aaron_c
Senior Member
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Update:
Within a day or two of my last post I discontinued the vitamin A and cod liver oil entirely, mostly because of concentration problems and poor sleep. In spite of stopping these supplements the pre-migraine sensation stayed steady and three nights ago after a day without coffee (I have recently been drinking about an ounce of decaffeinated espresso twice daily) I woke to a full-blown migraine that neither magnesium nor citicoline mitigated in any way. I took the pharmaceutical rizatriptan benzoate (10 mg) and that was, luckily, successful in stopping it. Since then I have made sure to take espresso as I did before, and the pre-migraine sensation backed off to what I described in the prior post.
In the past week in particular I have also experienced a heat sensation that is most pronounced in my arms, as well as nausea and a weak appetite. On the other hand my daily diarrhea has disappeared, to be replaced by normalish stool, although this only happened after I discontinued the cod liver oil (perhaps my guts also do not like the cinnamon?) and has returned to diarrhea in the past two or so days.
The sleep problems were the kind where I can't fall asleep easily, and although extra phosphatidylserine and citicoline helped a little, the sleep quality felt poor, and after a few days my concentration, as I mentioned above, began to suffer. In addition to this, my heart began to experience a burning sensation. The way that sleep worsened (and the burning sensation in my heart) felt very much like when I could not eat my raw beef (see this thread), a sensation I came to the conclusion was caused by taurine deficiency in my cells. I began taking taurine at about .8 grams with meals and also at night before bed. The first day or so I was somewhat nauseous, but this stopped and hasn't returned since. My sleep has returned to normal, however my concentration did not improve immediately, and I doubt that taurine deficiency was the only issue causing concentration issues (see below).
Iron Deficiency
As I mentioned last time, one of my chief suspicions as to the source of my (and @Gondwanaland 's and @Lou 's) adverse reactions to vitamin A has been that Vitamin A somehow changed iron metabolism. Gondwanaland indicated that hair loss in the past was helped by iron supplementation, which has led me to change my mind and agree with her that Vitamin A at the very least probably decreased iron transport to her scalp. Although I cannot now find the web site where I read this, I also read that heat sensations, particularly in the...arms or extremities, was a symptom of iron deficiency. Other symptoms include brain-fog, heart palpitations, insomnia, and all of the symptoms that go along with anemia (hard for us to differentiate from every-day fatigue). On the other hand iron toxicity appears to cause joint pain and problems regulating blood sugar, neither of which I experience. Finally, I found this chart about left-side vs right-side migraines. Essentially, things from one group will help one type of migraine but will do nothing or even exacerbate the other type.
Group A
Calcium
Iron
Chromium
Potassium
Vit B1
Vit B6 *
Vit C
Vit B15
Lecithin
Cat's Claw
Apple cider vinegar with water
Caffeine
Decrease oxygen
Group B
Magnesium
Manganese
Copper *
Zinc
Vit B2
Vit PABA
Vit E
Vit B12
Choline
Turmeric
Baking soda with water
Alcohol
Increase oxygen
I assume the comments about oxygen indicate that Group A generally decreases oxygen to the brain while Group B generally increases oxygen supply to the brain.
For the past year or so skipping magnesium and/or manganese generally would cause a migraine, and taking magnesium would improve migraine symptoms noticeably. Since this no longer seemed to be the case and my migraine coincided with a day off of decaffeinated coffee, I thought I would try taking things from Group A instead. Notice that iron is the second item in Group A. If you google around, you should also find web sites like this, suggesting iron as a cure for migraines. Two days ago I also discontinued the 3 mg of manganese that I had been taking daily, mostly based on its presence in the "wrong" column. I plan to experiment with this later.
This morning my migraine sensation has gone entirely, and I am able to concentrate again. However, I am unsure how much of this is due to taking iron and how much is due to taking some calcium hydroxyapatite (about 100 mg last night and 100 mg this morning.) The warmth sensations have also decreased, and these did so before the calcium but after taking iron, so I suspect they were related to iron deficiency. The nausea and poor appetite have also both improved, also prior to the calcium but after the iron, suggesting that iron deficiency may have been the cause.
Iron and Vitamin A
All of this has led me to think that the vitamin A has caused what may have been already low iron levels to drop even lower. Assuming I am correct, I have two questions, the first of which is why would a male (myself) who every day eats about 2 ounces of raw beef (rich in heme-iron, the most bio-available form) be deficient in iron? I have three answers. First, vitamin A, which I appear to be deficient in, might increase iron absorption through supporting gut health--which has been lacking for me. Secondly, for much of the past year I have taken a teaspoon of turmeric with each meal. According to this paper, turmeric appears to be rich in tannins, which can inhibit iron absorption. Of course, I am not entirely sure that I was iron deficient, and I am not sure that pre-existing iron deficiency is necessary for vitamin A to cause a more acute-type iron deficiency. Finally, according to the US Department of Agriculture 2 ounces of beef should have a little more than one milligram of iron, while the Linus Pauling Institute says the RDA for a grown man is 8 mg per day to avoid deficiency. Although our bodies can adapt to absorb more iron when we are lacking, perhaps it could not adapt enough.
The second question needs to be answered is why would vitamin A, which increases ceruloplasmin and therefor transferrin and ferritin saturation appear to cause iron deficiency? Also remember that vitamin A together with vitamin D prevented diarrhea, which seems likely to have improved iron absorption (one risk factor for iron deficiency is Irritable Bowel Syndrome). Even assuming I was iron deficient before, at first glance taking vitamin A should improve this situation, not make it worse.
The best answer I can currently come up with is that vitamin A may be increasing production of cytochrome c (a heme-containing protein involved in the electron transport chain). This study confirms that vitamin A deficient rat livers and hearts have about 71% of the cytochrome c of vitamin A sufficient rats. Cytochrome c is almost entirely found within the inner mitochondrial membrane attached to cardiolipin. Cardiolipin, which appears mostly in the inner mitochondrial membrane, is decreased by vitamin A deficiency, so perhaps the link between vitamin A deficiency and cytochrome c has something to do with this. In any case, increasing vitamin A might suddenly increase the body's need for iron, as it is suddenly able to attach more cytochrome c to cardiolipin within our mitochondria.
Iron and Taurine
Since taurine helped me sleep following vitamin A supplementation, and because the symptoms of iron deficiency include insomnia and heart palpitations--just like taurine deficiency--I suspect that iron deficiency somehow reduced the taurine available to my cells. This study found that taurine and iron together were more effective at treating iron-deficient anemia, so there does seem to be some kind of connection.
Iron, Molybdenum, and Sulfites
Iron and molybdenum are both necessary to form the Sulfite Oxidase (SUOX) enzyme, which converts toxic sulfites into helpful sulfates. Specifically, SUOX requires cytochrome b5, which is formed from protoheme (heme) as well as a molybdenum cofactor (MoCo). This is why people with Protoporphyria are sensitive to sulfites (thank you again Rich VanK). Protoporphyria is literally a high level of protoporphyrin IX. Protoporphyrin IX is basically protoheme without iron. Rich wrote that mercury, lead, or a genetic defect can all induce Protoporphyria, however the Mayo Clinic notes that "iron-deficiency anemia is the most common cause of increased RBC protoporphyrin," although when this happens I believe it is referred to as iron-deficient anemia and not protoporphyria.
For perhaps two years I have taken a fairly high dose of molybdenum. I now suspect that this has helped me cover for low iron in two different ways: First, it has helped push up the nunbers and function of the sulfite oxidase enzymes. This was, in fact, why Yasko and others suggest it. Secondly, xanthine oxidase, another molybdenum-containing enzyme, appears to help attach iron to its transport proteins (what we normally think of as ceruloplasm's job). I have some concern that my high levels of molybdenum might be increasing xanthine oxidase activity, which might work with the increased ceruloplasm from the Vitamin A to over-attach iron to its transport proteins. Could this make iron difficult for the body to use, or else could it change Iron transport patterns sufficiently to cause problems as I attempt to normalize vitamin A? Does molybdenum increase xanthine oxiddase activity enough to make any difference at all to transferrin/ferritin saturation? I am not sure.
In any case, I think it is possible that increasing iron (and Vitamin A) could reduce my sulfite sensitivity.
Unanswered Questions
How did vitamins A and D contribute to a functional calcium deficiency?
How does iron play into taurine transport, synthesis and/or use?
Is manganese involved, and will supplementing 3 mg per day cause problems?
In Summary
Vitamin A (and possibly vitamin D) appear to have induced functional deficiencies of iron, calcium, and (probably indirectly) taurine. Taking them and/or stopping manganese appears to be helping. I also wonder if somewhat mild iron deficiency might impact either synthesis or function of sulfite oxidase, and if iron supplementation might improve my sulfite sensitivity.
Within a day or two of my last post I discontinued the vitamin A and cod liver oil entirely, mostly because of concentration problems and poor sleep. In spite of stopping these supplements the pre-migraine sensation stayed steady and three nights ago after a day without coffee (I have recently been drinking about an ounce of decaffeinated espresso twice daily) I woke to a full-blown migraine that neither magnesium nor citicoline mitigated in any way. I took the pharmaceutical rizatriptan benzoate (10 mg) and that was, luckily, successful in stopping it. Since then I have made sure to take espresso as I did before, and the pre-migraine sensation backed off to what I described in the prior post.
In the past week in particular I have also experienced a heat sensation that is most pronounced in my arms, as well as nausea and a weak appetite. On the other hand my daily diarrhea has disappeared, to be replaced by normalish stool, although this only happened after I discontinued the cod liver oil (perhaps my guts also do not like the cinnamon?) and has returned to diarrhea in the past two or so days.
The sleep problems were the kind where I can't fall asleep easily, and although extra phosphatidylserine and citicoline helped a little, the sleep quality felt poor, and after a few days my concentration, as I mentioned above, began to suffer. In addition to this, my heart began to experience a burning sensation. The way that sleep worsened (and the burning sensation in my heart) felt very much like when I could not eat my raw beef (see this thread), a sensation I came to the conclusion was caused by taurine deficiency in my cells. I began taking taurine at about .8 grams with meals and also at night before bed. The first day or so I was somewhat nauseous, but this stopped and hasn't returned since. My sleep has returned to normal, however my concentration did not improve immediately, and I doubt that taurine deficiency was the only issue causing concentration issues (see below).
Iron Deficiency
As I mentioned last time, one of my chief suspicions as to the source of my (and @Gondwanaland 's and @Lou 's) adverse reactions to vitamin A has been that Vitamin A somehow changed iron metabolism. Gondwanaland indicated that hair loss in the past was helped by iron supplementation, which has led me to change my mind and agree with her that Vitamin A at the very least probably decreased iron transport to her scalp. Although I cannot now find the web site where I read this, I also read that heat sensations, particularly in the...arms or extremities, was a symptom of iron deficiency. Other symptoms include brain-fog, heart palpitations, insomnia, and all of the symptoms that go along with anemia (hard for us to differentiate from every-day fatigue). On the other hand iron toxicity appears to cause joint pain and problems regulating blood sugar, neither of which I experience. Finally, I found this chart about left-side vs right-side migraines. Essentially, things from one group will help one type of migraine but will do nothing or even exacerbate the other type.
Group A
Calcium
Iron
Chromium
Potassium
Vit B1
Vit B6 *
Vit C
Vit B15
Lecithin
Cat's Claw
Apple cider vinegar with water
Caffeine
Decrease oxygen
Group B
Magnesium
Manganese
Copper *
Zinc
Vit B2
Vit PABA
Vit E
Vit B12
Choline
Turmeric
Baking soda with water
Alcohol
Increase oxygen
I assume the comments about oxygen indicate that Group A generally decreases oxygen to the brain while Group B generally increases oxygen supply to the brain.
For the past year or so skipping magnesium and/or manganese generally would cause a migraine, and taking magnesium would improve migraine symptoms noticeably. Since this no longer seemed to be the case and my migraine coincided with a day off of decaffeinated coffee, I thought I would try taking things from Group A instead. Notice that iron is the second item in Group A. If you google around, you should also find web sites like this, suggesting iron as a cure for migraines. Two days ago I also discontinued the 3 mg of manganese that I had been taking daily, mostly based on its presence in the "wrong" column. I plan to experiment with this later.
This morning my migraine sensation has gone entirely, and I am able to concentrate again. However, I am unsure how much of this is due to taking iron and how much is due to taking some calcium hydroxyapatite (about 100 mg last night and 100 mg this morning.) The warmth sensations have also decreased, and these did so before the calcium but after taking iron, so I suspect they were related to iron deficiency. The nausea and poor appetite have also both improved, also prior to the calcium but after the iron, suggesting that iron deficiency may have been the cause.
Iron and Vitamin A
All of this has led me to think that the vitamin A has caused what may have been already low iron levels to drop even lower. Assuming I am correct, I have two questions, the first of which is why would a male (myself) who every day eats about 2 ounces of raw beef (rich in heme-iron, the most bio-available form) be deficient in iron? I have three answers. First, vitamin A, which I appear to be deficient in, might increase iron absorption through supporting gut health--which has been lacking for me. Secondly, for much of the past year I have taken a teaspoon of turmeric with each meal. According to this paper, turmeric appears to be rich in tannins, which can inhibit iron absorption. Of course, I am not entirely sure that I was iron deficient, and I am not sure that pre-existing iron deficiency is necessary for vitamin A to cause a more acute-type iron deficiency. Finally, according to the US Department of Agriculture 2 ounces of beef should have a little more than one milligram of iron, while the Linus Pauling Institute says the RDA for a grown man is 8 mg per day to avoid deficiency. Although our bodies can adapt to absorb more iron when we are lacking, perhaps it could not adapt enough.
The second question needs to be answered is why would vitamin A, which increases ceruloplasmin and therefor transferrin and ferritin saturation appear to cause iron deficiency? Also remember that vitamin A together with vitamin D prevented diarrhea, which seems likely to have improved iron absorption (one risk factor for iron deficiency is Irritable Bowel Syndrome). Even assuming I was iron deficient before, at first glance taking vitamin A should improve this situation, not make it worse.
The best answer I can currently come up with is that vitamin A may be increasing production of cytochrome c (a heme-containing protein involved in the electron transport chain). This study confirms that vitamin A deficient rat livers and hearts have about 71% of the cytochrome c of vitamin A sufficient rats. Cytochrome c is almost entirely found within the inner mitochondrial membrane attached to cardiolipin. Cardiolipin, which appears mostly in the inner mitochondrial membrane, is decreased by vitamin A deficiency, so perhaps the link between vitamin A deficiency and cytochrome c has something to do with this. In any case, increasing vitamin A might suddenly increase the body's need for iron, as it is suddenly able to attach more cytochrome c to cardiolipin within our mitochondria.
Iron and Taurine
Since taurine helped me sleep following vitamin A supplementation, and because the symptoms of iron deficiency include insomnia and heart palpitations--just like taurine deficiency--I suspect that iron deficiency somehow reduced the taurine available to my cells. This study found that taurine and iron together were more effective at treating iron-deficient anemia, so there does seem to be some kind of connection.
Iron, Molybdenum, and Sulfites
Iron and molybdenum are both necessary to form the Sulfite Oxidase (SUOX) enzyme, which converts toxic sulfites into helpful sulfates. Specifically, SUOX requires cytochrome b5, which is formed from protoheme (heme) as well as a molybdenum cofactor (MoCo). This is why people with Protoporphyria are sensitive to sulfites (thank you again Rich VanK). Protoporphyria is literally a high level of protoporphyrin IX. Protoporphyrin IX is basically protoheme without iron. Rich wrote that mercury, lead, or a genetic defect can all induce Protoporphyria, however the Mayo Clinic notes that "iron-deficiency anemia is the most common cause of increased RBC protoporphyrin," although when this happens I believe it is referred to as iron-deficient anemia and not protoporphyria.
For perhaps two years I have taken a fairly high dose of molybdenum. I now suspect that this has helped me cover for low iron in two different ways: First, it has helped push up the nunbers and function of the sulfite oxidase enzymes. This was, in fact, why Yasko and others suggest it. Secondly, xanthine oxidase, another molybdenum-containing enzyme, appears to help attach iron to its transport proteins (what we normally think of as ceruloplasm's job). I have some concern that my high levels of molybdenum might be increasing xanthine oxidase activity, which might work with the increased ceruloplasm from the Vitamin A to over-attach iron to its transport proteins. Could this make iron difficult for the body to use, or else could it change Iron transport patterns sufficiently to cause problems as I attempt to normalize vitamin A? Does molybdenum increase xanthine oxiddase activity enough to make any difference at all to transferrin/ferritin saturation? I am not sure.
In any case, I think it is possible that increasing iron (and Vitamin A) could reduce my sulfite sensitivity.
Unanswered Questions
How did vitamins A and D contribute to a functional calcium deficiency?
How does iron play into taurine transport, synthesis and/or use?
Is manganese involved, and will supplementing 3 mg per day cause problems?
In Summary
Vitamin A (and possibly vitamin D) appear to have induced functional deficiencies of iron, calcium, and (probably indirectly) taurine. Taking them and/or stopping manganese appears to be helping. I also wonder if somewhat mild iron deficiency might impact either synthesis or function of sulfite oxidase, and if iron supplementation might improve my sulfite sensitivity.
