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Even though vitamins are viewed as a good “natural” option, this past week I experienced how dangerous they can be. As you can tell by the title of my post, this week I have been trying to recover from vitamin A toxicity due to taking too much vitamin A after my Naturopath prescribed it.
If you’ve read some of my previous posts, you know that I mostly follow a gluten free diet and take probiotics. After, my naturopath recommended taking fermented cod liver oil. I starting taking fermented cod liver (which is high in vitamin A). Over the past 3 years, I have been seeing a naturopathic doctor and go to get my blood checked by him regularly to see if I am low in any nutrients/vitamins. He is a big fan of getting blood work done to check for any vitamin deficiencies. If I’m ever low in a vitamin, he tells me that if I take that supplement then it will fix my acne.
At the beginning of last month, I got my blood checked for a variety of vitamins and a few other things, such as thyroid functioning.
According to my naturopathic doctor, the results of my blood test showed that I was low in vitamin A. My level was at 42mcg (picture of my blood test below). This number is at the lower end of the normal reference range, yet still within the normal range. My naturopath said that, that reference range is too broad and that my vitamin A level was really too low. He said that my low level of vitamin A was causing my acne and that if I take a vitamin A supplement, I won’t have acne any more.
I was surprised my vitamin A was at the lower end of the reference range because it has always been higher on every previous blood test, as I take 2 teaspoons of fermented cod liver oil (FCLO) daily, which has a good amount of vitamin A.
Why I got vitamin A toxicity
Since my vitamin A was low, my naturopath gave me a 100,000IU vitamin A supplement to add into my regimen. He said to take it once a day, everyday. I started taking it in addition to the FCLO (about 33,000IU vitamin A) he told me to take. After a few days of taking the large dose, I started to not feel good but, I just brushed it off. It wasn’t until 6 days after taking it, I started to get horrible symptoms (see my symptoms below) and I stopped taking all vitamin A.
Why did this happen to me? I thought, maybe it’s because I’m sensitive to the vitamin A and that’s why the symptoms are so bad. But, after reading about vitamin A online, I learned that he had given me a toxic dose.
When I thought back, none of this made sense to me and it was odd that my vitamin A came out so low because I was taking FCLO. One thing that happened concerned me though, I remembered that previous times I had tested my vitamin A, the person drawing the blood immediately wrapped the vial in foil and told me that it shouldn’t be exposed to the light as it could cause the test to be inaccurate.
Well, this last time I went to the blood drawing at the hospital, the phlebotomist, did not cover the vial at all and left it exposed to the bright fluorescent lights in the room. I thought that may have been the reason the test was inaccurate. Studies show that when the blood vial is exposed to light, it decreases the accuracy of the measurement.
Then, after a few more weeks of researching vitamin A toxicity, I learned that all blood tests for vitamin A are NOT ACCURATE!!!! They’re not an accurate representation of the amount in your system. The levels of retinol in your blood fluctuate all the time. You can take the test one day and have high number, take it the next day and have a low number. I found studies from the ’90’s that showed that patients experiencing severe vitamin A toxicity even had vitamin A blood test results within the normal or low range.
I now believe that my vitamin A level was most likely normal already and my naturopath prescribing the high dose of vitamin A caused me to get vitamin A toxicity.
What amount causes vitamin A toxicity?
There’s a lot of contradictory information online about how much vitamin A is safe to take. Even though, 100,000IU is a very high dose, most say that it doesn’t cause vitamin A toxicity unless you take it long term. However, for me it did!
Toxicity occurs with the following doses:
For adults– 25,000 IU per kg of body weight (acute-taken at one time)
-4,000 IU per kg of body weight (chronic-taken over several months)
For children– More than 300,000 IU (acute- taken at one time)
-More than 100,000 IU (chronic-taken over several months)
Even though these are the typical doses that can cause vitamin A toxicity that does not mean that lower doses cannot cause it or the symptoms. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that excess of it gets stored in your liver and fatty cells for long periods of time so it can build up in the body and it does not leave the body quickly.
My symptoms- How I found out the vitamin was the cause
During the first few days of taking the Vitamin A supplement, I felt like I had a fast heart rate but, for absolutely no reason. I brushed it off for a few days. I even looked up a connection between heart rate and vitamin A, but found no information so I thought it couldn’t be connected. There isn’t much information online about vitamin A toxicity and all the symptoms.
Then, suddenly on the 6th day of taking the vitamin A, after dinner I started to feel really dizzy, I had difficulty breathing, felt pressure on my head, bright lights bothered me, and my vision seemed off. I immediately stopped taking all vitamin A.
What I did to Treat it
I went to two doctors to see if there was anything I could do to get the vitamin A out of my system faster and feel better. Their response was to just wait it out because it is a fat soluble vitamin. They said there isn’t much you can do. This was frustrating, I felt so terrible and to hear that I have to suffer with these symptoms and there was nothing I can do to get better faster made it even worse.
I researched vitamin A toxicity online to see what I could do and the only studies I found were mostly related to vitamin A toxicity in animals, but I figured the information and treatments may be worth a try. So here they are, this is what I did/am doing:
- Taking zinc (supposed to help counteract)
- Taking vitamin C and eating a lot of foods high in vitamin C (also supposed to help counteract)
- Taking Vitamin E -I just started this today, so I can’t say whether it’s helping or not yet but, this study found in rabbits that it counteracted the vitamin A toxicity effects.
- Drinking a lot of water- Not sure how much this helps but, I do feel better staying hydrated and I figure it must help to just flush everything out of my system.
- Eating good meals that have little to no vitamin A
- Trying to exercise/move around to increase my metabolism as much as possible, despite feeling bad.
- Doing a magnesium or Epsom salt foot bath 2 times a day
How I’m doing now:
Today is the 5th day since I stopped taking the vitamin A supplement. I am feeling better since the first (worst) night I realized I had vitamin A toxicity, but still not feeling back to normal. My vision is still off, I feel dizzy, and off balance. I’m hoping that with each day I will start gradually feeling back to normal as the vitamin A decreases.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress with recovering from vitamin A toxicity.
It could be toxicity, but it could also be detox. I personally started taking 60,000 IU daily after not taking (formed) Vitamin A ever my entire life (only beta carotene). One of my hands became extreme swollen, I felt confused, overall just not good. I noticed, and lowered my dose immediately from 60,000 (combination fermented cod liver oil and NOW Vitamin A), and immediately took like 5,000-10,000 IU (maybe even 20,000) Vitamin D to balance out my A:D ratio. Incredibly, my swelling went away, and my confusion stopped. I continued taking 10,000 IU from FCLO and 10,000 NOW Vitamin A, and tried to increase 10,000/week, but even that was to much. So I’m increasing 10,000 IU Vitamin A per month. My goal is to have a maintained 9,000 IU Vitamin D intake daily, and 60,000 IU Vitamin A intake daily, about a 6:1 ratio (1 tsp FCLO and 50,000 IU NOW Vitamin A, and 7,000 IU D3). But I’ll need to take more very very slowly.
Best, quickest, antidote for Vit A toxicity / excess, is taking large dose Vit D. I had high levels of Vit A 98mcg/dL. The high level persisted for long time, even after stopping A. At same time, my vit D level was so low, I was categorized as “severely deficient in Vit D”, by all doctors I visited.
Only when I started using D caps, 50,000 IU/ daily for 8 days, that my level of A started to normalize.
A antagonizes D, and vice versa. This info you won’t find published anywhere on the web. I just experimented on self, and find couple of sources mentioning relationship between A and D. But no one from major medical sources like Mayo or Merck will say this: if u have excess A, take D, and it will lower it. They will just say the usual: stop the A, and in few weeks time, you will recover. That ain’t true! U need high dose D. But only for very short time.
All best of health folks, and thanks for wonderful reading.
CARL
Interesting! Yea, I was reading about the connection between vitamin D and vitamin A.
Thanks, Carl! This is exactly the answer that I was looking for.
I eat chicken Livers everyday and people always tell me im going to die. We eskimos can handle it though. Just make sure vitamin D intake is on par with A and you should be set. Supplements scare me a little. Stay natural and nature will always find a way to thrive
This is a really important point. A 10-1 ratio of vitamin A to vitamin D (in IU units) is important for the safety of both vitamins to be maintained. My daughter had a miserable acute illness that lasted too long. I got her out of it with a single large dose of high-A Cod Liver Oil, which literally worked overnight, rendering her perfectly healthy. I later realized that her usual daily dose of fish oil, which contains D and not A, had probably pushed this ratio way out of whack, making her too high in D vs A, and thereby preventing her from healing. The single “A hit” was perfect to set things aright and now she’s doing great.
Hi Lori,
Thoughts about emulsified vitamin A:
Although I have no experience at taking high dose vitamin A, only the supermarket low dose variety, I am wondering whether or not the vitamin A you are taking is in the emulsified form? I understand from a book by Dr Phillip Day (who’s company sells emulsified high dose vitamin A) that the emulsified form is the only safe way to take high doses above 4,000 to 8.000 IU. Apparently emulsification of fats relieves the liver of it normal function in processing fats and concentrated substances, and enables the body to receive the nutrients from the blood stream directly. I believe the liver also has a maximum storage capacity for various nutrients, so in your case the liver seems to have obviously reached it’s limit one way or the other.
I was in this kind of situation in February, 2011. I suffered a lot. After recovering, I started to take natural foods not only for vitamin A but also for multi-vitamin according to my doctor’s advice. There are every types of vitamins in natural foods and we should take them from the nature. But I do not suggest anyone to neglect the vitamin suppliment, because it may need sometimes in some critical situation.
Thank you so much for your post. I’ve been searching online all night for information pertaining to detox from Vitamin A. All the information in your post is so very helpful. ‘m not sure this is what going on with me, but I’ was using Retin A for about 2 weeks only when I started having GI bleeding, achy body and just overall not feeling well.
I have a form of ulcerative colitis, normally bleeding is bright red though, this issue is causing dark and I have pain through out entire intestines, stomach and esophagus
I’ve been off retin a for 2 days now, drinking lots of water, apple and cranberry juice, taking Manuka honey and doing Epsom salt foot baths and still feel horrible. I’m just wondering if everyone’s symptoms went away totally. Has anyone ever heard of gi bleeding from usage of retin a?
It could possibly be related. I know that vitamin A can affect the intestines and cause IBS and IBD for many. I had IBS as a result of the vitamin A toxicity. Since you already had ulcerative colitis (hope I’m reading that right), maybe the vitamin A caused a change in that and affected it? Glad to hear you’ve been off of it. Most say it takes about 4 weeks to get out of your system. I would check with your doctor. Hope you feel better really soon!
Regarding your Salt Water Sole, the following website claims that himalayan pink salt has no major health benefits than regular salt –
https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/does-himalayan-pink-salt-hold-up-to-the-healthy-116323252232.html
I think taking too much vitamins or minerals above the daily recommended amounts can cause toxicity.
If anyone is interested in VItamin A toxicity I highly recommend this blog. Vitamin A toxicity over a lifetime including people in their 20’s can be very serious and present as many conditions. I think the writer of this blog is RIGHT!
Connecting Eczema, Crohn’s and Alzheimer’s
https://ggenereuxblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/eca/
Easy to read (but long) and understand. A very compelling theory ( and recommended simple diet. which I tried and had positive results)
I started having symptoms about a week and a half ago, at first I thought I had something really wrong I had no idea the supplements I was taking was the problem until my husband brought it to my attention , it started about 2 weeks after I started the supplements this is the 5th day I’ve been off of the supplements and I can tell each day I am getting better but still the symptoms are still pretty strong, I have so much trouble trying to sleep and when I do sleep I can’t stay asleep because of the head pressure I feel and the dizziness!! I hope I can recover quickly because this is driving me crazy!!!
So sorry you are going through this too Tasha. Like Lori, I found that drinking lots and lots of water helped. Sometimes I even needed to drink 3 large glasses of water at one time, but it kept the symptoms low. I think it is because the extra water helps our kidneys get rid of the excess. Just a guess. But my son was bed wetting until I stopped his cod liver oil too. And even after for a while. I think too much vitamin A drains magnesium and calcium. On top of the water it helped us both to take vitamin D, and lots of magnesium, and increase our dairy for the calcium. Don’t take sssupplementalD without the magnesium aandjudt take small doses or it will continue draining magnesium. But with lots of magnesium, it helped to offset the vitamin A symptoms for both of us pretty fast. Good luck!
Hope you feel better really soon! Try to keep in mind that the symptoms will go away, it may just take a little time.
Tasha how are you feeling now? Thanks in advance. I am suffering dizziness and mental fog with extreme fatigue.
Thank you for your post. I have had a similar experience recently after starting to take cod liver oil. It was the only thing I changed so I knew that was it. I had stopped taking it last Sumner because I suspected, but now know. I think both myself and my sons got too much just from cod liver oil. Almost a year later and my some looks very tired after eating some high vitamin A food this past weekend. I need to keep our vitamin A low for a very long time I think. my main symptoms are difficulty breathing and loss of appetite. Did you find that getting sun for vitamin D helped? I have read that they balance each other. I am using my uvb lamp and looking forward to summer.
Yea, it takes nearly a year to get all the excess vitamin A stores out of the liver. Getting adequate vitamin D helps protect you from the high amount of vitamin A.
How much vitamin a were you and your son’s getting from the cod liver oil?
How do you know it was the vitamin a that was causing the toxicity is probably due to an imbalance of other vitamins and minerals, either that or you’ve been a vegetarian and you have a compromised immune system.
I’m 99.9% sure it was the vitamin A toxicity due to the high amount I was taking. I went to several doctors and a toxicologist who all diagnosed me with it. I’m not vegetarian.
Did your fingernails change at all when you overdosed? Perhaps did they get a look similar to Terry’s Nails? I took some Vitamin A from fish liver oil 25,000IU. My nails have gotten a wider red band at the tip and wonder if it’s related. I have anxiety and loud noises startle me out of my skin.
I don’t think I noticed any changes in my fingernails, but I definitely remember reading that as one of the symptoms. Your other symptoms sound exactly like how I felt! I hope you feel better soon and try to keep in mind that the symptoms will go away.
Hi Lori, did you stop taking the desiccated liver? I overdosed on Vitamin A supplements over time. I’ve stopped them but I lost a lot of my hair. It’s growing back but I wondered if dedicated liver and it’s high vitamin A content might add to the problem.
Have had hairloss from accutane for 10 months now after taking 20mg. For 30 days. How long did it take for your hair to stop falling out? Any advice or remedies to help with it?
Hi Lori thank you so much for your blog it was a very big help, i was trying to find information about vit A toxicity/overdosing… Sadly i am experiencing exactly the same symptoms that mentioned above for 3 days now, i started to feel the symptoms after taking 5000IU vit A for a week and it feels terrible i feel weak depressed and tired im also experiencing dizziness blurry vision and headache.. I stop taking vit A right away coz i am pretty sure it was due to that bec that is the olny supplement i added from my regime.. And i hope mt symptoms go away soon. 🙁
Hope you are feeling better each day! The first few days/week is the worst. 5,000IU isn’t really that high of a dose so hopefully you will recover much faster than I did 🙂
That is what I have been taking — 5-7 days per week for nearly 2 years. Might not seem like a lot per day but the cumulative effects seem to be apparent.
Yes, in the studies I was reading, low doses for long periods of time can be just as harmful.
I’ve been taking a supplement that has vitamin A in it for about three weeks, and began feeling really weird. Dizzy, felt as if the floor was moving, and difficulty concentrating. I have stopped taking it and was wondering how long these effects lasted.
Glad to hear you stopped taking it. It can depend on the person. Most people don’t have symptoms after 2 weeks, but some doctors say it can last 4 weeks. I took a high dose of vitamin A and it took me about 3 months to feel a lot better. But along the way, each day I improved a little. Hope you feel better soon!
Hello T. My name is Ashley. How long did your symptoms last?
TIA,
Ashley
I just overdosed on Vitamin A as well, but rather than getting the symptoms you have, my liver and kidneys and abdominals are in slight pain and feel inflammed.
The doctors said that my blood work looks fine, so I guess I’ll just have to ride this out for the next few months.
But taurine seems to help alleviate everything, I’ll try some of the other supplements you suggested, thanks
So sorry to hear you got vitamin A toxicity too. Hope you are feeling better and better. That is great that your blood work looks good, that’s the main concern. Try to keep positive and remember that the symptoms will go away in time. Take care
leroy; did the taurine work? did you need to stop taking it? I have been taking too much vitamin a and taurine seems to conjugate it in the liver (as found by wikipedia)
did taurine end up resolving the issue long term for you?
Please let me know. thanks!
That must have been a scary experience. Good thing you weren’t pregnant. Excessive vitamin A during pregnancy can have teratogenic effects on the fetus but we don’t know how much is too much- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9431575. Know any women willing to guineapig this? Me neither. All vitamins can be toxic if consumed excessively. Its always best to play it safe. Why didn’t your naturopath just recommend more carrots, sweet potatoes or squash/pumpkin? 100,000 units is just way overkill. I wouldn’t recommend it. In fact, I wouldn’t recommend more 10,000. Just go for the carrots; beta carotene is way safer.
Yea, the worst thing is he gave me no warning that it could cause birth defects or liver damage. I trusted him because he said since my blood test showed I was low in vitamin A, I needed to take more. But, after doing much research, vitamin A blood tests are not accurate at all. He didn’t even know that! After this experience, I don’t trust naturopaths anymore.
Hopefully by the time you read this you’re back 100% 🙂
I just currently stop taking Tetrinoin due to all the sides you mention and some. Headaches, nausea, abdominal, back and muscle pain. Scary sxary stuff! I thought maybe my kidneys are shot due to the back pain and frequent urination (I upped my water intake thinking my kidneys needed it). Urine test was negative but sent in for culture(waiting results now) but doctor gave my Cipro just in case cause symptoms were all the same. At the same time my wife googled Retin A toxicity and found the site you mention for acne. It’s been 5 days but I’m already feeling better especially the depression part of it. I didn’t want to do anything, no motivation what so ever. Unusual and crazy being that I’m and avid cyclist and use to compete and train 200-250 miles a week. All I wanted to do was sleep! Going to see the dermatologist on wensday to see what he has to say. I was on Retin A .05. Never in a million years I’d think something topical could cause this much harm!!
So a question, feeling better now? How long did it take?
Thanks for your time.
Hope you are feeling better each day! I feel like I read every possible study, article, and blog post on vitamin A because I wanted to learn as much as I could. And I remember came across a whole thread on a site with many people commenting that they got vitamin A toxicity from topical Retin A. I was surprised to see that many got the vitamin A toxicity from something topical. I wish I could give you the link..but I don’t remember what site it was. Maybe you’ll come across it if you Google about vitamin A toxicity. I’d say that after about a month I noticed a huge improvement. Wish you the best!
It’s not just neuropaths but any doctor. You must be your own advocate for health. Always look up and research your symptoms and any abnormal test results. Research if any tests ordered for you by your doctor are accurate and if you need to be fasting for that test. Any dioganosis you get…..don’t jump to take a suplement nor fill a perscription medication utill you research the medication and the side effects as well as any diagnosis for a disease or affliction a doctor says you have. So don’t trust that you actually have the affliction your doctor claims you have without research. Take control of your health because nobody cares about you as. U have as you do. Remember doctors are in business. The treatment is not free and they can be wrong! Lots of symptoms can be the same for different things. I was told I was hypercalcemic with no treatment offered when in fact I had a much more serious disease that required surgery as a cure as well as temporarily stopping the use of vitamin D until after surgery because it was harming my condition.
Couldn’t agree more!
dear Lori:
Thank you for this amazingly informative post. I see it is a bit outdated now since all of your wrote last year but I would love to get an update on how you have been feeling after attempting to detox from the overdose. Are all of your symptoms gone? I truly hope that you are feeling better!!!
I am writing now to inquire if you experienced any side effects relating to hair loss and vision imparement during the overdose period. I see that Charlotte briefly alluded to that but did not bring up any specifics. Also, do you have any knowledge as to wherethere one can get overdosed on supplementing with spirulina on a everyday bases for about 6 months.
Thank you! Your reply is greatly appreciated!!!
I’m interested as well, in any case thanks for documenting your experience. I was worried something worse could be happening when my symptoms were lasting for days.
I found someone commenting on their experience with vitamin A toxicity on a board on acne.org. I think his name was “sowet”. It seemed like he said it took nearly a year until he was feeling completely back to normal. This was reassuring because many were telling me that I should have been back to normal after 4 weeks and I wasn’t. I’m now just starting to feel a big improvement and closer to feeling like myself again.
Hi Katya, thank you! Just this month I’m starting to feel a lot better! It’s been about 5 months now. I found a study that said the half-life of vitamin A is approximately 100 days, so I think that’s why it’s taking so long to get better and it should all be out of my system around the middle of June. I surprisingly didn’t get any hair loss. I think that’s because I had acute toxicity and not chronic toxicity. I still have no appetite and I lost about 15 pounds. I still feel really fatigued and weak. I’m not too familiar with overdosing on spirulina. Are you concerned about getting vitamin A toxicity from the spirulina? The vitamin A in spirulina is beta-carotene..so there shouldn’t be any concern about vitamin A toxicity from it. You can’t get vitamin A toxicity from beta-carotene, the body regulates how much beta carotene it converts into vitamin A. It’s the vitamin A from food sources like milk, cheese, eggs, liver, and synthetic vitamin A that is dangerous in high amounts. Hope this helps 🙂
Yes you can get vitamin a poisoning from ingesting too many carotenoids! It might take longer time as it is not as potent. Fruits and vegs are not as harmless or as healthy as commonly believed nowadays. Same, you will not be able to detoxify from vitamin a toxicity while still eating a diet heavy on fruits, veggies and spices.
Thank you for the information! 🙂
I am so sorry you went through all of this, but praise God you are feeling better and were smart enough to realize this just wasn’t right and then take the steps to figure out what happened and how to speed up the healing process. This is such great information for those of us who had no idea about how the blood draw should not be exposed to light. This will most certainly help many who read it to avoid experiencing the same issue. Thank you so much for sharing! And again, I’m so happy to hear you’re feeling better! 🙂
Thank you so much Kelly! 🙂
Did you have your blood retested so that you knew for sure that it was a Vit. A overdose?
Great question! I wanted to get one to see how high my level was but, I found out that with the blood tests for vitamin A – the retinol concentrations aren’t sensitive to evaluating how much vitamin A reserves are in the liver.
Sorry you had a bad reaction and are going through the terrible symptoms. I hope you are well soon. But I wanted to ask why you and your doctor thought you were low in vitamin A because you were within the normal range based on the blood test results even though you explained how the result was incorrect because of the light exposure. 42 was within the normal range. Below 38 would have been a low test result. So being within the normal range seems strange for your doctor to prescribe any extra vitamin A and especially such a large dose. What I mean is that even though it was not a correct reading because the light affected the sample……based on the result range that showed up it was still within the normal range ( even though your true result was probably higher) so why did you and your doctor think it was low, meaning below normal ranges? Just curious, not judgmental.
Thanks I am just about back to normal! The naturopath said that the conventional ranges for what is “normal” are too broad and that my result was actually low. Similarly, he told my I had hypothryoidism even though my TSH was in the “normal” range according to most doctors, but that according to naturopathic standards, my TSH was high. After all that happened to me, do I trust him..no, definitely not lol. Every article in pubmed on vitamin A toxicity states that your blood level of vitamin A is not at all accurate. It does not assess vitamin A stored in the liver. Many get admitted in hospitals with severe vitamin A toxicity and their blood levels are normal or even low for vitamin A.
What kind of vision problems were you having and how long before it cleared up? I am having real bad glare from sunlight and headlights. Seeing starbursts and halos too around lights. I stopped cod liver about a week ago and still no change in vision.
Blurred vision, especially when I’d quickly glance down at something. It took time for my eyes to readjust. Also, unable to look at bright lights. I’d say it was 6 months to a year until my vision was better.
Hello, I hope to get a response. I’ve been taking high doses of vitamin A for 5 days and I woke up with blurred vision that is scarring the life out of me…I realized it was from the vitamin A and stop taking it immediately…Did.you say.6 months to a yr before my vision is better? Even if I’ve been taking it for 5 days?
5 days is not long at all. How many IU were you taking?
Thomas, you should have your eye pressures checked. by an ophthalmologist. Your symptoms could be related to glaucoma or, at the least, high inter-ocular pressures (IOP).
Already did that -pressure is normal. Still having the symptoms almost 6 months out.
I am currently dealing with a similar issue. I was googling it and your site popped up. My Vitamin A levels have been tested about 8 times over the course of a year and seem to be hovering around the low to mid 20’s no mater how much vitamin A supplements I take. Currently my Functional Medicine doctor has me on 40,000 iu’s daily but I have been noticing your same symptoms (heightened anxiety, dizziness, vision issues, and brain fog). Blood work just came back, Vitamin A is only 29mcg/dL. Your comment about blood test not being accurate makes me wonder if my levels really are fine. Can you shed some light on this? I am having the hardest time finding articles on vitamin A.
Hi Rachel, after a lot of research I found out that blood tests for vitamin A level is not accurate. People who have vitamin A toxicity from taking hundreds of thousands of IU a day or even a million IU a day can have blood test results come back in the average range or even low range. This is because the blood test only tests what’s currently in your blood at that exact moment; it doesn’t test how much is stored in your liver. I saw a toxicologist and he said the same, that the blood test results for vitamin A really don’t mean anything. They’re not an accurate representation of the amount in your system. I am shocked that my naturopath doesn’t know this, yet prescribes high dose vitamin A to patients. It’s really scary! Personally, after my experience, I would never take more than the daily recommended dose of Vitamin A because there is no way to know if your are low in it or getting too much. 40,000IU is a high amount. If it was me, I would completely stop the vitamin A. Please be careful and I hope you feel better really soon!! 🙂
How long have you been taking 40,000IU?
Thank you! I knew something wasn’t right, but I just figured it was all in my head. Scary that so many doctors don’t know this! I was talking 20,000 ius for a few months, then when levels didn’t go up she bumped it up to 40,000ius … was on the 40,000ius for a couple weeks. But now have stopped after reading this.
Glad to hear you stopped. Hope you feel better really soon!
A friend of mine is a nutritionist and warned me about Vitamin A when I started talking about eating liver. He told me 4 oz. once a week because it is high in Vitamin A and you want to avoid anything over 8,000 IU PER WEEK! PERIOD!
Like I said in my original post, I was taking an eye support supplement and thought it had only 1,000 IU per dose. Turns out it was 10,000! (Half beta carotene, the other A Acetate). When I approached my friend about it last week he said it backs up in the iiver and takes time to release.
I had an eye doctor today tell me that I wasn’t taking enough to be toxic and some guy on twitter said he’s taking 732K IU per day through diet and thinks I am too low to be toxic. I sure feel like I am and all the symptoms I have point to it.
I stopped taking it a week now, but am feeling like I am going through withdrawal where it feels worse than when I was taking it.
I’d go to the doctor but as you all have said, blood tests won’t turn up what is in the liver.
Rick, that doctor doesn’t understand vitamin A metabolism. The amount of vitamin A that is toxic is very different from person to person because each person makes a different amount of retinol-binding protein (RBP). RBP is the protein that encases vitamin A when it is absorbed from food in order to protect it from undergoing uncontrolled reactions that cause cellular damage. Some people make very low amounts of RBP and can possibly become vitamin A-toxic at levels much lower than those for people who make more RBP.
Sorry, I posted this twice because I posted it in the wrong place.
Also, people who claim to be taking all that vitamin A without incident are likely to produce greater amounts of RBP. This does not mean that everyone can take such large amounts. 732,000 IU is a stupidly large amount. Very dangerous…..
I told my nutritionist friend about the guy taking 732K IU. First thing he said is he thinks the guy is lying and second, he’s more likely taking in a lot of beta carotene.
I have questions about Vitamin D. My Blood test showed that I was really low. What are the symptoms of low Vitamin D?
What can be used to Detoxify skin, organ?
I still have acne and I’m 58
I don’t have vitamin A toxicity but I found some of your symptoms quite interesting. I had severe depression and anxiety for 5yrs and your symptoms matched some of mine: poor vision, vertigo, shallow breathing. I also began to have memory problems (which still persists today) and dry patches on my skin..etc. It’s interesting because some people may think they have depression and/or anxiety..and they just lack vitamins or minerals..while others may have the same symptoms from consuming too much
You are actually just after describing what is currenly wrone with me, I have all them symptoms for approximately a week now, started to think I had a panic disorder, I’ve been taking way to many vitamin supplements as I prob don’t need them due to a good diet,
Hope you’re feeling better now and symptoms are going away!
Taking 100,000 IU Vitamin A daily is an awful lot, even if you were thought to be low. I’m not sure why your naturopath would recommend so much — on top of what you were already taking. You could try coffee enemas to help clear things out. They’re not truly “enemas” but liver detoxifiers and are very powerful. Also, results are immediate.
It is a high dose. Thank you for the suggestion! I’m going to look more into that tonight.
I recommend a liver cleanse. Lots of things can build up inside of the liver and cause it to function at less than normal. I usually do a herbal cleanse and recommend doing so once a year, same as yearly cleanse for other organs at separate times. Especially a heavy metal cleanse.
Thanks for the great suggestion!
So glad you’re feeling better. 😀
Thank you!
I suffered the same effects after taking liquid Vitamin D.
Thanks for sharing! How long did it take you to feel better?
Awe, how awful! This is a good lesson! I hope you feel better really soon, Lori!!
Thank you!! I’m starting to feel much better. 🙂
I hope you recover very soon! I love your enthusiasm for health. I guess we can over do it. Mother Nature is wise but picky. She doesn’t like us to depart from her perfect plan.
You’ll feel fine soon. Thanks for sharing what happened. It think it’s a valuable lesson.
We love you!
You’re so sweet, thank you Judy 🙂
I believe this information will be very helpful for me as my blood test have shown deficiencies. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Thanks for commenting Anabella 🙂
Awww, I’m glad you’re feeling better now. Thank you for sharing your story and this info with us! I had no idea!
Thank you Rachael 🙂
Hi Lori, I once OD’d on Vitamin A as well, after needing a few eye surgeries! It really feels sucky! I also think I lost about 25% of my hair after prolonged vitamin A overdosage (I have thick, wavy hair that slowly became sooo much more thinned over the course of 2 years! and I’m only 24! It’s slowly growing back) You should be back to feeling normal though in a week or so hopefully! I took no supplements except C when I was recovering, drank loads of water, slept, and exercised as much as I could. I didn’t take any supplements again besides the occassional C for over 3 months!
My aunt’s husband is a naturopath doctor, and he recommended that, while some supplementation is a good thing, I should only supplement with vitamins every 3 days or so. So, I rotate- I take FCLO every other day, in a moderate dose, probiotics every other day, and every couple days take a C, o zinc, or magnesium in a moderate dose. Maybe once a week I take an E or a B vitamin. Most of this is just based on how it makes me feel- definitely learned you got to listen to your body! and though I’m not entirely paleo, I do agree that it’s important to get most of your vitamins from food, and not too much supplementation is necessary! Though, as an anthropologist, I do think vitamins are good and there is a reason we live much longer than paleolithic people- more resistance to disease, less osteoporosis at age 28, no rickets… vitamins do have benefits!
Thank you for commenting with your experience! It’s encouraging to hear that your hair is growing back. It’s been about 11 days since I stopped the vitamin A and I’m slowly starting to feel better. I think the vitamin C is definitely helping. That’s a good idea to stay off all supplements for several months; I’m planning on doing that too.
Hi Lori this is how I feel right now I decided to go on your sight maybe I will read up on something, I thought maybe my blood is low cause I am doing the lemon water with cayenpeper in the morning , I also swallow some garlic in the morning on a empty stomach but I don’t know why I feel so horrible I do take spirulina in the morning and also vitamin c and I will also drink some black strap molasses in some boiling water, Lori what am I doing wrong or what am I eating that I am not suppose to eat I was also diagnose with underactive thyroid but after eating right and after 2years of blood test my last blood test result showed that my thyroid function is normal. Thank God for that.
Garlic can be tough on the stomach. I always have raw garlic with a meal to prevent it from bothering my stomach. That’s is great you were able to resolve your underactive thyroid! Hope you feel better soon!
Hi Lori I would like to ask you if you were on antibiotics or ppis around the time you started to have your symptoms ?
Hi Ana, no I wasn’t taking any medications.
The TSH thyroid test is not an accurate test for your thyroid you need to go by symptoms and T3 and T4 test. Go buy a book called ” Stop the thyroid madness”. It will tell you where to find a dr in your area that will treat by symptoms over THS test. You want to take a dessicated thyroid med like Armour and not the synthetic typical prescription med dr’s prescribe called Synthroid. You may be feeling bad because of hypothyroidism and need a prescription of Armour. When ever you get any blood tests ask the lab to mail you a copy of the results. Check yourself to see if you are out of the normal ranges. Normal ranges will be listed on the results papers. If you are high or low in anything look it up on the Internet to see what it could possibly mean. Don’t rely on your dr. You have to be your own advocate. I self diagnosed two problems when 3 different dr’s missed my abnormal test results and ignored my symptoms. One was parathyroid disease. I ended up with surgery to remove two lg tumors that were inside me for 10 yrs undiaganoised. These tumors were shortening my life by attacking my body. I had never even heard of parathyroid disease before checking my test results and symptoms in a internet search. I won’t take up this space with the other issue.
I have taking Sun Chlorella for over a year……and a few months ago I started feeling not good….shaky… rapid heartbeat at night….and so on…went for ultrasound and they found my liver had cysts and polyp in the gallbladder et …..i have started taking alfalfa and stl not feeling normal…..and other supplements…….then I came across your blog…and now I see that I might have high vitamin a
..which is found in the chlorella and alfalfa……going to drink lots of water and try to flush all thia out….
Eat vitamin A, the body appears diplopia, the brain is swollen, the photophobia, the eye suddenly appears the glare rainbow.
But I only ate five 25,000 units of vitamin A every day. I had a lot of adverse reactions, which lasted for more than half a month. Now I don’t know how to detoxify.
Then the doctor told me to stop using it. My eyes had seen it. Now there is no problem. Everything is normal. http://www.medgmp.com/?page_id=12&goods_id=1076
Reply:
Oh, Angel! Glad to see your reply. Either my MS is flaring or this is vitamin A toxicity. I do take CLO, desiccated liver capsules, and eat other foods with retinol. While I’ve had diplopia (double vision) before, the extreme dizziness and nausea (including the subsequent wretch) has been awful. And the massive headache! I probably should have gone to the hospital last night, but no insurance at the moment.
Today is Day 11 of this illness, and I finally connected the dots after a snarky YouTube comment back to me about consuming animal products for retinol. Anyway, that reply led me to look up which foods were high in retinol…. well, well, well…and all the rest with how much is needed each day.
I have lost 4.4# since all this started, 12/14, and today is 12/24. Nothing tastes normal. Did you experience that, Angel? I know I’m dehydrated, too, which makes it worse, but I’ve been too nauseous. No to eating and drinking water, but yes to sleep and rest. At least I can see straight up close and able to use my phone.
Today is definitely better than yesterday. I was able to eat a little. Didn’t use butter on the 1/4 cup quinoa, unlike yesterday…. which I ended up losing that.
Hoping the eyes improve from the double vision sooner than later. Closing one eye or wearing a worn out sleep mask with one eye cleared for sight is obnoxious and annoying. Helps a little with the dizziness, though head position is a factor. How long did you have the double vision, Angel?
Hope to hear from you or anyone else that experienced double vision. The literature I’ve come across online for symptoms of vitamin A toxicity only mentions vision disturbance for adults, but double vision issues for children and infants. Of course, plenty of other symptoms, though I don’t experience all of them. How about you? Thank you! And of course, a big thanks to Lori.
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By the way, there are only three manufacturers of cod liver oil (CLO) that do not add synthetic vitamin A and hormone D: Rosita’s, Nordic Naturals, & Jigsaw.
SunnySky,
You may want to check out the free e-books by Grant Genereux. He discusses vit A toxicity in depth. He also has a discussion board on his blog for those trying to detox vit A. Lots of good info there too.
Hey Trista,
cool to be out reading and find a fellow traveler spreading the word on Grant Genereux!
Sonne’s also does not do this!
CHlorella and bright green foods have vitamin A precursers in them. They can be a problem.