Sleeping issues and frequent and night urination - too many vitamins a possible culprit?

[AnonE]

Hey all, curious about a more recent issue over the last half a year or so I've started running into. I find that my sleep is really messed up from 1) not being as deep as it used to be, and 2) often waking up between 6-8am to urinate (and I sleep fairly late...), even when I've taken care to wait 1-2 hrs+ with no liquids before bed.

The most recent change I could think of is having too many vitamins in my stack, particularly B vitamins - I recently added in a B100 and high dose B1. Otherwise my diet is pretty varied and diverse, healthy male in early 30s, 170lbs, normal BMI, somewhat muscular, regularly exercise.

In general I wouldn't mind a quick critique/rundown of my vitamin stack, as I think it could be relevant. Honestly I've been adding to it to try and "whack-a-mole" potential problems, but now I'm worried that it's become a problem itself, especially given that shelf-bought brands could be lower quality. And too many of those capsules at once is kinda gross and occasionally makes me feel bloated.

Stack: multivitamin, D3+K2 (4k and 120ug*4 respectively), B100 (100mg/ug of all Bs), B1(500mg), zinc (50mg), copper (2mg), selenium (200ug), C (500mg), magnesium (250mg). Have taken some form of this stack for the better part of 5 years now.

Individually I think these are all well-researched substances, many of which I added in on recommendations years ago from reading Peat forums and related. But now... I'm thinking maybe this is too much. The vitamins even with meals tend to cause me to feel bloated. I notice I drink a lot more liquids (and urinate a lot more) than other people, so maybe I have too much and my body is trying to 'empty out' on these substances?

Anyways, it's been a while since I reviewed and thought critically about a lot of this stuff, so any perspectives and help would be appreciated, including other ideas regarding night urination in particular. Need to get my sleep back to normal! Been causing some major burnout across work and sleep. Cheers.

 

[thirdcatgy]

Hey all, curious about a more recent issue over the last half a year or so I've started running into. I find that my sleep is really messed up from 1) not being as deep as it used to be, and 2) often waking up between 6-8am to urinate (and I sleep fairly late...), even when I've taken care to wait 1-2 hrs+ with no liquids before bed.

The most recent change I could think of is having too many vitamins in my stack, particularly B vitamins - I recently added in a B100 and high dose B1. Otherwise my diet is pretty varied and diverse, healthy male in early 30s, 170lbs, normal BMI, somewhat muscular, regularly exercise.

In general I wouldn't mind a quick critique/rundown of my vitamin stack, as I think it could be relevant. Honestly I've been adding to it to try and "whack-a-mole" potential problems, but now I'm worried that it's become a problem itself, especially given that shelf-bought brands could be lower quality. And too many of those capsules at once is kinda gross and occasionally makes me feel bloated.

Stack: multivitamin, D3+K2 (4k and 120ug*4 respectively), B100 (100mg/ug of all Bs), B1(500mg), zinc (50mg), copper (2mg), selenium (200ug), C (500mg), magnesium (250mg). Have taken some form of this stack for the better part of 5 years now.

Individually I think these are all well-researched substances, many of which I added in on recommendations years ago from reading Peat forums and related. But now... I'm thinking maybe this is too much. The vitamins even with meals tend to cause me to feel bloated. I notice I drink a lot more liquids (and urinate a lot more) than other people, so maybe I have too much and my body is trying to 'empty out' on these substances?

Anyways, it's been a while since I reviewed and thought critically about a lot of this stuff, so any perspectives and help would be appreciated, including other ideas regarding night urination in particular. Need to get my sleep back to normal! Been causing some major burnout across work and sleep. Che

Would definitely take the B-vits early morning if possible. They are strong and can not only temp irritate your gut/bladder/intestinal lining. but also can impact circadian rhythm.

 

[Birdie]

In my case, more salt during the day solves the nighttime urination problem. And stopping caffeine around 1pm and liquids (meaning glasses full) around 4pm helps.

 

[AnonE]

Yeah those seem like good steps, to both posters, thank you.

Regarding salt - I'm pretty sure my 'flexible' diet gets enough sodium, but I suppose that's different that higher quality salts?

In any case I am planning to 'detox' my vitamins for a while and see what happens. First few days cold turkey, and then for a while just have multi + D + zinc, which I've identified as my top 3. I'll put in some follow up posts in case others find this useful.

 

[redsun]

Yeah those seem like good steps, to both posters, thank you.

Regarding salt - I'm pretty sure my 'flexible' diet gets enough sodium, but I suppose that's different that higher quality salts?

In any case I am planning to 'detox' my vitamins for a while and see what happens. First few days cold turkey, and then for a while just have multi + D + zinc, which I've identified as my top 3. I'll put in some follow up posts in case others find this useful.

50mg zinc daily will significantly reduce copper absorption due to MT expression in the gut. If you are taking this much nearly daily on top of the zinc in a multivitamin and the zinc in food, you are going to end up with mineral deficiencies. It doesnt matter if you take copper as well the absolute dose of zinc is too high. Very mild infrequent doses of zinc are safe (in fact most people do better with more) but I do not trust supplemental copper and never got much effect from it anyway.

Lots of B-vitamins (especially B-100 + high dose B1) is going to excite the brain like crazy, increasing neurotransmitters especially acetylcholine significantly which is probably why sleep feels less deep. Zinc compounds this as it has cholinergic effects. Zinc does have diuretic effects I have found. It also made me crave salty food more (I assume this is due to the increased diuresis it is promoting). I cant remember the exact mechanisms.

 

[equipoise]

Look most of average health problems can be resolved just by dropping the supplement stack and really, and I mean really focusing on the basics. Ample sunshine, sat fat intake, low pufa, ripe fruit, carrot salad, bone broths..
I'd like to think the proper focus on the above is very good and protective. If you're sensitive to supplements and can't support the changes in metabolic rate it's wonder sleep is gonna be lacking. And once deep quality sleep is not happening, the body starts up secondary engines in hope to restore the homeostasis.

Again, focus and keep it simple, day in, day out!

 

[CLASH]

Hey all, curious about a more recent issue over the last half a year or so I've started running into. I find that my sleep is really messed up from 1) not being as deep as it used to be, and 2) often waking up between 6-8am to urinate (and I sleep fairly late...), even when I've taken care to wait 1-2 hrs+ with no liquids before bed.

The most recent change I could think of is having too many vitamins in my stack, particularly B vitamins - I recently added in a B100 and high dose B1. Otherwise my diet is pretty varied and diverse, healthy male in early 30s, 170lbs, normal BMI, somewhat muscular, regularly exercise.

In general I wouldn't mind a quick critique/rundown of my vitamin stack, as I think it could be relevant. Honestly I've been adding to it to try and "whack-a-mole" potential problems, but now I'm worried that it's become a problem itself, especially given that shelf-bought brands could be lower quality. And too many of those capsules at once is kinda gross and occasionally makes me feel bloated.

Stack: multivitamin, D3+K2 (4k and 120ug*4 respectively), B100 (100mg/ug of all Bs), B1(500mg), zinc (50mg), copper (2mg), selenium (200ug), C (500mg), magnesium (250mg). Have taken some form of this stack for the better part of 5 years now.

Individually I think these are all well-researched substances, many of which I added in on recommendations years ago from reading Peat forums and related. But now... I'm thinking maybe this is too much. The vitamins even with meals tend to cause me to feel bloated. I notice I drink a lot more liquids (and urinate a lot more) than other people, so maybe I have too much and my body is trying to 'empty out' on these substances?

Anyways, it's been a while since I reviewed and thought critically about a lot of this stuff, so any perspectives and help would be appreciated, including other ideas regarding night urination in particular. Need to get my sleep back to normal! Been causing some major burnout across work and sleep. Cheers.

I dont think multi-vitamins are ideal. Doses and forms of the vitamins and minerals are often incorrect.

D3 I'd take topically to mimic natural production if your not already doing that.

K2 should be taken with a fatty meal. K2-MK4 form is important. Alot of hype around MK-7, with less talk about MK4.

No need to take that much B-vitamins, especially all at once. No need for that much thiamine unless theres a specific indication. Smaller doses spread out throughout the day are absorbed better.

That zinc dose is high enough to impair your copper absorption. No need to take copper if your getting enough in the diet and not overdoing zinc. Liver and oysters would be better options for both.

 

[AnonE]

50mg zinc daily will significantly reduce copper absorption due to MT expression in the gut. If you are taking this much nearly daily on top of the zinc in a multivitamin and the zinc in food, you are going to end up with mineral deficiencies. It doesnt matter if you take copper as well the absolute dose of zinc is too high. Very mild infrequent doses of zinc are safe (in fact most people do better with more) but I do not trust supplemental copper and never got much effect from it anyway.

Lots of B-vitamins (especially B-100 + high dose B1) is going to excite the brain like crazy, increasing neurotransmitters especially acetylcholine significantly which is probably why sleep feels less deep. Zinc compounds this as it has cholinergic effects. Zinc does have diuretic effects I have found. It also made me crave salty food more (I assume this is due to the increased diuresis it is promoting). I cant remember the exact mechanisms.

Great post, thank you. The interactions you describe do seem to be relevant in my case, symptom-wise.

Seems like then I can simplify my experiment to just a multi and some D3? Any advice for reasonable dosages? Multi has around 10mg zinc, and for D3 I was thinking something like 3K daily. (Of course after I let my body detox from all supplements a bit longer!)

One of the initial reasons I went for higher doses was because I tend go fairly heavy on the diuretics (love my 3+ cups of coffee and occasional drink), and exercise quite intensely a few times per week.