Supplements that have ruined your health
-
@Sugar Ray often advised against supplementation but it can be really helpful when trying to reverse decades-long malnutrition or ill-health.
NAC supposedly places your body into a more reduced state and also feeds cancer growth in some cases. Nicotinic acid is sometimes helpful when detoxing but most of the time, niacinamide is the far more healthful version.
DHEA probably skyrocketed your estrogen levels due to industrial contaminants, high dosage, and you might have been in a stressed state. Small amounts (3-5mg) are apparently all you need? Need to check Ray and RPF about that.
Isolated glycine apparently has contaminants and causes strange dreams too in some people. Ray even advises against hydrolyzed collagen and argues for only Great Lakes Gelatin. I haven't had many problems with hydrolyzed collagen, other than it sometimes tastes a bit weird to me and sometimes changes my BMs.
Ashwagandha is terrible. The increase in serotonin signaling (either through upregulation of receptors or it being an agonist) is one of the reasons why people feel terrible on it. Lokzo at RPF has a thread on it.
THC increases serotonin signaling as well. The small increase in pregnenolone in the brain from it is only due to it trying to protect itself.
Phenibut can definitely do that. Small amounts of alcohol might be better. Apparently, higher amounts of salt in your diet can lead to more of an effect from alcohol (don't think there are studies on this)
Can't say anything about MK677.
I've also had bad experiences with THC and ashwagandha: anhedonia, lack of motivation, depression, lack of mental clarity, etc. Higher doses of pregnenolone or chronically used have been bad for me as well. I think preg-sulfate acts as a GABA receptor antagonist and can lead to anxiety. I've also found that the increase in NMDA receptor activation also places you in a chronic "learning-mode" which can be helpful in some cases but can lead to analysis paralysis and lack of execution.
-
DHEA is easy to overdose especially when done topically.
Exemestane is one that, although I used very small amounts, the rebound after stopping may have caused a harm I wasn't expecting.
-
Didn't ruin my health but melatonin gave me nightmares and thoughts bordering on suicidal 4-5 years ago, and I didn't even take large doses – just 0.3-0.5 mg. Though to be fair the negative thoughts might have been due to having a job I hated in a city far from home.
-
Didn't ruin my health but taking even a tiny dose of taurine before bed gave me such bizzare and intense dreams I couldn't sleep properly. It also made me completely confused when I woke up, like the dreams wouldn't stop for a few minutes.
No issues taking it in the morning with coffee though.
-
I put topical vitamin A on my bellybutton not long ago and I ended up with a migraine the next day and a rash on the application area
I'm not really sure why though -
@pilky yeah I've only taken melatonin a few times and it's always nightmares, maybe our natural production is good enough and supplementing it means overdoing it.
-
@Sugar Yeah. And if I really had to knock myself out I'd use cypro instead.
-
@pilky haven't played around with anything like cypro, not sure how my body would react.
-
@Sugar During the summer theanine gave me derealisation and severe constipation for months that is only now resolving.
Vitamin k2 mk-7 gives me intrusive thoughts but it still was able to patch up some mild cavities I had.
Vitamin d3 gives me anxiety, even though I have previously been able to tolerate it.
Glycine combined with taurine at night gave me sleep paralysis. -
Taking cypro and 10-meo-harmalan within days of each other will lead to very violent dreams. Not pleasant
-
Years ago I took a 2-5 milligram dose of K2-MK7 and had a severe histamine reaction. Palpitations, swelling, anxiety, sweating, etc. Never took MK7 again but MK4 gives me no issues. It could have been excipient related.
-
L-citrulline
Ashwagandha
NAC (gave me literal depression)
Lion's mane -
@Sugar Chantix made me pre-psychotic, very weird dreams, lots of paranoia. Fortunately it cleared up pretty quickly when I quit using it
-
This post is deleted! -
Curious, how did each of those affect you? I'm currently on most of that.
-
Some of these reactions could be related to contamination during the supplement manufacturing process.
None have ruined my health, but I took an Acetylcholine supplement that made me feel really dialed in and then that progressed to anxiety and very racey like I wanted to jump out of my own skin, along with weird sensations in my head. On the bright side, I was recovering from a TBI and it did give me sustained energy and the ability to do normal things that very same day.
Also around that same time I took a supplement that had lemon balm, GABA, and theanine in it. Felt like I took a Xanax, all baseline anxiety washed away and intrusive thoughts quieted (I have OCD). Within an hour after that it was like my body swung in the opposite direction and I felt decently anxious. Having said that, when I started feeling so good, I was googling why, and ended up on some subreddit where all these ppl were talking about horrible experiences with GABA so maybe that's what gave me the anxiety. Have been nervous to try again.
OCD can be because of too much glutamate, not enough GABA, having said that, GABA supplements aren't supposed to cross the blood brain barrier, although I heard it can if you have leaky gut (which I think I do). Been really curious to try it again but equally parts nervous
-
It didn't ruin my health but taking zinc made my hair start going white the last few times I reintroduced it. I read some literature that showed even 15mg supplemental zinc can induce a copper deficiency. The problem reversed itself after I stopped taking it and ate some liver and potatoes for a week or two.
-
@coffee MK4 + D3 from Thorne feels good, but the MK7 was from Life Extension, and I've been hesitant to use their brand ever since. Pretty sure it's low quality.
-
When I was taking fish oil pretty heavily, I was passing so much in my urine it stank of fish and always came out cloudy
Even low dose DHEA gives me acne but taken with Progest-E + orange juice (for naringenin) it's still beneficial on balance
-
D-aspartic acid. I felt like I was dying for weeks.