Vitamin C & Cortisol

[[...]]

I think several supplements I've tried seem to help a little, but I've never found one that worked great. This is mostly about time and not screwing up the taper. There  seems to be some randomness with symptoms as well. Maybe things will be more predictable when your taper is over.

[[Di...]]

Yes, you're right there bart. I'm aiming to finish my taper around Oct/Nov, or by Christmas at the latest, so I just want to get on with it and then I can really get myself sorted out, once I'm not taking the valium anymore.

 

Anyway, who knows, tonight I may sleep really soundly with no problems at all. The problem started out of the blue, so it might stop out of the blue too. Such are the random mysteries of benzo withdrawal...lol...

[[lk...]]

Pam........I swear that is how it goes. I took some magnesium early on and I thought it was working but then after like a month it felt like it was revving me so I stopped and I swore it got better. Its so hard to tell sometimes. I over think A LOT! I hope lowering the dose helps.

[[Du...]]

Pam, you are correct in thinking about the vitamin C being the problem.

 

What you had entered was what they describe as a 'honeymoon' period, where you feel very good, but never get any better, then all of a sudden you crash. This is because your adrenal glands have responded to the vitamin C, and the dosage needs to be reduced before the actual crash...basically your body dosent want that much vitamin C. But it sounds like you have crashed, so its best to stop taking any Vit C for a while to let yourself re-set. Countless times I thought I was getting better, then all of a sudden got hit by a crash, then didnt respond to the nutrients, in fact, they made me worse for a long time. Self guided build up is pretty tough. I really suggest you read Dr Lams site, it will give you a lot of the information to help your recovery, he is a scaremongerer and marketeer dont get me wrong! but does have a good mind for this, and is an MD, not an ND.

 

Magnesium is also a classic for this - it offsets sodium, hence why a tolerance is drawn.

 

Of course, to much information, but I think information is better than shot gunning high dose nutrients!

[[lk...]]

So I took 1000mg last night and it seemed to help some. So is this ok for me to continue to take at this level or should I expect to crash on it too?

 

Lisa

[[Du...]]

Hey Lisa,

 

1000mg is nothing to be worried about! It helped you sleep as vit C is anti inflammatory as well as a cortisol inhibitor. If you suffer from severe crashes/panic attacks take a spoonful of vit C and youll be calm in twenty minutes. Dosent last that long though, couple of hours tops. but if yout talking a supermarket vit C then theres probably only a small amount of vit C in there anyway, so dont worry to much.

 

The general consesus is that up to 3g a day is safe, anything over and it starts to make a imbalance in other vitamins in your system...for example over 3g can start to chelate copper. Which if you were high in copper then is a good thing, yet without a chelation agent such as NAC or molydebum the copper is flowing round your blood stream and will be reosorbed - double whammy of tauma! This is how anxiety disorders mysteriously start in people when they first start taking high dose vitamin C, it stirs up heavy metals, and causes calcium shells - i.e why a lot people heavy vit c users end up with kidney stones, which I did! I also did suffer from anxiety till i began the vitamin C protocol....im walking proof that vit C can do damage.

 

Also If you were low and copper and it chelates copper, its doubtful it will get resorbed as there is so little, and then you end up in a bad way due to low copper.

[[lk...]]

Thanks Dubjam! Good to know! I hope to just stay at this dose. I don't really have anxiety much anymore. Maybe slight stuff every once and a while so if it helps with that great....if not that's ok too. Sleep is my priority!

 

Lisa

[[Di...]]

So I took 1000mg last night and it seemed to help some. So is this ok for me to continue to take at this level or should I expect to crash on it too?

 

Lisa

 

Don't go by me, because I am now strongly suspecting that my problem has nothing to do with Vit C or benzo w/d.  I feel it is probably my hormone levels, because I have always suffered from menopausal insomnia (this was why I started taking valium in the first place) and last night I started getting hot flashes again. From experience I know that the insomnia I've been experiencing for the last week has felt more like hormonal insomnia rather than benzo insomnia. So I have made a change to my hormone therapy and I'm hoping that will sort the problem out.

 

If the Vit C is helping you keep taking it. I am continuing to take mine, because logically I really don't think it has had anything to do with the problem, but I've just been grasping at any possibility. Once I started getting hot flashes last night, the pieces started to fall into place - I hope..lol....

[[Du...]]

It probably does Pam.

 

The adrenal glands are the most paramount gland for hormone synthesis, therefore as the adrenals are packed full of vit c and b5, and with your megadosing, things are changing. Of course this could of happened before,and could be the reason for the insomnia in the first place, the vit c must of been helping but now it needs a change, either up in dose or down.

 

http://www.drlam.com/images/adrenal_pathway.gif

 

This would be a really interesting article to read for you

 

http://www.drlam.com/articles/ovarian_adrenal_thyroid.asp

 

 

 

[[lk...]]

Stupid hormones! I hope the change you made in the HRT helps and you can sleep soon!

 

Lisa

[[sl...]]

I tried 3000mg of vitamin c for three days (1000 at am, dinner, and bedtime).  From the first dose my hear raced, chest ached, and I was an anxious mess (way worse than usual) for 3 days.  I stopped taking and returned to reasonably stable.  Just my experience.

[[lk...]]

Im having super good luck with 1000mg at night before bed. 500 did nothing but 1000 seems to help quite a bit!

 

Lisa

[[Di...]]

I tried 3000mg of vitamin c for three days (1000 at am, dinner, and bedtime).  From the first dose my hear raced, chest ached, and I was an anxious mess (way worse than usual) for 3 days.  I stopped taking and returned to reasonably stable.  Just my experience.

 

Yes, like all things, it will help some people, and it won't help others. Perhaps you could try a smaller dose. Some people do better on smaller doses.

 

I've been doing quite well on 4000mg, but I have recently reduced that down to 2000mg, and that's working well too. I will probably leave it at that level for the time being and see how I go.

[[Di...]]

Im having super good luck with 1000mg at night before bed. 500 did nothing but 1000 seems to help quite a bit!

 

Lisa

 

Great !!

[[Wa...]]

Dubjam,

 

Could you please explain what a calcium shell is? 

 

Thanks!

[[Du...]]

A calcium shell is were the body scavanges for calcium to feed it into muscles - its when living in a high stress state for prolonged periods...tissue calcium will sky rocket, and magnesium will plummet...muscles will tense and lock up and you will feel permentantly 'locked up'

 

This guy is a bit of a wacko, but worth reading

 

http://www.drlwilson.com/Articles/CALCIUM%20SHELL.htm

[[Iw...]]

Any suggestions on  high quality brands? So many vitamins, minerals, supplements are poor quality. Is rather it be liquid or crystals that can be mixed in a liquid.

 

Been reading about vitc and stress I got brave and took a 1000mg one night and didn't notice any difference. I did have some increase in anxiety but can say it was the vitc 

[[Du...]]

Any suggestions on  high quality brands? So many vitamins, minerals, supplements are poor quality. Is rather it be liquid or crystals that can be mixed in a liquid.

 

Been reading about vitc and stress I got brave and took a 1000mg one night and didn't notice any difference. I did have some increase in anxiety but can say it was the vitc 

 

Best stuff is

 

[nobbc]http://www.supplementclinic.com/LipoNano_C_by_Pure_Horizon_p/107614.htm[/nobbc]

 

I think Dr Mercula does a Lipo now...

 

Edit: commercial link deactivated

[[Br...]]

The Linus Pauling Institute (which I would expect to know a thing or two about vitamin C) suggests there is little clinical difference between the various forms of vitamin C.

 

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminC/vitCform.html

[[Du...]]

Very true, thats why liposomal was created. I have talked at length with a soecialist chronic fatigue centre here in the uk, they use liposome delivery now as of its high potency, close to that of iv strength but far cheaper. However im pretty bored of arguing the toss about vitamin c! Take what you will! I know for a fact the difference in the different forms

[[...]]

Braban

Nice link. I get my vitamin C from Walmart

Bart

[[Du...]]

Gotta love the Placebo effect 

[[Iw...]]

Any suggestions on  high quality brands? So many vitamins, minerals, supplements are poor quality. Is rather it be liquid or crystals that can be mixed in a liquid.

 

Been reading about vitc and stress I got brave and took a 1000mg one night and didn't notice any difference. I did have some increase in anxiety but can say it was the vitc 

 

Best stuff is

 

[nobbc]http://www.supplementclinic.com/LipoNano_C_by_Pure_Horizon_p/107614.htm[/nobbc]

 

I think Dr Mercula does a Lipo now...

 

Edit: commercial link deactivated

Thank you! 

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Sorry,

Liposomal vitamin c is expensive pseudoscience and Dr. Mercola a long-standing marketeer of dubious health products

http://www.quackwatch.com/11Ind/mercola.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

[[Br...]]

Best stuff is

 

[nobbc]http://www.supplementclinic.com/LipoNano_C_by_Pure_Horizon_p/107614.htm[/nobbc]

 

I think Dr Mercula does a Lipo now...

 

Edit: commercial link deactivated

 

Hiya Dubjam!  I think you once posted that you unnecessarily spent many thousands to treat Adrenal Fatigue but, if I recall correctly, you said it was mostly wasted money.  Could these extremely expensive formulations of vitamin C be part of that over-spending?