properly...

Read more on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardive_dyskinesia


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

SkeithKid said:


> Anti-psychotic? I'm sorry to increase your paranoia, but it could cause Tardive dyskinesia if you don't take it properly...
> 
> Read more on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tardive_dyskinesia


Re-read the post. Was sarcasm, I'm not paranoid, nor am I psychotic. Which means I will not be using anti-psychotics except for maybe seroquel at a low dose just for anti-histamine usage.


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## gilmourr (Nov 17, 2011)

Emile said:


> B6 cops a lot of unnecessary crap IMO.
> 
> Quote from here:
> Chills and shivering is something that's reported all over this forum as a side effect of MAOI's, especially Nardil. I've seen like three threads in the past week specifically mentioning it. I'm on Parnate and I get some weird neurological glitches here and there, but then I've had them for a while, so I don't know what to blame*. Have you upped/lowered the dose recently? How long have you been on it, vs when you started taking B6 100mg/day? Or... any changes at all in your routine?
> ...


Those are probably all my threads. And I only consider it relevant if it's nardil causing shivers because I know parnate can do that, but nardil it's rare. And SHIVERS WITHOUT BEING COLD. Because my body is warm. So that's weird right? Most people think I mean that I'm cold, but I just have shivers/chills that make me feel cold but my body is warm.

And I see that you think it's brain zaps which I thought too. But they aren't zaps and I have zaps all the time when I ween off of drugs + chills/shivers usually. They're separate, but still are both from withdrawal. I've been on 45 mg for 50 days about. I've been on that level 2 times before and it never caused chills/shivers. My theory was that B6 destroys nardil and that gave me withdrawal shivers. Because it says that in nardil wiki + other testimonials from people becoming suicidal by adding B6 and nardil just not working suddenly.

The only problem with staying the course is B6 going back down to normal apparently can take up to 6 months after it is elevated. My levels were 360 nmol/L out of a range of 25-96 nmol/L so I'm not sure how high this really is--or if it's toxic.

All I know is that this time I took B6 and this time it really crapped out. It was working till day 19, then it slowly peaked before going higher with efficacy and now by day 50 it feels like it's hardly working.

I'm thinking of going off nardil for a month, using remeron and then restarting Nardil @ 45 mg. Hopefully after 2 months my B6 will be much less and then Nardil will work better.


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## RunnerChic (Nov 25, 2012)

You need a lot more than 100 mg to cause toxicity:

"High intakes of vitamin B6 from food sources have not been reported to cause adverse effects [1]. However, chronic administration of 1-6 g oral pyridoxine per day for 12-40 months can cause severe and progressive sensory neuropathy characterized by ataxia (loss of control of bodily movements) [7,29-32]. Symptom severity appears to be dose dependent, and the symptoms usually stop if the patient discontinues the pyridoxine supplements as soon as the neurologic symptoms appear."

and

"The FNB noted that although several reports show sensory neuropathy occurring at doses lower than 500 mg/day, studies in patients treated with vitamin B6 (average dose of 200 mg/day) for up to 5 years found no evidence of this effect. Based on limitations in the data on potential harms from long-term use, the FNB halved the dose used in these studies to establish a UL of 100 mg/day for adults."

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB6-HealthProfessional/


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