I was diagnosed with PD 6 months ago. Based on numerous accounts from this forum members, I decided to start B1 and no other medication. After 5 weeks (with 1 g daily) I had, quite by chance, my blood pressure measured - it was 160! I had always had low BP, so I was a bit startled and didscontinued B1 to figure out what to do. Does anyone have similar experience, and if so, how do you manage it?
Best regards ! Mojca
As I said in other post I had it one time when I tried 4g plus folic acid.
But never I had issues with 2g and 1g a day. Yes, it was a bit scary so I drank lots of water to eliminate it and took two baby aspirins. I remember few other people had it.
Did the BP return back to normal after a while or do you still have the same problem?
I remember another forum member (Mary?) having very elevated blood pressure and she dealt with it by lowering her dose of B-1 and not taking it all the time if I remember correctly.
Dr Costantini's suggestion was that since the symptoms of PD can be very severe, he felt that if you are a B-1 responder, then it would be worthwhile to work with your doctor to try and control the blood pressure while still taking the B-1 so as to get the B-1 benefit without elevated blood pressure and that was, of course assuming that the B-1 benefit was worth the extra effort. That is what he said he did with his office patients.
Art
Here's a relevant post from Mary ("Parkie13") from October 2, 2019 where she mentions getting high blood pressure from vitamin B1 :
"parkie13
parkie13in reply to TheLordsWeapon
a month ago
I do get high blood pressure from thiamine HCL as well as the fat soluble B1 - it's called benfotiamine. It goes up into the range of 212 / 112. This time, so far I have not had it. I have stopped thiamine HCL few times and restarted it again after a week or two weeks time or even more. So I definitely would not be scared of starting to take it. If you do get high blood pressure it's probably going to take a while of taking B1 before it shows up. And as I said it goes down again when you stop. And now that you have been warned you can keep an eye on it. Mary"
Yes, Dr. Costantini, said it was a known side effect in some people using HDT. What he did with patients was to try and adjust their blood pressure medication to compensate as well as lower the dose. His comment on this issue is that if the person was other wise getting a very good response to HDT, then it was worth it to try and adjust the blood pressure medication and B-1 to allow the patient to get the benefit of B-1 toward their PD symptoms. Here is Q&A # 37 from the HDT/B-1 FAQ page that has Dr. Costantini's response to this issue :
37. Can thiamine cause hypertension in some people?
A: It could, and if that does happen the doctor should operate either on reducing the thiamine dosage or adjusting the anti-hypertension therapy of the patient.
Here is a link to the HDT/B-1 FAQ page with answers by Dr. Costantini to 58 frequently asked questions regarding HDT / B-1 :
healthunlocked.com/parkinso...
Art
Search for member Parkie13 (Mary). She definitely has that problem and has posted her workaround.
Hi there. Yes my husband had a hugh spike in his blood pressure. I'd built the B1 up to 4g, probably too quickly. He was being treated for low blood pressure, which was one of his first PD symptoms back in 2012. . It was then all over the place, up to 214/120. We stopped theB1 and it dropped. We have recently started it again. He is taking 1500mg. We will leave it there for awhile and see what happens. My husband's main symptom is extreme Apathy.
If you're not already supplementing the needed co-factor magnesium with B1, you probably should. Also probably a good idea to get your potassium level checked and if in a lower range supplement with potassium citrate. Look up potassium deficiency symptoms - high blood pressure is one of them along with apathy. Mg regulates blood K level.
Update on B1 dose increase after 4+ years
