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shaking while asleep - please help!

boo85

Senior Member
Messages
178
I've been having a hard time with suspected overmethylation and/or low potassium problems when taking only b12 (a mixture of hydroxo injections and methyl b12 over the past 3 months). My last B12 injection was 14 days ago (1mg hydroxocobalamin) from which in the first week I had headaches, irritability and mild anxiety (not the worst it's ever been when taking b12, but still pretty bad).

But in the past week on two of those nights, as I was falling asleep or already asleep, I'd feel pretty nauseous and have a headache anyway, but within the first hour or two of sleeping, I'd be woken up by my body shaking, as if someone was shaking me quickly for a second and then I wake up. The first time it happened, my forehead was sweating and I felt really sick and had a panic attack, so I had to go get another family member to calm me down. The second time I was shaken awake was last night. I didn't have a panic attack last night, but did have the accompanying headache, weak arms etc that generally comes along after taking b12 and the shaking was more violent but quicker.

I do take potassium salt over my lunch and dinner and have coconut juice and bananas through the day. I also have 100 mg of elemental magnesium in the morning.

Can someone please help me with this? It's very scary and I'm afraid I might have a convulsion or something. What could be causing it?
 

snowathlete

Senior Member
Messages
5,374
Location
UK
Hi, I don't know as much as some people do about this, but I personally take much more potassium than you by the sounds of things.
I think its fairly safe to take a fair amount because we are supposed to have quite a lot from out diet anyway, as an RDA (I think about 5 grams I read, but its disputed among different people), but most dont get it.
A lot of supplements don't always make it clear that the amount of potassium you get from a 600mg tablet may be 100mg of actual potassium, so check the bottle carefully. I take mine as a powder in water cause its cheapest. When i first did methylation I didnt get enough potassium and ended up in ER. So, I think its important to take enough. In my experience so far, methylB12 seems to drive the requirement for potassium more than other forms of B12.

Thats just my experience anyway, but I'm sure others will have other things to say, or maybe corrections to what I said! :redface: but as SOC says, go see your doctor, it sounds important to get proper medical advice on this.

Really hope you're able to get some help and improve it. I understand it must be scary.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
I take potassium all through the day, at least 5x, and then usually just before bed and then I get up around 3 am and take one more dose.

Weak arms sounds like low potassium to me. It won't hurt to try doing more. I would not be at work right now if I was only taking 2 or 3 doses of potassium per day. I need it at night too. If I wake up sweating, weak, mouth dry, etc. that tells me I need more potassium. I can also get very cold and literally shivering from low potassium (or whatever the effects of methylation are that potassium seems to alleviate). It covers the spectrum.

I know this in part because I went and got tested -- my potassium was the very bottom of the range when I felt the worst.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
When i first did methylation I didnt get enough potassium and ended up in ER.

That almost happened to me also. I was literally standing outside the ER and taking potassium for the first time. That was what it took for me to get the nerve to take it.
 

boo85

Senior Member
Messages
178
Victronix snowathlete SOC 4 days after starting b12, I had a really bad headache and went to the ER for dizzyness and heart palpitations (which never happens to me). But this is the first time that I've been shaken awake in my sleep.

I would go to the dr, but most just scratch their heads. They don't know what to do with me except run tests then send me off to a specialist (who also doesn't know what to do with me). They know nothing about b12, overmethylation, high histamine, excitotoxcicity etc. I will try to take more potassium. Last night, I forgot to sprinkle potassium salt on my dinner. So maybe that had something to do with it?

How much potassium salt do people here take at a time? A teaspoon, a tablespoon?
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
I take a 1/2 teaspoon for the NOW Foods Potassium Gluconate, which equals 270 mg at a time. Usually it takes up to 40 minutes to kick in once I take it, and lasts for about 2 hours, +/-.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
The other thing is the mixture of hydroxy injections and daily B-12. That may be too much at this point, or a problematic combination somehow. Since you have control of the daily sublingual, you can try reducing that amount. Most people who are taking it are not also doing injections, although many people start out with that situation and either move to doing injections themselves everyday, or don't get injections at a certain point and just do the sublinguals.

But if you up the potassium you can then know if it will help. I haven't been on here a lot lately, so I'm not up on what tests you've done, but if you are really concerned, you can ask your doctor to do a CBC (complete blood count) blood test and that includes potassium. That would give you an estimate on where you are in the range.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
Victronix how often do you have the 1/2 teaspoon in one day?
At least 5x. One in the morning, one around noon, one around 2 pm, and at least 2x in the evening which is when my need for it is greatest. Then I have one before bed, around 11 pm, and one in the middle of the night (sometimes I can get away without doing that one). There are times when I've had to have 2 during the night, i.e., 3 am and 6 am.
 

boo85

Senior Member
Messages
178
thank you Victronix What symptoms were you having that you had to take potassium in the night?

Also, is it ok to mix potassium salt in water and drink it? Even if it doesn't taste very nice...
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California
thank you Victronix What symptoms were you having that you had to take potassium in the night?

Also, is it ok to mix potassium salt in water and drink it? Even if it doesn't taste very nice...
I pour about 1/5 glass of orange juice, then fill the rest of the glass with water and then mix in the potassium gluconate. I haven't noticed a taste really, even though there have been times when I had no juice and just had to add it to water alone.

The symptoms at night are usually significant sweating, ringing in my ears (low potassium will increase HR and BP), weakness or numbness in my arms, dry mouth, and being *wide awake* all of a sudden, which is not how I normally get if I'm woken up at night.
 

WillowJ

คภภเє ɠรค๓թєl
Messages
4,940
Location
WA, USA
hi boo, I have waken up shaking sometimes, and I blame it on migraine aura because I'm diagnosed with that (if the migraine is the aura kind it can be similar to seizure or stroke). I was going to go see my doc if it continued but it stopped for now. I think I had missed my preventative med or not been taking it quite on time.

if this is new for you, seeing a doc would be a really good idea.
 

Victronix

Senior Member
Messages
418
Location
California

boo85

Senior Member
Messages
178
WillowJ I'm reading the wikipedia page about auras http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(symptom)

And I seem to match up with a few symptoms. I only get headaches and dizzyness in the evening from about 7 - 1am, and if I am going to feel dizzy or have a shaking episode that shakes me awake, it will be between those times. It's hard because low potassium and auras seem to have many similar symptoms.
 

WillowJ

คภภเє ɠรค๓թєl
Messages
4,940
Location
WA, USA
WillowJ I'm reading the wikipedia page about auras http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(symptom)

And I seem to match up with a few symptoms. I only get headaches and dizzyness in the evening from about 7 - 1am, and if I am going to feel dizzy or have a shaking episode that shakes me awake, it will be between those times. It's hard because low potassium and auras seem to have many similar symptoms.


right, the dizziness could be from low potassium, palpitations and stuff could be, but I'm not sure if shaking episodes can be.