Kitsune
Senior Member
- Messages
- 136
Hello, I guess this is mainly a question for those who have had experience with supplementing potassium on a methylation protocol, especially if you're taking smaller amounts of methylfolate and methylcobalamin (something more similar to Rich's than Fredd's protocol). I've been trying to balance everything out for myself and get into a normal routine with my supplements, but am still struggling, particularly with potassium.
I am taking Swanson's Ultra High Potency Activated B-complex, one a day. It contains 50mg of the main B-vitamins, plus 800mcg methylfolate and 500mcg methylcobalamin. On top of this, I take Solgar's sublingual mB12, 1000mcg. So that's a total of 1500mcg mB12 and 800mcg methylfolate a day. Then a few other supplements in generous amounts - vitamin C, magnesium citrate, fish oil, and Himalayan sea salt. I've tried taking larger amounts of mB12 and methylfolate, plus other methylation supplements, but have always come back to this basic core that seems to work better for me than anything else. Higher doses of B-vitamins are overstimulating for me.
What I can't work out is how to fit potassium in. While I was taking larger doses of methylation supplements, I had to supplement potassium; I'm one of those people who ends up getting an insatiable need for the stuff when I go too high. But with the doses of mB12 and folate I'm taking now, I didn't know if I'd even have to supplement potassium at all. I experimented with this for a while, using a potassium gluconate powder, and felt I was fluctuating between hypokalemia and hyperkalemia symptoms, sometimes not being able to tell the difference. The most I ended up taking was a 800mg dose in the morning, and the same again with dinner. I ended up feeling irritable and overstimulated, and got occasional heart flutters and a slight headache, as well as mild digestion problems.
Finally I stopped taking it altogether the past couple of days, thinking surely I'm getting enough from my diet, and can't have much of an extra need from the small doses of supplements I'm taking. I ended up feeling 'normal' again in the sense that the irritability went away and I could cope better with stress. However, the overall body-ache that I had been feeling fairly regularly for the past several months came back with a vengeance, and I was in quite a lot of pain yesterday that even NSAIDs didn't address. Then my heart flutters came back, and I had a pretty rough night of feeling unwell and not being able to sleep much, and this morning I was having palpitations. Eventually I decided that this was probably due to an electrolyte imbalance, and since I take generous amounts of sea salt and magnesium, the only missing puzzle piece seemed to be potassium. So at about 10 a.m. I took an 800mg dose of the gluconate powder, and it has indeed stabilised my heart. At the moment I feel quite relieved.
What I'm wondering now is how on earth to arrive at a routine of dose and timing of potassium that will work for me, without giving me hypo or hyper symptoms. It looks like I do need to supplement, but maybe not as much as I was? And yet I took 400mg last night before bed (gluconate tablets rather than powder, as it was less faff at midnight), and it didn't seem to help. The larger dose of the powder this morning did. It's very confusing, especially since before my recent experiments with methylation, I had been taking the supplements I listed above for a year or more without these problems, save the generalised achiness. It's almost like my body got used to the extra potassium and is saying, 'Keep giving me that, I like it'. I just don't know.
Any ideas are welcome, thanks.
I am taking Swanson's Ultra High Potency Activated B-complex, one a day. It contains 50mg of the main B-vitamins, plus 800mcg methylfolate and 500mcg methylcobalamin. On top of this, I take Solgar's sublingual mB12, 1000mcg. So that's a total of 1500mcg mB12 and 800mcg methylfolate a day. Then a few other supplements in generous amounts - vitamin C, magnesium citrate, fish oil, and Himalayan sea salt. I've tried taking larger amounts of mB12 and methylfolate, plus other methylation supplements, but have always come back to this basic core that seems to work better for me than anything else. Higher doses of B-vitamins are overstimulating for me.
What I can't work out is how to fit potassium in. While I was taking larger doses of methylation supplements, I had to supplement potassium; I'm one of those people who ends up getting an insatiable need for the stuff when I go too high. But with the doses of mB12 and folate I'm taking now, I didn't know if I'd even have to supplement potassium at all. I experimented with this for a while, using a potassium gluconate powder, and felt I was fluctuating between hypokalemia and hyperkalemia symptoms, sometimes not being able to tell the difference. The most I ended up taking was a 800mg dose in the morning, and the same again with dinner. I ended up feeling irritable and overstimulated, and got occasional heart flutters and a slight headache, as well as mild digestion problems.
Finally I stopped taking it altogether the past couple of days, thinking surely I'm getting enough from my diet, and can't have much of an extra need from the small doses of supplements I'm taking. I ended up feeling 'normal' again in the sense that the irritability went away and I could cope better with stress. However, the overall body-ache that I had been feeling fairly regularly for the past several months came back with a vengeance, and I was in quite a lot of pain yesterday that even NSAIDs didn't address. Then my heart flutters came back, and I had a pretty rough night of feeling unwell and not being able to sleep much, and this morning I was having palpitations. Eventually I decided that this was probably due to an electrolyte imbalance, and since I take generous amounts of sea salt and magnesium, the only missing puzzle piece seemed to be potassium. So at about 10 a.m. I took an 800mg dose of the gluconate powder, and it has indeed stabilised my heart. At the moment I feel quite relieved.
What I'm wondering now is how on earth to arrive at a routine of dose and timing of potassium that will work for me, without giving me hypo or hyper symptoms. It looks like I do need to supplement, but maybe not as much as I was? And yet I took 400mg last night before bed (gluconate tablets rather than powder, as it was less faff at midnight), and it didn't seem to help. The larger dose of the powder this morning did. It's very confusing, especially since before my recent experiments with methylation, I had been taking the supplements I listed above for a year or more without these problems, save the generalised achiness. It's almost like my body got used to the extra potassium and is saying, 'Keep giving me that, I like it'. I just don't know.
Any ideas are welcome, thanks.