Headaches and Insomnia- The Vitamin C Relationship

I am always intrigued to read up on studies that discuss nutrient
deficiencies as this is one area that is such a great controversy, especially
as it relates to supplementation.

It is generally known and accepted that many conditions
affecting poor health can be prevented and/or treated by simply increasing the
amount of a vitamin or mineral that might be lacking.

But what if we go the other way and cause problems because
of over-supplementing?

We hear from people all the time who have found themselves
as having “hit a wall” with their health. They do everything they think they
are supposed to do and no matter how much running, yoga, meditating and veggies
they include in their lives, they still have a few conditions that they can’t
shake.

A lot of times, the answer lies in the journaling of what is
actually being consumed. I was going over the food and supplement records of a
friend of mine recently who was complaining that despite many natural
interventions, his headache and sleep problem was just getting worse.

Sure enough, on every page there was one entry every day for
Vitamin C, among a dozen or so other supplements.

Some of the other supplements he was taking included in
their proprietary formulas added Vitamin C as well.

If a little does a little good, a lot should do a lot of
good, right?

Actually, this is dangerous thinking and was at the heart of
the problems he was having with his headaches and sleep.

He was also complaining about low back pain on one side, and
thought he might need to visit the doctor about possible carpal tunnel syndrome
problems (he had read one of the Blue Heron posts recently about CPS and
Arthritis).

I sat and listened to the laundry list of what had been
going wrong lately with his health and he was ready to break down and start
taking prescription pain medicine for the pain he had in various parts of the
body.

As it turns out, he was supplementing with over 5,000 mg
every day of Vitamin C.

The USDA recommends that the minimum amount to prevent
scurvy should be about 95 mg daily.  Diet
generally covers this.

Studies have also shown that a higher intake, closer to
about 800-1000 mg has been shown to boost immunity, strengthen blood vessels,
and promote optimum cholesterol health. So just think of the conditions you can
eliminate when you take 5 times more than the highest recommended intake.

At some point, however, mega doses should be only considered
with a licensed medical professional’s advice and never entered into on one’s
own.

The body can process and use only so much Vitamin C before
the abundance winds up in areas that don’t need it in such high amounts; namely,
the brain, intestines, kidneys, adrenal glands, and uterus.

Symptoms of Vitamin C overdose range from very mild with
tingling in the hands and fingers to moderate with headache and diarrhea, and
even to severe with kidney stones and miscarriage.

My friend had several kidney stones (thus the back pain),
migraines, and insomnia.  The flushing of
the skin and the tingling thumbs were not carpal tunnel syndrome…they were
symptoms of Vitamin C overdose.

The other piece that complicates the issue is that if one
over-supplements chronically with Vitamin C and suddenly stops taking it,
withdrawal symptoms can be really bad and include even worse migraine pain
along with chest pain, muscle problems, and other bad effects.

My friend and his doctor are getting him started with a plan
to wean off the mega-doses of the Vitamin C and hopefully he can see the
insomnia disappear  almost as soon as
soon as the headache problem did- the headaches were gone almost immediately.

The kidney stones, unfortunately, will require a more
intrusive level of intervention, but now he knows how to prevent a recurrence.

I am all about treating methods naturally, as you know, but I am also all about reinforcing everything in moderation. Overdoing anything isn’t good, and many times avoiding prescription medication is just a matter of scaling back on something you do too much of…even if it is too much of a good thing.

For more ways to naturally treat headache pain and insomnia,
see my guides today.

Warm regards,

Christian Goodman

El331005