Selenium causing detox reaction?

[Outlaw]

I started selenium today, only around 70mg. I have had anxiety, derealization, and a complete worsening of my sexual dysfunction caused by my postdrug condition.

Is it possible the selenium makes my liver detox and causes this? Every person with my PFS syndrome have methylation block and low gluthatione, so could creating gluthatione with selenium cause a temporary reaction?

If it's not this, it must be the Hydroxocobalamin I've been taking for the last week. I noticed a steady decline... I think it's worsening my existing methylation block

Please help

 

[LINE]

Is the 70mg a typo? That should 70 mcg not 70 mg. A mcg is 1/1000 of a gram.

 

[Outlaw]

Yes @LINE , my mistake!

 

[LINE]

Selenium is a critical nutrient since it controls more than just glutathione production. I found a PubMed article that tested all the antioxidants, and they came to the conclusion that selenium was the most important. This was ICU patients btw.

It sure could be pushing up glutathione levels which in turn would start to detoxify the liver. One category of toxins that glutathione is efficient in is toxic metals such as mercury. Detoxing metals can make one very uncomfortable. I use some binders to reduce that feeling.

As with any experiment, you have to isolate all the possibilities. There are reports of B12 causing adverse effects in some people. If I remember correctly, it took a little time to recover after stopping.

 

[JES]

The RDA for selenium is 55 mcg. You'll find 50 mcg selenium in most standard multivitamin supplements and a single Brazil nut contains on average around 100 mcg. Some of us are seemingly more sensitive to ingredients found in supplements than the same ingredients found in food, so it could be that, but still seems like a low amount to get much of a reaction from.

 

[ljimbo423]

A mcg is 1/100 of a gram.

I just want to clarify this for others, to help with their dosing.

A mcg (microgram) is 1/1,000 th of a milligram, and milligram is 1/1,000 th of a gram. So there are 1,000 mcgs in a milligram and 1,000 mgs (milligrams) in a gram.

 

[lenora]

Not to put you off using selenium, but it is one of the minerals that should be used carefully in the supplemental form. As mentioned, Vitamin B is not good for me.....same problem each time I use it BUT someone else may be helped by its use.

Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean that it's without problems or side-effects. It seems like your problem has been addressed so I wish you well. Yours, Lenora.

 

[Outlaw]

Thank you for your replies @LINE @JES

I suffered a nasty crash last year after taking a B-complex vitamin. The effect was weirdly similar to this crash.

I used to think the B vitamins had impacted my methylation, but maybe they simply over-activated my liver Phase 1. Selenium is also involved in Phase 1 via gluthatione.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

The RDA for selenium is 55 mcg.

RDA's are based on the absolute minimum your body needs to function without, you know .... death.

The recommended upper tolerable limit of selenium is 400 mcg, tho 200 mcg is probably even safer. But since you reacted so strongly to 70 mcg's, it's hard to say.

I know that one of the first things I started reacting seriously badly to as I descended into being bedbound was selenium, and after that, P5P, after which everything just caved in on me. I had to cut absolutely everything out, including foods I'd been eating all my life.

I still havent had the courage to add either P5P or selenium back in again (I used the selenomethionine form), although I've been able to successfully add back everything else that I had to eliminate, including all B vits in the form of an excellent B Complex formula, which have small amounts of P5P ....

I know this isn't really helpful, beyond letting you know that you're not alone, but sometimes that's nice to know, too ....

 

[Rufous McKinney]

I still havent had the courage to add either P5P or selenium back in again

my jar of selenium remains unopened and un deployed....no, its scares me.

I get the low end in my multi. I would suspect it might have turned on some detox....be careful.

 

[linusbert]

I started selenium today, only around 70mg. I have had anxiety, derealization, and a complete worsening of my sexual dysfunction caused by my postdrug condition.

Is it possible the selenium makes my liver detox and causes this? Every person with my PFS syndrome have methylation block and low gluthatione, so could creating gluthatione with selenium cause a temporary reaction?

selenium and vitamin E are very much dependent on each other. maybe you need E too.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

selenium and vitamin E are very much dependent on each other. maybe you need E too.

That's true. There's another support that helps with selenium, but Im having ne of those days and cant recall it right now ill be back as soon as I do ....

Another area to look at is the form of selenium you're taking, @Outlaw .... selenomethionine is the best tolerated, and is the same form found naturally in food sources like seafood, nuts, and meat .

Plain selenium, sodium selenite, selenium citrate, all are more poorly absorbed and tolerated.

Regardless of which form of selenium you're taking, it's a thiol, or a sulfur, and if you react poorly to sulfurs, you're going to have a poor reaction to selenium. It's one of the reasons a lot of people react badly to the paleo diet, among other things ....

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

my jar of selenium remains unopened and un deployed....no, its scares me.

I get the low end in my multi. I would suspect it might have turned on some detox....

Selenium doesn't cause detox, on the contrary it reduces the toxicity of heavy metal ions like mercury and cadmium, among others.

Extremely high intakes of selenium can cause severe problems, including respiratory issues, like difficulty breathing, tremors, kidney failure, heart attacks, and heart failure. But you'd have to take, like, a HUUUUGE amount over the Upper Tolerance Limit (UTL) ....

Selenium also interferes with the storage of copper, which shouldnt be a problem since we mostly get plenty of copper in either our diets or multi-vits, but in those rare instances where you may actually be deficient in copper, all sulfur containing supplements and thiols could trigger or worsen inflammatory conditions.

So you may be reacting to the thiols in selenium. Like reactions to glutamate and MSG, thiols seem to be a mysterious adjunct to ME in a not inconsiderable subset of members ....

 

[Outlaw]

Thanks for the replies @YippeeKi YOW !! @linusbert

I don't know if I tolerate sulfur well. I do have streptococcus overgrowth, which is a sulfate reducing strain, and my doctor suspects H2S Sibo. Nonetheless, I remember eating a lot of brocoli last winter and I was doing fine. In fact my ears were doing better. I think my low sulfur diet is making me sulfate deficient.

And interesting for the detox. I did more research, and it turns out selenium downregulates androgen receptors, which is something that I must avoid with my condition

 

[linusbert]

Selenium also interferes with the storage of copper, which shouldnt be a problem since we mostly get plenty of copper in either our diets or multi-vits, but in those rare instances where you may actually be deficient in copper, all sulfur containing supplements and thiols could trigger or worsen inflammatory conditions.

i am indeed deficient in copper as well as coeruloplasmin.
i dont get why. my food has like 300% rda of copper in it.
i dont have wilson.