Questions about vitamin c

[hermi]

I have recently started taking vitamin c. I am only on 500mg and have had no problems with taking it. I notice that some people are on mega doses of this vitamin.

I have a question though...
As vitamin C is very water soluble and therefore easy excreted and oxidised by the body therefore probably affecting its efficacy. Does this mean that when I get on to higher doses it would be more effective taking smaller doses a few times a day???

The other question...has anyone taken vitamin c in mega high doses for along time and come across any side effects? In particular what are peoples thoughts on the risks of developing side effects such as rebound scurvy and kidney problems such as kidney stones? Particularly in doses above 3000mg per day.

I do have some renal problems but they were present prior to any medications and I know that there is some question of safety in the use of mega high doses of vitamin C in these cases.

[Sheila]

Yes, definitely, you’ll need to take it throughout the day, and preferably in a time-release form. Otherwise, you pee it out.

I have been taking 9600 mg for at least a couple of years, maybe 3. And have had no side effects from it. But I find it activating when I first go up, so I have to updose slowly. I plan to updose further after the Omega-3.

I collected a lot of links on Vit. C in the thread in Alternatives. You might want to look at them. My reading convinced me that it is very safe, and you can take it to bowel tolerance. We need 5000 mg / day just to equal what most animals make for themselves. We can’t make Vit. C.

But, if you have a particular health condition, do some research on that condition and high dose Vit. C. I don’t know anything about kidneys and C, but I know the adrenals use more C than any other part of the body, and w/d overtaxes the adrenals.

The other way to think of it is that you can decide to take more Vit C as a therapy for neuro-endocrinological recovery. Then, you can decide whether you want to continue at a high dose when you are recovered.

Lastly, since you’re in w/d, you would want to go up slowly anyway. So, you can keep re-assessing and listen to your body as you go.

[hermi]

Thanks Sheila,
I will look into it more closely when I can. I am not planning on increasing it yet. I increased my omega 3 just few days ago and the effects weren't great. I have gone up 3 times and each time the effects were worse than the last. I felt like someone had put a heater inside my head, it felt hot and heavy on the inside plus I kept getting all over body hot flushes too. I sweated a lot and was very shaky with tremors. Lots of racing thoughts and muddled images around my head when my head felt hot. I just couldn't stop my brain from spinning. I had no sleep for 2 days because my brain was so active so I reduced the dose back down and within 24 hours the symptoms lifted. I will be staying put with that for a good few months now. I don't think I can tolerate increasing it again for a long time, the effects of going up by just 300mg were intolerable!
I'm taking 1900mg omega 3 and 500mg vitamin c.

[Sheila]

OK, your Omega-3 capsules are 950 EPA + DHA, which is very high. So, when you go up by one capsule, it’s like going up by two of most other people’s capsules.

It makes good sense to just stop here for maybe a month before you go up again. You may start seeing some benefit at this dose of 1900. And then maybe consider getting another pill that you can use as your step-ladder.

I did that back in 2009. I used 200 mg pills to take a small step, and then another, and then, the third step, I replaced those two 200 pills with one 600 pill.

You absolutely should not go up again right now, but do notice that all the side effects show that the Omega-3 is really doing a lot, probably making a lot of needed repairs.

[hermi]

Yes I had capsules that were about 700mg so I doubled them after a while - same side effects on the 700mg then with 1400mg. Then when they ran out I bought the 950mg and took 2 so then went up to 1900mg. I also had some 300mg so a few days ago I added one of them so it wasn't such a big increase in dose but I couldn't tolerate it. The jump from 1400mg to 1900mg was the same side effects but a lot milder, I tolerated it until my body settled down. Going to 2200mg was a different story. I am staying on 1900mg for a few months now.

[Sheila]

OK, I’ve copied that down so I can think about it and look for patterns.

It’s good to see that you do become accustomed to the updose with time. Not being able to tolerate the 300 mg updose could be for lots of reasons. Hard to say.