Vitamin A Toxicity

[stsfut]

I have been taking 10k Vitamin A (Retinol) daily for the past 10 months. Recently I have been getting bad headaches and feeling hypothyroid again despite being on NDT. My skin on my hands in particular has been dry and peeling. I stopped a few days ago and have been taking vitamin E to try to bring balance back.

BTW- I am a young male (27). Am a weekend binge drinker but getting better. My liver enzymes were slightly elevated in May. I am also on TRT, HCG. Have been a mess hormonally since age 21.

Hopefully stopping Vit A will improve my symptoms. In the future I might use Haidut’s fat soluable supplement to keep everything balanced.

 

[Dave Clark]

This is just my opinion, and I am not the forum expert on this subject at all, but it makes me wonder if vitamin a is the problem , or other factors. I grew up in the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. and everybody ate liver, supplements had 25 to 50 thousand units of vitamin a in them, and nobody knew anyone or ever heard of vitamin A toxicity. Fast forward to modern times when Accutane was responsible for such toxicity, and then all of the sudden vitamin A is the kiss of death. Researchers determined that primative man may of consumed as much as 50k units/day in their diet. I wish more research was done on this issue, because I th, ink health problems of modeern times are what is causing us to have issues with this vitamin. Maybe our livers can't clear it properly, or our slow (hypothyroid) metabolisms can't use it right. I don't eat animal organs, so I am not as conservative on my dosing. Interestingly, you will find as many people helped with vitamin A as are negatively affected, maybe more with the traditional dosages.

 

[stsfut]

This is just my opinion, and I am not the forum expert on this subject at all, but it makes me wonder if vitamin a is the problem , or other factors. I grew up in the 50s, 60s, 70s, etc. and everybody ate liver, supplements had 25 to 50 thousand units of vitamin a in them, and nobody knew anyone or ever heard of vitamin A toxicity. Fast forward to modern times when Accutane was responsible for such toxicity, and then all of the sudden vitamin A is the kiss of death. Researchers determined that primative man may of consumed as much as 50k units/day in their diet. I wish more research was done on this issue, because I th, ink health problems of modeern times are what is causing us to have issues with this vitamin. Maybe our livers can't clear it properly, or our slow (hypothyroid) metabolisms can't use it right. I don't eat animal organs, so I am not as conservative on my dosing. Interestingly, you will find as many people helped with vitamin A as are negatively affected, maybe more with the traditional dosages.

Thanks for your input. Interestingly, I had liver for the first time in my life two weeks ago. I had the worst headache, brain fog, gelt very hypothyroid. This was pretty odd to me. This is what led to me thinking maybe I am getting too much VitA as my already present symptoms were intensified. But I am not 100% sure.

 

[Dave Clark]

Thanks for your input. Interestingly, I had liver for the first time in my life two weeks ago. I had the worst headache, brain fog, gelt very hypothyroid. This was pretty odd to me. This is what led to me thinking maybe I am getting too much VitA as my already present symptoms were intensified. But I am not 100% sure.

I believe Ray Peat has said that if you are hypothyroid, 5000 units is the most you should take because of a slower metabolism. Someone can correct me if I got that wrong. Maybe hypothyroidism is what is giving you the problems with the vitamin A. Have you determined whether you are or are not? You would want to do that by taking your waking temperatures and pulse rates. I believe, under 97.6 F is considered hypo. Check on the forum for more in depth information about testing for hypothyroidism.

 

[Lurker]

Vitamin A may be liver toxic so perhaps try topical to avoid the first pass. Also try a lower the dose. Lastly there aren’t too many things that are needed daily for months at a time. You should be changing things up as symptoms evolve.

 

[Waynish]

I have been taking 10k Vitamin A (Retinol) daily for the past 10 months. Recently I have been getting bad headaches and feeling hypothyroid again despite being on NDT. My skin on my hands in particular has been dry and peeling. I stopped a few days ago and have been taking vitamin E to try to bring balance back.

BTW- I am a young male (27). Am a weekend binge drinker but getting better. My liver enzymes were slightly elevated in May. I am also on TRT, HCG. Have been a mess hormonally since age 21.

Hopefully stopping Vit A will improve my symptoms. In the future I might use Haidut’s fat soluable supplement to keep everything balanced.

Keep an eye on blood sugar stability if you're binging.

 

[stsfut]

Thanks all for input. Haven’t taken it for about a week and I actually feel much better.

Re: blood sugar, I always thought I was perfect. FBG is ALWAYS in 70’s or low 80’s, H1AC never over 4.9. However, in may I saw that my fasting insulin was very high although in range. My SHBG has always been low, usually teens. Vitamin A hasn’t changed any of the above from what I’ve observed.

 

[Dave Clark]

Interesting about this vitamin A toxicity thing: I grew up in the 50s, 60s ,and 70s, etc. and people routinely ate chicken and beef liver, plus the vitamin formulas back then had anywhere from 15, 25, to 50k of vitamin A in their blends. Nobody then that I know of ever was vitamin A toxic, in fact, nobody even heard about it, most likely because nobody was toxic. Fast forward to now when Accutane and pregnant women get too much, and now it is the vitamin boogie man. Researchers estimate that primitive man got about 50k units/day in their diet. Not saying that vitamin A toxicity doesn't exist, but I think it is sensationalized, just like selenium, of which people consumed selenium rich foods way over what the fear mongers are saying is toxic (I used to love the brazil nuts when I was a kid, would eat every one in the bag with no problems, now they tell you if you eat more than two or three you'll be toxic). Indigenous people in South America eat plenty without problems. For years vitamin companies put 200 to 400 mcgs in their formulas, nobody went to the hospital with selenium toxicity. Maybe not based on science, just my rational opinion.

 

[stsfut]

Interesting about this vitamin A toxicity thing: I grew up in the 50s, 60s ,and 70s, etc. and people routinely ate chicken and beef liver, plus the vitamin formulas back then had anywhere from 15, 25, to 50k of vitamin A in their blends. Nobody then that I know of ever was vitamin A toxic, in fact, nobody even heard about it, most likely because nobody was toxic. Fast forward to now when Accutane and pregnant women get too much, and now it is the vitamin boogie man. Researchers estimate that primitive man got about 50k units/day in their diet. Not saying that vitamin A toxicity doesn't exist, but I think it is sensationalized, just like selenium, of which people consumed selenium rich foods way over what the fear mongers are saying is toxic (I used to love the brazil nuts when I was a kid, would eat every one in the bag with no problems, now they tell you if you eat more than two or three you'll be toxic). Indigenous people in South America eat plenty without problems. For years vitamin companies put 200 to 400 mcgs in their formulas, nobody went to the hospital with selenium toxicity. Maybe not based on science, just my rational opinion.

Not sure man. All I can do is go off of symptoms. Maybe 10k per day plus all the Vit A rich food I eat is too much for me personally.

 

[Dave Clark]

Not sure man. All I can do is go off of symptoms. Maybe 10k per day plus all the Vit A rich food I eat is too much for me personally.

Absolutely, I understand. Something that is unconventional, but legitimate,is whether your body has a sensitivity to vitamin A. Sounds weird, but bio-energetic testing can tell you whether that is the case. I have a BioSet practitioner who can tell me what vitamins I am sensitive to, and then treat me so that my body becomes strong to that substance. Now, there are certain people that do not believe in the bio-energetic stuff, and I didn't either until I had it done to me. There were vitamins I tested weak for (I would have symptoms like weasing), and after being treated I could take those vitamins with no symptoms. Keep an open mind, you may not have a toxicity issue, but a sensitivity issue.

 

[franko]

Thanks all for input. Haven’t taken it for about a week and I actually feel much better.

Good call with stopping it. I have started a thread about Grant Genereux's theory of Vitamin A toxicity. In short, he thinks it's even more toxic than the mainstream realizes. In fact, he thinks it's the root cause of the autoimmune diseases.

Here is the thread: https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/grant-genereuxs-theory-of-vitamin-a-toxicity.24722/

 

[jitsmonkey]

1. you can't take large doses of A without a concomitant levels of D so certainly that is a possible issue
2. I think Genereux's "theory" is a erroneous/misappropriated binary conclusion with a convenient narrative to support the conclusion.
3. Sounds like you have 101 variables in play. I'd recommend trying to reduce that number and go slow to add things as you try to isolate what helps/hurts