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problems with potassium with b12 protocol

Star-Anise

Senior Member
Messages
218
@Al Klein
I thinbk the potassium gluconate is making me feel nauseous? this isnt the first time!!! I am not sure what to try next! This morning I got what I think were low potassium symptoms (felt weak, like low blood sugar, shakey), but now driniking it makes me nauseous.

Yes, I found that the potassium can make you nauseous if you go too much too fast. I would take the dose that you tried and split it into three doses spread throughout the day. As well, always ensure that you take the potassium with food. Not just a small amount of food either, i.e. a piece of fruit. Try to take it with your meals. It can be hard on your stomach otherwise. I'm not sure why the nausea occurs. It just might be too much too fast, and might be overwhelming your body. Maybe it's related to blood sugar; not sure. But the nausea subsided with me as long as I didn't take too much at once, and always with food :)
 

girlfromeurope

Senior Member
Messages
131
I stopped the methylation supplements for a week now
And everyday I experience sudden potassium drops, it seems like it is going to last forever
I'm really worried
 

Star-Anise

Senior Member
Messages
218
@girlfromeurope
I stopped the methylation supplements for a week now
And everyday I experience sudden potassium drops, it seems like it is going to last forever
I'm really worried

I'm wondering if some of the symptoms that you are experiencing that you describe in quote below are of low blood sugar, which is very commonly experienced with weak adrenals. It is very possible that when you started methylation supports that it revved up your metabolism a bit, which created a higher demand for sugar. Due to the adrenal weakness your ability to meet that demand might be compromised and sluggish, causing this cascade effect of low blood sugar. Something similar occurs/occurred with me when I ramp up my methylation supports, and it lasts. It's likely that part of your adrenal weakness to begin with had to do with reduced methylation. I found that as my adrenals were healing the hypoglycemia became more pronounced believe it or not. I think it became more of a fine-tuning problem with respect to insulin production/release versus insulin resistance when I was more overweight. Anyhow but that might not be your story. I would try to make sure you are eating a hypoglycemia diet with loads of fat/protein combined with lower glycemic carbs to help stabilize your sugars, and to not go too long without eating :)

because I have the typical symptoms of low potassium
I feel drained, muscle twitching anxiety, it's difficult sometimes to move my arms, heart palpitations,..
I don't know what else it could be

All the best,
 

girlfromeurope

Senior Member
Messages
131
hmm I wish it was low blood sugar but i'm sure it's not
I have a heavy feeling in my chest right now and a lot of muscle spasms
It's going to be a long night...
Lets try some more magnesium
 
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Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,873
You might want to look up porphyria symptoms. www.porphbook.com is a good source. You don't have to have all the symptoms.
Actually, the list of symptoms look so severe that most people don't even consider it to be their problem.
But the fact that you know you are low potassium, and you are having pressure on your chest and muscle spasms, does make it sound like porphyria symptoms. The thing about porphyria is that glucose is the solution. You don't need to have low blood sugar for glucose to be the solution.

You can try small amounts of sugar, see if it helps you sleep. Glucose works better, but most people don't keep glucose on hand.
 
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Star-Anise

Senior Member
Messages
218
@girlfromeurope
consider reading advice from Dr. Lynch in following link. Many people find success with B3 (ensure non-flushing type) when they are over-methylated. Your experiences are quite common.
As well, consider taking a look at the methylation cofactors that you may be taking. When I introduced methylfolate I needed to drop my magnesium supplements and zinc as they are cofactors and can lead to methylation revving up. You may need to simplify your supplement regime for now.

http://mthfr.net/methylfolate-side-effects/
 

girlfromeurope

Senior Member
Messages
131
Just to observe, all these are also symptoms of low magnesium.

I also have adrenal fatigue, and experienced weakness, palpitations, drained feelings, and other symptoms, on re-starting methylation. I was also wary about potassium, but gave it a try, twice. Each time, doses of more than 100mg made things much worse. The answer proved to be no potassium supplements, but extra magnesium. It may not be the same for you, but thought it was worth mentioning, just in case.

Regarding aldosterone, amino acids can make a big difference. I have been able to cut my sea salt intake by 2/3 because my blood pressure, orthostatic issues etc are much improved.

So you don't need any potassium at all?
I'm now also thinking that magnesium is my problem. What were all your symptoms?
 
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Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,873
Just to observe, all these are also symptoms of low magnesium.

I also have adrenal fatigue, and experienced weakness, palpitations, drained feelings, and other symptoms, on re-starting methylation. I was also wary about potassium, but gave it a try, twice. Each time, doses of more than 100mg made things much worse. The answer proved to be no potassium supplements, but extra magnesium. It may not be the same for you, but thought it was worth mentioning, just in case.

Regarding aldosterone, amino acids can make a big difference. I have been able to cut my sea salt intake by 2/3 because my blood pressure, orthostatic issues etc are much improved.


Regarding the amino acids that correct aldosterone, did you merely eat more protein or did you supplement with aminos? and which ones?

And is it correct that with aldosterone problems, you had aldosterone difficiency? How much salt did you have to take at your worst? Did you do anything else besides taking extra aminos to correct the problem?

Thank you
 

Indigophoton

Senior Member
Messages
127
Location
UK
So you don't need any potassium at all?
I'm now also thinking that magnesium is my problem. What were all your symptoms?

No, no potassium supplements. Presumably I get enough from food, although I don't seek out high potassium foods.

Unfortunately lists of things are an area where my brain fogs and goes blank, so I can't give you the full set of my low magnesium symptoms, but the things I can think of include my sleep (worse), muscles (tightness, tension), elimination (constipation), mood (anxiety), general stress handling (worse), energy levels (worse, due to its role in ATP production), fatigue (worse/more) and palpitations and/or chest pains.

Where magnesium eases them, potassium, for me, actually causes palpitations, and weakness.

I hope you can figure out what will help you.
 

Indigophoton

Senior Member
Messages
127
Location
UK
Regarding the amino acids that correct aldosterone, did you merely eat more protein or did you supplement with aminos? and which ones?

And is it correct that with aldosterone problems, you had aldosterone difficiency? How much salt did you have to take at your worst? Did you do anything else besides taking extra aminos to correct the problem?

Thank you

Eating more protein was generally helpful in lots of ways, but what really made a difference to my aldosterone-related symptoms were the aminos.

I didn't have my aldosterone levels measured, so I can't confirm deficiency in that sense, only from the symptoms like low blood pressure, low blood volume, orthostatic issues etc.

I actually started taking aminos because I realised I was very low in lots of neurotransmitters. Somewhat unhelpfully in this context, I started all the aminos I had identified as needed more or less at once, only allowing a day or so between adding in each new one. The rapid positive effects on blood pressure, OI and so on were a bit of a surprise (good one!).

When I looked into why it was happening, I found that it was probably primarily down to the amino acid choline, which is a precursor to acetycholine, which drives aldosterone.

For completeness/info, I was also taking 5htp, tryptophan, tyrosine, phenibut (a form of gaba), inositol,and d-phenylalanine. Tyrosine is relevant to the adrenals, so may possibly be involved, but choline has a clear pathway to increased levels of aldosterone, so I concluded it was that. If anyone knows better, I'd be interested to hear.

I was taking around 10-12g sea salt per day sea salt at my worst. I'm now down to 2g per day.
 
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Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,873
Thanks, I started taking choline and inositol last spring and saw a huge jump in improvement, most noticably in the area of digestion. It also seemed to help with tolerating B's I have to admit I have really slowed down on working on the B's lately, but still take 1 dibencozide a day. I didn't realize the connection between choline and aldosterone, that's very interesting. I can't remember if I thought I was low aldosterone or high, but I remember that it is connected to vasopressin, which was the only reason I could ever figure out for constant urination, most noticable at night.

I had tried 5htp a long time ago, and immediately started to have nightmares, it always amazes me when someone says they have good results with taking it:) I might look at other tyrosine deficiency symptoms and consider that.

That's a ton of salt! Did it affect your teeth at all? I have always craved salt(never got close to that amount, though), but at times have tried to cut way down, usually with bad results.

Because of a problem with purines, I am having a hard time eating adequate protein, so I'm having a hard time getting myself out of my problems.
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,873
Hi Violeta. This may or may not be relevant. There's been talk about B vitamins on the forum I'm linking. Fred's been talking about low dose B's. I've just posted some B complexes I've found. cheers, ahmo
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...ure-fms-cfs-and-minus-100-pounds.25788/page-2


Thank you, yes, I should find a low dose B. I have Thorne methylguard plus, and I have to break it down, which is a pain in the neck. Sometimes I don't use up what's left in a capsule and it goes bad. Thanks:)

Oh my, the Thorne methylguard plus that I have is about 4 times the strength of the Basic B. And it has B5, which I need. I will get back to breaking down and using the one I have and try that one next time.
 
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Indigophoton

Senior Member
Messages
127
Location
UK
I had tried 5htp a long time ago, and immediately started to have nightmares, it always amazes me when someone says they have good results with taking it:)

You might want to try tryptophan instead, apparently it can work well for people who don't get on with 5htp, and can bring the same benefits.

That's a ton of salt! Did it affect your teeth at all? I have always craved salt(never got close to that amount, though), but at times have tried to cut way down, usually with bad results.

No, I must have really needed it, because it didn't cause any problems, but was really helpful.

Because of a problem with purines, I am having a hard time eating adequate protein, so I'm having a hard time getting myself out of my problems.

That sounds like a tough one, so many catch-22's with this illness! Hope you can find a way round it.
 

Violeta

Senior Member
Messages
2,873
You might want to try tryptophan instead, apparently it can work well for people who don't get on with 5htp, and can bring the same benefits.



No, I must have really needed it, because it didn't cause any problems, but was really helpful.



That sounds like a tough one, so many catch-22's with this illness! Hope you can find a way round it.

I can't even remember why I took the 5htp:)

That's great that the salt helped and didn't cause any bad side effects. Yeah you must have really needed it.

I am putting my hope in a low purine diet, actually because it's the only thing that keeps the pain away. Maybe everything will work out in the long run. I'm definitely better than when I started it.
 

Freddd

Senior Member
Messages
5,184
Location
Salt Lake City
I stopped the methylation supplements for a week now
And everyday I experience sudden potassium drops, it seems like it is going to last forever
I'm really worried

Are you taking more than about 30-60mg of b1, b2 or b3 a day? In some people it causes a large loss of potassium. However, MeCbl is out of circulation in 2-3 days. Methylfolate has a serum halflife of about 3 hours. So it isn't tied to those things. When does the sudden potassium drop occur?
 

girlfromeurope

Senior Member
Messages
131
Are you taking more than about 30-60mg of b1, b2 or b3 a day? In some people it causes a large loss of potassium. However, MeCbl is out of circulation in 2-3 days. Methylfolate has a serum halflife of about 3 hours. So it isn't tied to those things. When does the sudden potassium drop occur?
No I'm not takin other b's right now. The sudden drop occured after 2 weeks.
But I think it wasn't a potassium drop but a magnesium drop. Because I took some magnesium for a couple of days and I'm feeling much better!