Co Enzyme Q10 reaction? whats going on here?

[justy]

Hi all, i started COQ10 a few days ago. Prescribed 300mg a day by Dr.Myhill in 3 doses. I started with 1 dose a day thinking i would work up to the higher dose.
I seem to have a strange reaction to it in that it made me feel very buzzy in a not nice way, a bit like being strung out on Coffee or sugar. I have had testing done which showed i was very defficient. I also noticed that i have had more stamina the past few days. This could be because ive gone back to taking selenium and vit c which have helped in the past.

I wonder if my idea of feeling buzzed up and horrible is perhaps just what normal people feel like but im so used to feeling worn out and ill that i dont recognise it or cant handle it.
My gut feel tells me that its just revving things up a bit but its really horrible feeling.
Does aqnyone have any experience of this or ideas for why this is happening. I know i also have mito dysfunction and high oxidative stress, high free radical production and deficiencies in selenium, manganese, carnitine and Glutathione. I also have gene blockages in Mn Sodase and things (dont know what ) sticking on to DNA ( sorry not a good explanation)
I really would like to give this a go, but cant stand the feeling

 

[pken]

Perhaps it's just a bit of a shock to the system and will even out in a few days. I've tried coQ10 but it doesn't seem to do much for me. There are a couple of types though if I remember correctly, one supposedly being stronger (by a factor of 2?) than the other - maybe you have the stronger one but are taking the dose recommended for the lower? Is there any way you could take 50mg doses for a while?

 

[3CFIDS@ourhouse]

Justy, CoQ10 does the same thing to me, although I'm very deficient in it. Even low doses make me buzzy and feel neurotoxic, make my sleep worse. My understanding is that for people like us, high dose or powerful antioxidants can actually make us have higher oxidative stress. Maybe one of the biochem-smart people can explain why- I'm too foggy to do that!

 

[alex3619]

Hi Justy, I think CoQ10 is a very good and effective treatment for most of us. It is not without problems. CoQ10 works in multiple ways. It is an antioxidant and it supports energy production. This double action means it is vulnerable to oxidative stress, which can then impact on energy production.

Now the darkside. Using CoQ10 can trigger physiological changes. These are not always good. When I first tried it 30mg, once, triggered severe cognitive dysfunction. I dropped my dose back to 10mg and slowly increased it. Eventually I was on 90mg of a high absorption form of it.

The benefits of CoQ10 are also tied to the rest of your antioxidant web. This is particularly true for vitamins C and E, alpha lipoic acid and glutathione. Correcting CoQ10 in isolation may have some impact, but it takes this network of five antioxidants to have maximum impact.

If you are having problems with CoQ10, I recommend reducing the dose even further, and increasing it very very gradually.

Bye
Alex

 

[Sallysblooms]

I wouldn't be without CoQ10! I take 120mgs per day. I built up from 30mg. It can make people restless, etc. Really valuable for so many reasons. It has been so helpful for my energy, brain, blood pressure. Best to start low and build up for most people. 300mg is a lot.

 

[justy]

Thanks for all the replies. It looks like im going to have to buy some more lower dosed Q10 and try that. I have it in 100mg gel capsules so cant break them up. I know Dr.Myhill only reccommends good quality supps so it could be a well absorbed type. I do want to give it a go as im sure it will help as i am actually deficient. I have also been taking selenium 200mcg a day and 2 grammes of vitamin c and that has been really helping a lot with everything.
I stopped it alltogether for a few days and the feeling has gone. What a ridiculous struggle all the time! it has taken me over a year and i still havent managed to introduce all the supplements that im meant to take. Its like two steps forwards one(or three) steps back. I had managed to introduce a whole load of them and then i got a stomach bug and had severe nausea and now im back down to just the minimum again. But strangely i have noticed that this rest from a lot of supps has done some good as when i reintroduced some of them they seemed to work better again!
Take care all.x

 

[Sallysblooms]

I haven't even counted the ones I take lately. Many supplements in a schedule from Dr. Dzugan and many added by my CFS doc. The progress I have made is amazing. The body wants to be healthy, but it needs all of the ingredients we are missing with CFS and my POTS. We go through our nutrients SO fast and need to replenish them.

And sleep of course, that is number one. With the right supplements that has finally been a wonderful part...finally sleeping well.

Good luck just go slowly.

 

[pken]

Maybe you could cut one of the gel caps in half - if the inside isn't too liquid (perhaps keeping them in the fridge would help here) you could at least try the lower dosage this way without the extra expense of a new bottle. I have no idea how it would taste though, so be ready with something tasty as a chaser!

Are any people here with low coQ10 also on statins (cholesterol medication)? I've not been here long enough to read through that many posts so I'm just putting this "out there" - statins reduce endogenous coQ10. Since they also seem to be implicated in hormone dysfunction it might be worth looking into if you're on them.

 

[L'engle]

I definitely get some energy from Coq10, but if i keep taking it at 30-60mg a day i get insomnia after a couple of weeks and then when I stop taking it it takes a week for my sleep to go back to being better . So I keep trying it then giving up on it then eventually trying it again. I guess it's a matter of finding just the right amount. Maybe taking it only every seond day or something. 300mg would e way too much for me when i think of the kind i get. (Enzymatic Therapy brand). I think it's a good supplement, one of the few I've ever improved on, but it has to be taken very carefully.

 

[justy]

Thanks L'engle, it does seem to have this over revving effect in some by what others have said as well. Im definately going to play around with the dosage a bit.

Pken- i took your advice this morning adn tried cutting one in half with quite hilarious results. The capsule was really solid and when i finally pierced it the liquid sprayed everywhere. it was like thick orange goo. Later on i was looking at the extractor fan above my cooker and pondering on how dirty it was when my eye was drawn to the ceiling and i noticed it was sprayed with little orange dots too. I had a lot of fun trying to stand on a chair and wipe it off without falling over.

 

[pken]

Pken- i took your advice this morning adn tried cutting one in half with quite hilarious results. The capsule was really solid and when i finally pierced it the liquid sprayed everywhere. it was like thick orange goo. Later on i was looking at the extractor fan above my cooker and pondering on how dirty it was when my eye was drawn to the ceiling and i noticed it was sprayed with little orange dots too. I had a lot of fun trying to stand on a chair and wipe it off without falling over.

Moral of the story, never take advice from anyone on the internet. That's my advice anyway...

Glad you were still able to use the word "hilarious" in your reply. Many apologies - I'll send round the cleaning team, stat. Did you manage to get any of it inside you?

 

[justy]

Moral of the story, never take advice from anyone on the internet. That's my advice anyway...

Glad you were still able to use the word "hilarious" in your reply. Many apologies - I'll send round the cleaning team, stat. Did you manage to get any of it inside you?

Well if you mean did i purposefully ingest any then no, but i would be surprised if i didnt take some - it was over everything, including me!
Yes it did actually make me laugh. No point in crying over spilt milk and all that. I think i will have to buy some more lower dose ones. I'm wondering though what on earth they put in them, cos the colour was day-glo orange.

TBH i was quite proud of myself for taking advice for once rather than being a worrier about every little thing.
No hard feelings.

 

[pken]

In the interest of science(ish) I just chopped off the top of one of the capsules I have here - and like yours the inside it bright orange. Perhaps coQ10 is just orange itself. The other listed ingredients AFAIK aren't orange. Mindful of your experience I used scissors to chop off the top without drama but the gelcaps that I have are pretty squishy anyway. FWIW I bought my supply (called Qsorb) from puritanspride.co.uk who are actually based in the US and a subsidiary of the puritanspride.com . The usually do 5 for the price of two and sometimes have 10 or 20 off a 50 order. They seem to be connected with Holland and Barrett as the bottles are identical apart from the branding.

 

[pken]

Since I ruined your kitchen and couldn't get the hazmat team around in time for cleanup I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse (well, of course, you can). I have an unopened bottle of 30mg coQ10 from H&B that expires this month. You're welcome to have it (free, naturally) if you like. I won't be using it so it might as well go to a good, experimental home

 

[justy]

Thanks pken, ill pm you.

 

[soccer_dude]

Hi Justy,

I tried 30mg Coq10 yesterday, and I seemed to do okay. Today I took another 30mg of Coq10, and I felt that buzzy stimluation kind of feeling, like I had caffeine (which I've always been sensitive too). Do you have adrenal fatigue? I've read one article that you need to make sure your adrenals are strong before using coq10. Not sure if that is true or not. I definately have adrenal fatigue and I'm working on healing them with my ND. It might be too soon for coq10 for me. I've read that those with adrenal fatigue could be low in coq10, but maybe it's not the right supplement to use right now. I did write to Dr. Lam (drlam.com) about whether or not coq10 is good for adrenal fatigue and he or someone replied "usually not recommended and can make matters worse if you are sensitive". So, you might have your adrenal status checked and work on that before trying coq10.

In any case, did a lower dose help?

There are also other forms of coq10.
http://www.naturemade.com/resource-...0-ubiquinone-vs-ubiquinol#TlWRmOC7jUCpb86i.97

"In the body, CoQ10 exists either in its oxidized form, ubiquinone, or in its reduced form, ubiquinol. When oxidized CoQ10 (ubiquinone) is used by the body, it transforms and becomes ubiquinol. In the same way, reduced CoQ10 (ubiquinol) becomes ubiquinone when it carries out its role in the body."

Has anyone tried Ubiquinol form of coq10? It's more expensive, but wondered if it was better tollerated?

I will probably avoid coq10 right now until my ND says it's okay for me to try. I haven't talked to my ND much about this nutrient yet, but I will.

Cheers.

 

[girlinthesnow]

Hi Justy, I think CoQ10 is a very good and effective treatment for most of us. It is not without problems. CoQ10 works in multiple ways. It is an antioxidant and it supports energy production. This double action means it is vulnerable to oxidative stress, which can then impact on energy production.

Now the darkside. Using CoQ10 can trigger physiological changes. These are not always good. When I first tried it 30mg, once, triggered severe cognitive dysfunction. I dropped my dose back to 10mg and slowly increased it. Eventually I was on 90mg of a high absorption form of it.

The benefits of CoQ10 are also tied to the rest of your antioxidant web. This is particularly true for vitamins C and E, alpha lipoic acid and glutathione. Correcting CoQ10 in isolation may have some impact, but it takes this network of five antioxidants to have maximum impact.

If you are having problems with CoQ10, I recommend reducing the dose even further, and increasing it very very gradually.

Bye
Alex

Thanks @justy and @alex3619 for having answered a question that I hadn't realised was a question!

Today I also had an episode of severe cognitive dysfunction after taking my usual dose of Coq10. I've taken 200 mg twice a day for more than two years so I didn't realise until now that this was the cause. The precipitating event was that at the same time I also took a small dose of Vitamin E along with my usual 1g of Vitamin C.

All this time I must not have been metabolising the Coq10, probably because of a Vitamin E deficiency. I must order a lower dose and try again!

 

[alex3619]

All this time I must not have been metabolising the Coq10, probably because of a Vitamin E deficiency. I must order a lower dose and try again!

Let us know how it goes. It may help someone else figure things out.

 

[justy]

I know that the vitamin infusions I was having at the clinic over the summer also had high dose COQ 10 in them and I was fine with that, in fact they have improved my condition a little.

 

[AndyPandy]

I am fairly sensitive to meds and supps and have been taking 75mg CoQ10 a day for quite a while without problems.

Best wishes Andy