Methylation, all those Bs and Potassium Redux

[Kathevans]

Yes, I've been eating an awful lot of cabbage lately!

 

[Gondwanaland]

Yes, I've been eating an awful lot of cabbage lately!

You know you can (and should) have a varied diet, right? @alicec posted a food list at the ox thread.

 

[Kathevans]

Oh, yes, I do know. It's just so hard to keep thinking about what I eat. I'll check out @alicec's post... I feel like my health issues are eating up my life.

 

[Gondwanaland]

It's just so hard to keep thinking about what I eat.

I know

I feel like my health issues are eating up my life.

I know

 

[Kathevans]

So, still working on the Potassium issue. At this point I've begun to wonder if I'm taking too much. Apparently the symptoms can go for both high and low. This is not just because of the on and off sore kidney area (which is probably because of the oxalate sensitivity). But my sleep has gone haywire. Sleep restlessly early in the night, which though it has always been the case, seems much worse. Then I'm awake f-o-r-e-v-e-r (last night 4 1/2 hours) before I could get anywhere near a drift. No wild thoughts in my head, just the steady screech of my tinnitus. And finally a couple more hours.

So I'm off potassium for today--already had 400 mg in some yogurt and and planning another 400+ in some coconut water--and I'll take it from there. And did you know, a half-cup of baked winter squash, like acorn,and possibly butternut, can have up to 450 mg of potassium?! And both are reasonable in terms of oxalates (3.09 and 4.9/ 1/2 cup).

But back to my initial post: Much as I hate to admit this, I was clearly unstable on only 1/2 of my old B-Complex. I ended up over-anxious, sleepless, etc. Yesterday for the first time in weeks (I was running other experiments!), I added the second half and voila! I calmed down into my usual very nice, calm, relatively happy self (I wondered where she'd gone...).

There was the presence of one other symptom, but I'll take that for the moment. Sometimes you have to accept the bad in order to get the good. Or is that the wrong attitude?!

 

[sunking101]

So, still working on the Potassium issue. At this point I've begun to wonder if I'm taking too much. Apparently the symptoms can go for both high and low. This is not just because of the on and off sore kidney area (which is probably because of the oxalate sensitivity). But my sleep has gone haywire. Sleep restlessly early in the night, which though it has always been the case, seems much worse. Then I'm awake f-o-r-e-v-e-r (last night 4 1/2 hours) before I could get anywhere near a drift. No wild thoughts in my head, just the steady screech of my tinnitus. And finally a couple more hours.

So I'm off potassium for today--already had 400 mg in some yogurt and and planning another 400+ in some coconut water--and I'll take it from there. And did you know, a half-cup of baked winter squash, like acorn,and possibly butternut, can have up to 450 mg of potassium?! And both are reasonable in terms of oxalates (3.09 and 4.9/ 1/2 cup).

But back to my initial post: Much as I hate to admit this, I was clearly unstable on only 1/2 of my old B-Complex. I ended up over-anxious, sleepless, etc. Yesterday for the first time in weeks (I was running other experiments!), I added the second half and voila! I calmed down into my usual very nice, calm, relatively happy self (I wondered where she'd gone...).

There was the presence of one other symptom, but I'll take that for the moment. Sometimes you have to accept the bad in order to get the good. Or is that the wrong attitude?!

I'm pretty sure when we take half of a B Complex that we aren't just taking 50% of the ingredients, they won't be mixed like that. All of the B12 and B1 could be in one end of the capsule, all of the folate and B3 in the other end, and the rest in the middle (for example).

 

[Kathevans]

Really? That's a horrible thought! Well, at least I'm getting 1 entire one each day now. So maybe at this point I'm getting 50% of the ingredients that would be in 2.

That said, it is a very good brand and the contents of the capsule are a well-mixed powder, evenly colored throughout.

 

[Gondwanaland]

I'm pretty sure when we take half of a B Complex that we aren't just taking 50% of the ingredients, they won't be mixed like that. All of the B12 and B1 could be in one end of the capsule, all of the folate and B3 in the other end, and the rest in the middle (for example).

I don't think so.

 

[sunking101]

I don't think so.

You think each grain of powder contains all the B Vits?
They aren't designed to be split so I see no reason why the contents would be perfectly distributed.
When I used to split my Thorne Basic B capsules into two halves, I noticed that sometimes a half capsule would whack me out but the following day's half capsule would pick me up again.

 

[Gondwanaland]

@sunking101 do you imagine them being filled one by one?

I noticed that sometimes a half capsule would whack me out but the following day's half capsule would pick me up again.

That is because you weren't the same as in the day before

 

[sunking101]

@sunking101 do you imagine them being filled one by one?

That is because you weren't the same as in the day before

I was feeling more or less identical prior to taking the B Complex. Why do you assume that dividing a powder into two halves, when that powder contains several different vitamins, will result in two capsules with equal contents? I'm not saying that necessarily won't be the case, just that in my experience I'm prone to assume otherwise. The manufacturer won't be designing the contents of the capsule with the understanding that people will be opening them and dividing them up. I just don't see how we could end up with two halves containing equal proportions of ingredients if we split a capsule.

 

[Kathevans]

I just don't see how we could end up with two halves containing equal proportions of ingredients if we split a capsule.

This is a little late in coming, but I did end up calling the company and apparently they have huge mixing machines so, in fact, that ingredients are quite evenly distributed. Come to think of it, when I mix up my gluten-free flour mix, there are 5 ingredients and I put them all together in the Cuisinart and mix away. Once that's done, they don't separate, and I keep it in the fridge and use it over months.