Supplement-induced Psychosis, Please help me understand what went wrong

[GypsyA]

SECOND EDIT: Please skim this post to see what my reaction was, but go to the bottom edits to see what I have now discovered was probably the cause...and to please offer suggestions on how to help me recover more fully from the damage I've done to my body.


Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me understand what went wrong. I'm assuming the psychosis I was experiencing came from the supplements I started, but I'd love some input as well as some explanation of why it happened (if it does, indeed, seem to have come from the supplements).

I started taking methylB12 (5,000 mcg)...one a day for a week. Then I continued with that for another week, while also adding in SAM-e. After about 2 weeks, things got really bad...the pressure, swirling lights in my head got worse and my entire head was experiencing some kind of burning/prickly/tingly cold/hot kind of thing, coupled with extreme swirling lights with my eyes closed, some sort of "churning?" below my navel at night that would wake me up, and it would feel like a vortex or tub-drain kind of effect happening...where this vortex energy was spiraling down from my head and into my spine and my entire body would tremble with the churning/energy/draining of whatever was happening. It would happen again and again, off and on all night long, especially if I was startled awake or heard some sort of noise, or moved my head/turned into a different position. Then the psychosis started and continued to get worse...I was "tapped in" to some universal knowledge, filled with light, accessing light beings and being shared all kinds of universal knoweldge, etc.

I was concerned there was something groing wrong in my body, but during all of that I didn't even question what was happening in my mind. I believed 100% I was somehow downloading knowledge from some higher dimension, or something. All my research only proved this to be the case, too...all kinds of stuff about kundalini rising, ascention, and all kinds of higher-level-existence type stuff.

Anyway, regardless of whether the knowledge was real, or not, once I got a tiny glimpse from deep inside that maybe I was experiencing some sort of psychosis did I realize I needed to stop taking the supplements since it all seemed to have happened/gotten sever after taking the supplements.

So, I stopped taking them and after about a week of coffee enemas I started taking some HCL to help me digest the simple foods/juices I was eating/drinking. Then the burning/prickly/swirling vision thing happened again and continued for a few days before I wised up enough to stop the HCL. It's not all the way cleared up, yet, but I am definitely not suffering from psychosis right now and I don't want to ever experience that again.

Was it from the supplements, like I'm assuming? If so, can someone explain what was happening? I was thinking maybe heavy metals were released and they flooded into my brain?? Does that sound right?

I'm terrified to take anything at all as far as supplements go, but want to get better and don't know how to do that without fixing methylation. I'm looking into information on KPU/HPU thinking maybe that is my main issue which is made worse by my methylation issues? I'm continuing with the coffee enemas, trying to clean my liver to help my brain release toxins or clear up whatever was going on. I'm thinking of taking nano zeolite maybe to help detox even better?

Anyway, thanks for reading and I hope someone can offer some possible insight into what was going on with me so that I can never have to repeat that again. :-(

Love,

Wendi

EDIT: I was just going to take some pepto-bismol tablets to calm my tummy (I have H Pylori and it many times helps me feel better). It was then that I remembered I had been taking Pepto Bismol multiple times a day for a period of about a month (all during that time I was taking the B12 and SamE). So, rather than take it again, I thought I should search to see if maybe the Pepto Bismol added to the brain issues. I came across this link:

http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cb/Volume/2009/12/bismuth_puzzle.asp

And it looks like maybe that added to (or caused) the issue?? My mind isn't clear enough to figure all this out. :-(


SECOND EDIT: OMG, I think I figured out what caused the psychosis. NOW....how can I help my body recover from this??!!! Read the Summary on the following page...that's exactly what happened to me. I used far too much bismuth and ended up with a type of encephalopathy. Please help me by suggesting ways to help my body more fully recover from the damage I've done to myself. :-(

http://www.omicsonline.org/medical-use-of-bismuth-the-two-sides-of-the-coin-2161-0495.S3-004.pdf

 

[acer2000]

Not sure what exactly went on there, but SAM-e can cause overstimulation and hyperness. There are warnings because its stimulating properties can cause a swing into hypomania in some people.

 

[Beyond]

Hmm interesting yet terrifying experience GypsyA. Defintely SAM-e and other methylsupps can release the madness. I got "psychosis" from methylsupps, but mine was *just* incredible psychic malaise with strong impulssions of harming people.Two things I can say.

One, all that kundalini and light being stuff is a big ugly scam. The real truth of this world and these beings ain´t pretty and that´s why most of people spend their lifes trying to numb themselves and never find truth. What you need to know is that Saturn is in charge and gnosticism is closer to the truth that the fake truth movement of the New Age. I say don´t get involved with that, because is a trap, the New Age trap. Unless you don´t care being deceived, most do not...

Two Bismuth is a heavy metal!! That should leave it clear is bad and metals are notorious for screwing your head, that is their excellence. Severely mercury poisoned people hear voices when chelating, no joke. I think too that what happened to you was a combination of taking these methylsupps AND taking bismuth at the same time.

http://www.drugs.com/forum/alternative-medicine/bismuth-toxicity-57495.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC120786/

Maybe you methylated the bismuth, Methyl-metals are more biologically damaging than metals.

The microbial conversion of sodium arsenate to trimethylarsine proceeds by alternate reduction and methylation steps, with S-adenosylmethionine as the usual methyl donor. Thiols have important roles in the reductions. In anaerobic bacteria, methylcobalamin may be the donor. The other metalloid elements of the periodic table group 15, antimony and bismuth, also undergo biomethylation to some extent.

 

[GypsyA]

Thanks Acer and Beyond.

No worries on getting scammed or involved in anything...I'm certain what was going on with me was a direct relationship to the Bismuth and supplements.

I don't fully understand the methyl-metals, etc., or really much at all at this point. I'm just happy to be more present and understanding that what happened is something I won't be repeating at all.

Now, I just need help with learning healthy, slow ways to detox the metals that have been collected in my brain...without causing further damage. :-(

I'll ask for help on a detox page, though, as someone else has suggested to me.

Thanks!

 

[Kimsie]

An increase in SAMe can cause psychosis in some people. I believe that when a person who was not experiencing psychosis formerly starts experiencing psychosis when they increase their SAMe, it is a sign that they simply don't have enough niacin.

COMT, the enzyme that degrades dopamine, needs both SAMe and niacin to work so you might want to take niacinamide (no flush niacin), maybe 500 mg twice a day for an idea of where to start, when you do things to increase your SAMe.

 

[leela]

It might be useful to look at the work of Carl Pfeiffer, much of which is available online.

Not saying you're schizophrenic, just linking to a free .pdf book of his, that includes general info about how certain nutrients/deficiencies can manifest as psych symptoms.
http://tinyurl.com/l9nskm9

 

[Hip]

...the pressure, swirling lights in my head got worse and my entire head was experiencing some kind of burning/prickly/tingly cold/hot kind of thing, coupled with extreme swirling lights with my eyes closed, some sort of "churning?" below my navel at night that would wake me up, and it would feel like a vortex or tub-drain kind of effect happening...where this vortex energy was spiraling down from my head and into my spine and my entire body would tremble with the churning/energy/draining of whatever was happening. It would happen again and again, off and on all night long, especially if I was startled awake or heard some sort of noise, or moved my head/turned into a different position. Then the psychosis started and continued to get worse...I was "tapped in" to some universal knowledge, filled with light, accessing light beings and being shared all kinds of universal knoweldge, etc.

I was concerned there was something groing wrong in my body, but during all of that I didn't even question what was happening in my mind. I believed 100% I was somehow downloading knowledge from some higher dimension, or something. All my research only proved this to be the case, too...all kinds of stuff about kundalini rising, ascention, and all kinds of higher-level-existence type stuff.

Anyway, regardless of whether the knowledge was real, or not, once I got a tiny glimpse from deep inside that maybe I was experiencing some sort of psychosis did I realize I needed to stop taking the supplements since it all seemed to have happened/gotten sever after taking the supplements.

I know it must have been disconcerting, but it sounds like you also found this a wonderful experience in some ways. It certainly sounds very interesting.

I think what happened was that you had a series of partial (focal) seizures in the brain. Partial seizures, especially in the temporal lobe of the brain, cause exactly these mental and physical symptoms that you had.

It may be you already have some mild epilepsy that you were not aware of, and the supplements you were taking triggered some partial seizures. People often think that epilepsy must involve fits, but partial epileptic seizures in the temporal lobe may not manifest any physical symptoms, only mental symptoms — and usually mental symptoms with a powerful spiritual or visionary dimension. Historically, people with epilepsy were often looked upon as the seers and mystical visionaries, and the interpreters of divine knowledge.

This might be of interest: BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - God on the Brain

I am not sure that you can really class your experience as psychosis. Psychosis is defined as a loss of contact with reality, with confused or disorganized thoughts, lack of self-awarenes, lack of insight, unwarranted suspiciousness, paranoia, false beliefs. It does not sound like you had a loss of contact with reality, just that in addition to ordinary reality, you had this alternative other reality playing out in your head.

If I am correct about partial epileptic seizures causing your profound spiritual experiences, you might want to consider taking some natural supplements that help prevent seizures, to help you get back to normal:

Seizures prevention, treatment supplements, herbal remedies, diet food natural therapy vitamins herbs

 

[caledonia]

You have one of the most sensitive COMT/VDR combinations. Methylcobalamin, especially high doses like you were taking, are contraindicated. SAMe is another methyl donor and could also be a problem.

You're not supposed to use Pepto Bismol for more than two days.

So probably all of that played into it.

If you have nausea, I suggest drinking some ginger tea instead of taking Pepto. There are other ways to get rid of h. pylori.

 

[Critterina]

An increase in SAMe can cause psychosis in some people. I believe that when a person who was not experiencing psychosis formerly starts experiencing psychosis when they increase their SAMe, it is a sign that they simply don't have enough niacin.

COMT, the enzyme that degrades dopamine, needs both SAMe and niacin to work so you might want to take niacinamide (no flush niacin), maybe 500 mg twice a day for an idea of where to start, when you do things to increase your SAMe.

Or you might want to avoid the no-flush and take lower doses of sublingual niacinamide, to protect your liver, if you want to take niacin.

 

[Kimsie]

Actually, it's time released niacin that has caused damage to liver in some people. Niacinamide is not time released and is not associated with liver damage.

 

[Critterina]

Actually, it's time released niacin that has caused damage to liver in some people. Niacinamide is not time released and is not associated with liver damage.

Every no-flush niacin product I've come across was no-flush because it was time-release. My doctor steered me clear of it to protect my liver. I'm sure you could supply an example of no-flush that is not time release and I'd have to agree with you there. I never found one.

 

[Kimsie]

"Time release technology (also known as sustained-release (SR), sustained-action (SA), extended-release (ER, XR, XL), timed-release (TR), controlled-release (CR), modified release (MR), or continuous-release (Contin)) is a mechanism used in pill tablets or capsules to dissolve a drug over time in order to be released slower and steadier into the bloodstream while having the advantage of being taken at less frequent intervals than immediate-release (IR) formulations of the same drug.
Today, most time-release drugs are formulated so that the active ingredient is embedded in a matrix of insoluble substance(s) (various: some acrylics, even chitin; these substances are often patented) such that the dissolving drug must find its way out through the holes in the matrix" From Wikipedia.

Where did you get your information that niacinamide is time-released?

 

[trollo]

the pressure, swirling lights in my head got worse and my entire head was experiencing some kind of burning/prickly/tingly cold/hot kind of thing, coupled with extreme swirling lights with my eyes closed, some sort of "churning?" below my navel at night that would wake me up, and it would feel like a vortex or tub-drain kind of effect happening...where this vortex energy was spiraling down from my head and into my spine and my entire body would tremble with the churning/energy/draining of whatever was happening. It would happen again and again, off and on all night long, especially if I was startled awake or heard some sort of noise, or moved my head/turned into a different position. Then the psychosis started and continued to get worse...I was "tapped in" to some universal knowledge, filled with light, accessing light beings and being shared all kinds of universal knoweldge, etc.
.....
I was concerned there was something groing wrong in my body, but during all of that I didn't even question what was happening in my mind. I believed 100% I was somehow downloading knowledge from some higher dimension, or something. All my research only proved this to be the case, too...all kinds of stuff about kundalini rising, ascention, and all kinds of higher-level-existence type stuff.

.....
So, I stopped taking them and after about a week of coffee enemas I started taking some HCL to help me digest the simple foods/juices I was eating/drinking. Then the burning/prickly/swirling vision thing happened again and continued for a few days before I wised up enough to stop the HCL. It's not all the way cleared up, yet, but I am definitely not suffering from psychosis right now and I don't want to ever experience that again.

Ehy GypsyA, why did you think about a Kundalini rising case? Where you maybe involved in some kind of meditation or yoga practice? Usually people who is not involved in such practices doesn't have a reason to know about Kundalini. I must say a few of the symptoms/phenomenas you described are incredibly similar to Kundalini's... one detail that attracted my attention and that maybe you didn't noticed was your churning sensation in the navel area: that is the area of the DanTien in chinese meridians anatomy and rotating the 'chi' around the navel is a QiGong practice, so the churning movement could have something to do with that point. IF YOU WERE REALLY INVOLVED into some yoga/meditation practice i think you should seriously take into account the Kundalini interpretation of your issues. The fact that your issues are from Kundalini is not necessarily a good thing, instead i think it could be more likely a bad thing.
I had probably a few years ago some kundalini arousal issues (lot milder than yours) simply by meditation practice.

I know Fredd is a Tantra Yoga teacher, i would send him a private message if i were you.

x Beyond: man take it easy with all that stuff you read, don't get into paranoia

 

[Beyond]

Haha trollo you don´t know how deep the rabbit hole goes... and you probably don´t wanna know That evil forces have been in charge of worldly matters since milennia is a trackable fact. That most of the New Age spirituality is indeed the second net of disinformation (schools, work, television, religion were the first net) is also a fact.

 

[GypsyA]

Thanks, everyone. I've been unable to get online much because of severe headaches and migraines and fatigue. Things are definitely getting better, but still up and down a lot. I've found a fantastic ND that I met with today and completely trust (that's not something that happens often). She's sweet, intelligent, and doesn't suffer from a God complex...a true partner in helping me heal. She's going to review everything and then we'll take baby steps toward healing, since my body is super sensitive these days. If I find out anything fascinating or helpful for others, I'll be sure to share here in case anyone ever comes across the info and has had similar issues.

Thanks, again, for all the love and support. I really appreciate it.

*blows kisses*

 

[GypsyA]

I just got some blood lab results back. Still waiting on results from the SIBO test I took.

What do you think about these results, based on what I did/experienced as posted above? Cholesterol being high is weird to me, since I don't eat meat and don't eat a lot of dairy. I'm a bit worried I did damage to my kidneys and possibly liver from the bismuth-encephalopathy I ended up developing (as described above). :-/ Overall, however, I am happily surprised with how horrible and pain-filled I am that the results aren't showing bold results in a lot more areas.

TESTS RESULT FLAG UNITS REFERENCE INTERVAL
Glucose, Serum 82 mg/dL 65-99
Uric Acid, Serum 5.0 mg/dL 2.5-7.1
BUN 4 LOW mg/dL 6-24
Creatinine, Serum 0.61 mg/dL 0.57-1.00
eGFR If NonAfricn Am 108 mL/min/1.73 >59
eGFR If Africn Am 125 mL/min/1.73 >59
BUN/Creatinine Ratio 7 LOW 9-23
Sodium, Serum 140 mmol/L 134-144
Potassium, Serum 4.1 mmol/L 3.5-5.2
Chloride, Serum 105 mmol/L 97-108
Carbon Dioxide, Total 20 mmol/L 19-28
Calcium, Serum 8.9 mg/dL 8.7-10.2
Phosphorus, Serum 3.0 mg/dL 2.5-4.5
Protein, Total, Serum 6.4 g/dL 6.0-8.5
Albumin, Serum 4.0 g/dL 3.5-5.5
Globulin, Total 2.4 g/dL 1.5-4.5
A/G Ratio 1.7 1.1-2.5
Bilirubin, Total 0.3 mg/dL 0.0-1.2
Alkaline Phosphatase, S 72 IU/L 39-117
LDH 137 IU/L 0-214
AST (SGOT) 24 IU/L 0-40
ALT (SGPT) 20 IU/L 0-32
GGT 13 IU/L 0-60
Iron, Serum 39 ug/dL 35-155
Cholesterol, Total 204 HIGH mg/dL 100-199
Triglycerides 110 mg/dL 0-149
HDL Cholesterol 73 mg/dL >39
According to ATP-III Guidelines, HDL-C >59 mg/dL is considered a
negative risk factor for CHD.
LDL Cholesterol Calc 109 HIGH mg/dL 0-99
Comment:
T. Chol/HDL Ratio 2.8 ratio units 0.0-4.4
TSH 1.710 uIU/mL 0.450-4.500
Thyroxine (T4) 9.5 ug/dL 4.5-12.0
T3 Uptake 26 % 24-39
Free Thyroxine Index 2.5 1.2-4.9
WBC 8.4 x10E3/uL 3.4-10.8
RBC 4.26 x10E6/uL 3.77-5.28
Hemoglobin 11.1 g/dL 11.1-15.9
Hematocrit 35.6 % 34.0-46.6
MCV 84 fL 79-97
MCH 26.1 LOW pg 26.6-33.0
MCHC 31.2 LOW g/dL 31.5-35.7
RDW 16.5 HIGH % 12.3-15.4
Platelets 350 x10E3/uL 155-379
Neutrophils 62 % 40-74
Lymphs 29 % 14-46
Monocytes 7 % 4-12
Eos 1 % 0-5
Basos 1 % 0-3
Immature Cells
Neutrophils (Absolute) 5.2 x10E3/uL 1.4-7.0
Lymphs (Absolute) 2.4 x10E3/uL 0.7-3.1
Monocytes(Absolute) 0.6 x10E3/uL 0.1-0.9
Eos (Absolute) 0.1 x10E3/uL 0.0-0.4
Baso (Absolute) 0.1 x10E3/uL 0.0-0.2
Immature Granulocytes 0 % 0-2
Immature Grans (Abs) 0.0 x10E3/uL 0.0-0.1
Hematology Comments:
Iron Bind.Cap.(TIBC) 333 ug/dL 250-450
UIBC 294 ug/dL 150-375
Iron Saturation 12 LOW % 15-55
T4,Free(Direct) 1.11 ng/dL 0.82-1.77
Thyroglobulin, Antibody <1.0 IU/mL 0.0-0.9
Low positive Thyroglobulin antibodies are seen in a portion of the
asymptomatic populations.
Antithyroglobulin antibodies measured by Beckman Coulter Methodology
Reverse T3, Serum 26.5 HIGH ng/dL 9.2-24.1
Homocyst(e)ine, Plasma 12.8 umol/L 0.0-15.0
Triiodothyronine (T3) 140 ng/dL 71-180
Ferritin, Serum 11 LOW ng/mL 15-150
Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) Ab <5 IU/mL 0-34
Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum 3.0 pg/mL 2.0-4.4

Any input will be greatly appreciated. I'll post this on the other post I shared here on the forums about this issue, as well, in case there are those who don't read every comment/post on the forums.

Love,

Wendi