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can taking too much hydroxycobalamin prevent me from sleeping?

Messages
59
I've been megadosing it the last few days 5000-8000mcg and I'm feeling extremely restless atm. I've woken up in the past around 4 ish but usually back in bed by 6. It's 11am now and the anxiety, restlessness and inability to sleep remains. I've been trying the Dr Pall protocol. These are the other supplements I have been taking

Hydroxycobalamin 5000-8000mcg
Vitamin E mixed tocopherols (300% RDA)
MACA root 1g
Selenium 100 mcg
Grape seed extract

Recent blood work showed high normal free T3. Could the selenium be sending me hyper?
 

zzz

Senior Member
Messages
675
Location
Oregon
Too much B12 can definitely cause insomnia; I've experienced this myself. This problem is also discussed in the B12 and Insomnia thread. Note that hydroxocobalamin is converted by the body to methyl B12 or adenosyl B12 as needed.

Some people get insomnia from selenium, but it would be very unusual to get it from a dose as low as 100 mcg.
 
Messages
59
That's interesting because I have taken similar doses MB12 and any insomnia/restlessness/anxiety I had from it was never this bad. And I was dissolving those over an hour. But I have been dissolving the hydroxy in 10-15 minutes.
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
Another 'yes'. Any kind of b12 can cause overstimulation in some people. I found that taking folinic (not folic), and sometimes a little methylfolate, definitely helps my sleep.
 
Messages
15,786
@lift - I only have a problem with it if I take it in the afternoon or later. No issues if I take it in the morning, up until noon or so.
 

Apple

Senior Member
Messages
217
Location
UK
When I first started b12, I was given 3 1000mcg jabs a week for two weeks. I slept terribly for months after that! 5000-8000mcg daily is a crazily high dose.

Please be careful. Listen to your body.

(Eta: I don't follow a detox/methylation protocol, I was just sharing my experience with b12 on it's own.)
 
Messages
59
Thanks apple. And sure 8,000 is high if you are absorbing it all. I recall reading here somewhere that the absorption rate of hb12 sublingual is quite low. I'm sure more would have been absorbed from 1000mcg injection than 8000 sub. Anyway, lesson learned...
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,691
Maca gives me the worst insomnia, even just a little as soon as I wake up. Lots of people do great with it, judging from user reviews, but I'm not the only one who has bad sleep problems from it.
 

Avalon

Senior Member
Messages
112
Location
Oxford, England
B12 is a melatonin antagonist. I take it in the morning to try to counteract my messed up sleep cycle.

@Little Bluestem I thought initially that B12 enhanced melatonin activity (Reference Freddd), as I would feel very sleepy in evenings in the first couple of weeks of supplementation. Now I am feeling that it affecting my sleep in a negative way.
 
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