Can I be allergic to my vitamins?

[TheCoffeeChick]

Okay, so this is going to be a little long and probably boring, but please bear with me. :)

 

A little over a month ago, I went to the doctor and was told I needed to cut out coffee (something I found out she tells all her patients), start exercising, and to start taking a multi-vitamin & fish oil.

 

So I cut the coffee, started on the vitamins, and 2 weeks ago I started exercising everyday.

 

I cut the coffee, but then started having horrible problems with my asthma. After a week, I couldn't handle it any more and I stated drinking it again: 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups at night (which is about 2 cups short of what I was drinking before). I thought for sure this would put my breathing back to normal, but it didn't

 

At the same time I cut the coffee, I started taking my vitamins everyday. I am taking a B-Complex, a multi-vitamin, and fish oil. I've always taken the B-Complex, so I don't think it is the problem. I've taken a muti vitamin before, but never regularly because I find it hard to remember to take it at night. (It interferes with my thyroid medicine, so I can't take in in the morning with everything else.) I've never taken fish oil before.

 

I wouldn't have thought my asthma was being affected by the vitamins at all, but I forgot to take them on Tuesday night (I remembered once I was in bed, but didn't want to get up) and Wednesday I finally woke up able to breath! :D I took the vitamins Wednesday night and Thursday morning woke up having to use my rescue inhaler. :confused: So after exercising last night, I took some zyrtec (along with my rescue inhaler) in hopes it would help clear my lungs. And, yes, it worked like a charm. I didn't take any vitamins last night either and haven't had to use my rescue inhaler at all today. (Although I am slightly wheezy, nothing too bad though.)

 

So I'm thinking it must be something related to allergies for the Zyrtec to have worked and the only thing I did different was remember my vitamins.

 

Could I possibly be allergic to something in one of my vitamins? This sounds too strange to be true. :confused:

 

Any other ideas? I'm getting tired of not being able to breath. :(

[TheCoffeeChick]

Anyone? :bigear:

 

Maybe I'm just insane, and no one wants to be the one to tell me. :tongue_smilie:

[Snickerdoodle]

Yes, we finally gave up on vitamins for my older son. Something there kept irritating his throat no matter which brand we tried.

[kalanamak]

This sounds too strange to be true. :confused:

 

Not to me.

[sbgrace]

A person could be allergic to anything. I'd drop all the vitamins (except the B you'd been taking before) and drop the zyrtec and see if that fixes it. If it does, I'd add back the multi for a few days and see if it's the culprit and then the same with the fish oil. I think it's good to narrow things down even if you don't end up taking either regularly again--particularly since whatever it is affects your asthma. Is the fish oil flavored? What brand?

[Cinder]

I think it's possible.

 

Not vitamins, but dh had an allergic reaction to a med that had niacin in it. He turned red, broke out in hives, and had a racing heart. He'd been switched from his usual med to this new one--the niacin was supposed to help the med work better. Unfortunately, some are affected like he was. My mom had a similiar reaction to a different med with niacin.

 

I'm not saying the niacin is what is affecting you. Just showing that something seemingly harmless--like niacin--can sometimes have adverse effects.

 

Cinder

[ElizabethB]

Yes.

 

I am allergic to many vitamins. The only ones I can tolerate are nutricology, the allergy free ones.

[grace'smom]

My husband has had allergic reactions to vitamins in the past. It's not unlikely if you have other allergies. I'd stop taking them because allergies that change your breathing can be dangerous. I know that's stating the obvious, but still...

[angela in ohio]

My oldest broke out in full body hives and an asthma attack two days into her new vitamins. They were whole food viamins, and something in them just set her off.

 

Allergies are funny. We found out my dh was allergic to lentils a few years ago, when I made them for the first time, and he broke out in hives. He also developed an allergy to Neosporin.

[K-FL]

Dh had a childhood friend that almost had brain surgery due to misdiagnosed allergic reaction to his vitamins. Once the dr. knew that his mom was giving them to him, even in the hospital, he sent him home.

[TheCoffeeChick]

The fish oil is Nature Made brand. It is 1200mg Omega-3 liquid softgels. Says it is odorless and controls fish burbs. No flavoring. I am taking it on the recommendation of my doctor to lower my triglyceride number and elevate my good cholesterol number. I'm okay if I can't take it, I've also started exercising, which should help a lot.

 

My multi-vitamin is also Nature mad brand. It says Multi Complete with Iron on the bottle. This is the second bottle of this brand I have used. I don't normally take them regularly (I have for the past month), but I'd say once or twice a week.

 

Last is the B Complex, Sundown brand. It has 100% of: B-1, B-2, Niacin, B-6, Folic acid, and B-12. Maybe Cinder is on to something. Could I be getting too much B vitamins, especially niacin, since they are also in my multi?

 

I'll go the weekend without taking any of them and add one back at a time to see how it goes.

 

Any other people with vitamin allergies? What do you do? Take nothing or just make sure they have no fillers?

[lisamarie]

Very distinct possibility. My mom was having major problems with diarrhea for months that she went to the dr for repeatedly. She went to a GI doctor and had a GI scan. Then one day she looked up the inactive ingredients in her generic thyroid medicine and discovered sodium laurel sulfate listed there. Which she is allergic to in skin/hair products. She never had issues with the name brand thyroid medicine that she was taking before they started giving her the generic. She switched back to the name brand which is SLS-free and her stomach problems cleared up like magic.

 

I was talking to her on the phone one day about how whenever I take my cal/mag/zinc vitamin, my stomach hurts super bad. I started reading the ingredients and there was SLS listed. I threw that puppy away and will be vigilantly reading all labels from now on.

[Gwenhwyfar]

a few years ago when my dh was sick with a bad cold, i brought him his advil & cough syrup (both of which he had taken many times before) and i also gave him one of my vitamins... i don't remember WHAT the vitamin was now (it's been about 5 years) but he ended up with swollen lips - went to the doc and they gave him a shot and said he was allergic to "something" ..they couldn't say what, as he'd had all three things --- but he'd had the advil and the cough meds many times before and has had them many times since.... so it was obviously something in the vitamin.

 

so yeah, i certainly believe you can allergic to something in vitamins...

[Cinder]

Very distinct possibility. My mom was having major problems with diarrhea for months that she went to the dr for repeatedly. She went to a GI doctor and had a GI scan. Then one day she looked up the inactive ingredients in her generic thyroid medicine and discovered sodium laurel sulfate listed there. Which she is allergic to in skin/hair products. She never had issues with the name brand thyroid medicine that she was taking before they started giving her the generic. She switched back to the name brand which is SLS-free and her stomach problems cleared up like magic.

 

My dh and my brother both had adverse reactions to generic thyroid meds.

 

 

The fish oil is Nature Made brand. It is 1200mg Omega-3 liquid softgels. Says it is odorless and controls fish burbs. No flavoring. I am taking it on the recommendation of my doctor to lower my triglyceride number and elevate my good cholesterol number. I'm okay if I can't take it, I've also started exercising, which should help a lot.

 

 

Are you taking a statin for your cholesterol/triglycerides? I think was a statin dh took that had the niacin that he reacted badly to. Dh has really been able to help his numbers by cutting sugars and starches from his diet and increasing his exercise. He also takes a multivitamin and fish oil, but hasn't reacted badly to either--nothing special, just brands you could get at walmart or target. I don't know how much they help but he'll probably keep doing it since he feels it's less harmful than the statins, which he decided to quit taking.

 

Cinder

[AngieW in Texas]

I was having really awful gastrointestinal problems and couldn't figure out why. Everything ran right through me to the point that I dropped below 100 pounds and my doctor told me that I could no longer nurse my dd because I wasn't able to get enough out of my food to support myself. The doctor ran a lot of tests, but couldn't figure out what the problem was.

 

When we went on vacation, I forgot to pack my vitamins. By the 3rd day, I felt completely better. I no longer had any stomach cramps and food wasn't running right through me.

 

After we got back home, I started taking my vitamins again and by the 2nd day I was sick again, just like before. I thought it might be stress.

 

Then I forgot buy more vitamins and went without them for a week. Again, by the 3rd day, I felt completely better. When I started taking them again, I was sick within 24 hours.

 

I figured out that the vitamins were the problem and stopped taking them. That fixed my problem.

 

When I got pregnant again several months later, the doctor wanted me to take a multi, but my prenatal multi was what made me sick before (although I took it for a full year before it started making me sick). He insisted that I at least needed to take a folic acid supplement. By the time 24 hours had passed, I was horribly sick again.

 

I figured out that I was actually allergic to nutritional yeast. I tried a vitamin that was advertised as yeast-free and had no problems at all.

 

Now I'm very careful to make sure that I only take vitamins that are yeast-free. If I slip up and take one with yeast, I am sick for 3 full days afterwards.

[TheCoffeeChick]

Are you taking a statin for your cholesterol/triglycerides? I think was a statin dh took that had the niacin that he reacted badly to. Dh has really been able to help his numbers by cutting sugars and starches from his diet and increasing his exercise. He also takes a multivitamin and fish oil, but hasn't reacted badly to either--nothing special, just brands you could get at walmart or target. I don't know how much they help but he'll probably keep doing it since he feels it's less harmful than the statins, which he decided to quit taking.

 

Cinder

 

I'm not taking statin, only medicine for my thyroid and vitamins.

 

AngieW in Texas: Thank you for your story. Amazing some of the things we can be allergic to.

[LauraGB]

Fwiw, I can't take a multi vitamin; they usually include iodine, and I'm allergic. However, I didn't always know that. I discovered I was allergic to shellfish, but still took my multi for many months after that, never having made the connection. I always felt tired, nauseous, nervous, just sick, after I took them. Sometimes my heart would race and I'd have to go lie down until (what I thought was a panic attack) passed.

 

The one you listed that you take derives some of the ingredients from fish - none that are shellfish, but it mysteriously says "derived from one of the following...". I can't remember (now, as I'm typing this) which fish oil you are taking, but it is possible they get some of the oil from shellfish - krill, for instance, is a small shrimp-like thing that is the new big deal in omega supplements.

 

Thought it worth mentioning since you said you have thyroid issues already and are taking something for that - I don't know how excess iodine might affect your meds (or if an underlying iodine sensitivity has caused the thyroid problem to begin with).

[*lifeoftheparty*]

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