I thought I share this information with the community and maybe some of you out there may benefit. If you have all sorts of weird and seemingly unrelated symptoms then it might just be possible to improve them by taking Thiamine. I'll include a couple of links here, one is a shorter video and the other is a longer one. Elliot has many more videos on YouTube and it's worth your time checking them out. He provides data, and research based information. I personally started taking higher doses of B1 since not all of my neurological symptoms were resolved even after optimising my b12 & thyroid function. I can honestly say it has helped me massively and I'm symptom free now. This is after 5 weeks of supplementing with B1. Here's the links -
I’ve consulted with Elliot. He’s very into thiamine. He didn’t recognise that I had adrenal insufficiency promoted by prolonged keto/carnivore, which I’d have expected him to catch being so knowledgeable. But he’s a nice guy and very very focussed on B1. Some of the testimonials about B1 are crazy good so I think it’s the magic bullet for some!
So I found bentothiamine (fat soluble) useful, much more so than thiamine (water soluble) it’s best taken with magnesium as B1 can’t work without it. I’ll attach an image here if you want to see the stuff I take. Additionally, if you’re super interested there is a book by a guy called Derrick Lonsdale who wrote all about Thiamine and Dysautonomia.
A wave back at ya and thank you for the info. With that dosage did you end up taking potassium as well? I've noticed magnesium and potassium mentioned as cofactors.
I didn’t take potassium but that’s only because I think I have an aldosterone issue 😬 checking that in a week or so, and didn’t want to meddle with that incase K was already high. Enjoy the deep dive! It really is the silver bullet for some xx
Thank you hun. So I'm assuming that the energy it gave you at that dose wasnt too much? I'm very sensitive to high doses and I'm pretty sure I wont be able to take more than 25-50 mg .
I need help with energy but I dont want to be bursting with soo much energy that I become wired
Actually energy wasn’t a big thing that changed on the bentothiamine, I have a clearer mind and less internal noise if that makes sense. I did take the full dose every day and I didn’t notice those improvements on water soluble thiamine, so I think that makes the difference. Just skimming that article above I can see that types of magnesium and potentially additional nutrients like carnitine may also be beneficial co factors. I personally didn’t ever feel wired by it if that helps reassure at all 🙂 xx
I got very excited about B1 about a year ago and took all the mega doses recommended - both at one time on its own and an other time as part of a multi B. There was very little effect tbh and I do accept this is all very personal - I seem to have naturally high B including B12 which was very high the only time I measured it.
The more I read this thread the more I realise we are all different so it’s great what you have done to draw attention to all the benefits - it’s great to hear!
thanks for link SlowDragon I think I have this issue but looking at the b complex supplements that have 9000% or more of different B vitamins of what average body needs seems excessive and potentially dangerous?
I don’t like the comments on the risk warnings about possible nerve damage and put me off mega dose B pills - I have no idea of course how accurate the warnings are …
Wow. That article is very helpful, thanks! I sent it to myself to read in detail.
My B12 came back slightly elevated this time and has been before, even though I am not over-supplementing it. I also take methylated folate in good quality b-complex. From what you k know about paradoxical B12 deficiency, is that sufficient?
There is a known effect of excess B6. I’m not aware of any studies on excess amounts of other B vitamins. I did write to Thorne to ask about the clinical evidence to their doses but was fobbed off by their medical affairs department so i don’t believe they have any data either. Huge amounts concern me when untested.
It had 100mcg or 100mg of every ingredient in the product (except possibly folic acid which was 400mcg - although my memory is vague on the subject).
Before I started taking it I suffered from peripheral neuropathy in my feet. Within a couple of months of taking the product my feet were a lot better. I kept on taking the product and after another 2 or 3 months my feet started to get worse again. I reduced my supplement to this one :
After some research I discovered that deficiency and toxicity of vitamin B6 have some similarities in symptoms, including peripheral neuropathy.
I stopped taking the mega dose B Complex from H&B and didn't take a B Complex for several years. Luckily I discovered the issue with excess B6 quickly and my feet got better again. I hate to think what would have happened if I had taken the product for much longer than I did. My problem could have become permanent.
I've never knowingly had problems with toxicity from any other B vitamins.
I now realise that the H&B products I took were not good for other reasons besides the very high B6 dose. They were made from cheap ingredients e.g folic acid rather than methylfolate, cyanocobalamin rather than methylcobalamin.
And there is no reason, other than marketing, why any supplement should contain the same amounts of multiple vitamins. The body doesn't work that way.
I now take Thorne Research Basic B Complex which only contains 10mg of vitamin B6 :
Yes, they are. I really struggled to tolerate B vitamins even in the past. I had H pylori a year ago & I was quite poorly. With my hypothyroidism and mould infection I was a train wreck. I needed to supplement with many different products to rebuild my body. I tried the methylated B complex and that seem to have worked for me the best. When I had my levels tested last year they were all tanked and no wonder I was plagued with neurological symptoms. My GP panicked and sent me to have a scan as she suspected MS. She scared me to death and that's when my researching hat was pulled out of the bottom draw and put into action. Thankfully I'm in a much better place now that is down to sheer perseverance. You push on and never give up.😉
I can't find the link right now (my brain doesn't really do mornings!) but high dose B1 is popular supplement to try in the ME/CFS community & helps with PoTS too.
For more articles (198 of them) that mention thiamine than you are ever likely to read, this website and its owner are obsessed with it, and it would appear it is with very good reason :
The major difference that I'm aware of is that thiamine can be water soluble (and much of it which will probably be lost in urine) or fat soluble which I think hangs around for longer.
Benfotiamine is fat soluble, for example, and is available as a supplement.
Vit B1/ thiamine is water-soluble as is vit C , they are not stored in the body so a continuous supply is required. Any excess is eliminated in the urine.
Vits A,D,E & K are fat-soluble....they can therefore be stored in body tissue so "it hangs around for longer"... but excess can become toxic.
Benfotiamine is a lab made version of vit B/ thiamine, it's changed to B1 in the body and is more readily absorbed. It's long term use is not yet well understood .
It is fat-soluble and provides a higher bioavailability of thiamine than it's water-soluble counterpart
I really enjoyed reading all of your comments, thank you. We're all very different, and our experiences also differ, no surprise there. We're running our own little experiments in a way, aren't we? Giving up isn't an option, not in my book anyway😉
I see Dr Berg, the famous scientologist doctor, talk a lot about B1. I do think a lot of his advice his good. Way more knowledgeable than your average GP. He talks a lot about gluten issues and goes into depth about thyroid complications. That resonated with me...So glad B1 helped your neurological symptoms. What were your symptoms like? I've dealt with bad anxiety and depression... I ordered some B1 but haven't tried it yet. Magnesium and methy folate and B12 help my symptoms a lot. Vitamin D helps too.
Bad anxiety and depression can be caused by low levels of several different nutrients (as well as too little or too much thyroid hormones).
In my case optimising my iron and ferritin as far as possible, and then maintaining it there, eliminated my anxiety and drastically reduced my depression.
Others have had similar benefits by increasing their levels of B12 or folate or vitamin D or magnesium or zinc or...
What works varies from person to person. And ideally people would optimise as many nutrients as possible because it helps in converting T4 to T3.
I'm learning all that you said to be true...My ferritin is very high but iron is borderline deficient. I'm still confused with this. What do you think?
Low iron and high ferritin is typical of Anaemia of Chronic Disease. Ferritin has two (related) purposes - it is a store for iron, and it also rises in people with inflammation and/or infection.
Imagine you had an infection e.g. a chest infection. The bugs infecting you need iron to reproduce. In order to reduce the amount of iron these bugs have access to the body stores "spare" iron in ferritin. It also does this when someone has acute or chronic inflammation anywhere in the body.
Can you pls share the mega dose that you're on? Also I've seen magnesium and potassium mentioned as cofactors and I'm curious to know if you are taking them and how much?
I'm interested in trying 50mg and curious to know if I really need to supplement potassium. I'm already taking magnesium glycinate.
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