Can you get a headache from taking too many vitamins?

[Dangerously Amused]

I have been doubling and tripling up on my multi-vitamins lately in an attempt to head off a health issue. That part seems to be working, but I have also been getting a lot of headaches that don't want to go away with aspirin. But my nose has been running too, so now I'm not sure if the headaches are more likely the consequence of taking too many vitamins, or some new seasonal allergy-type thing.

I did try to research this but any "headache+vitamin" search returns about a bazillion articles on how to treat various types of headaches with different vitamins, basically the exact OPPOSITE of what I'm looking for.

TIA!

:hi:

[Lyric]

1. Yes.

http://www.vitaminstohealth.com/vitamin-overdose.html

Be very, very careful. Some vitamins are easy to overdose on, and overdoses can be fatal.

[Dangerously Amused]

5. Wow, thank you.

That was a very informative article. I should have thought to research "vitamin+overdose", duh me! Then again it was probably the excess B6 causing blurry thinking, heh.

Yeah, I think I will cut back for a while and see if that helps.

Thanks again.

:hi:

[Lyric]

7. You're very welcome.

Glad I could help you find some useful information.
:hi:

[Dangerously Amused]

6. Bah, dupe!

[Sanity Claws]

2. Some ideas

Most vitamins are water-soluble and your body simply flushes out excess water-soluble vitamins. (Is your urine bright yellow? If so, it's due to excess B vitamins.) However, vitamins A and E are fat soluble and you can take too much. You might want to check specifically whether excesses of either vitamin A or E will cause headaches.
Minerals - does your multivitamin have minerals in it? You can overdose on certain minerals. One specifically is zinc; if you take too much of it, you can hurt your immune system and upset the balance with other minerals.
Other minerals also may present problems; I just don't know.
Finally, if aspirin is not easing your headache, could you be suffering from rebound headaches? Rebound headaches result when you take aspirin over a long period of time. Your body gets used to it and you end up with constant headaches.
Sorry I can't help -- just wanted to throw some ideas out there for you to look at.

[Dangerously Amused]

8. Thanks for all those good ideas!

The multi does have minerals in it, so yeah, probably not a good idea to double up on those since I wasn't interested in getting more of them in the first place.

And the aspirin thing, probably not a rebound headache (I didn't even know those existed, you learn something new every day!) since I rarely take aspirin because even though it works (usually) it upsets my stomach too much to be worth it for a minor headache. I took aspirin this time though because the headache was getting to the point where I would rather have the upset stomach.

Anyway, thank for all the info. I have some more research to do and I think I will cut back on the mega-dosing in the meantime.

:hi:

[hvn_nbr_2]

3. I never heard of that happening, but...

Frequent headaches that don't go away with aspirin sounds like a good reason to call your doctor.

I've never heard of getting headaches from vitamins. However, taking multiples of your multi-vitamin may not be a real good idea. People take huge doses of some vitamins (particularly many but not all the B vitamins and C) but there may be other things in there that you don't want to multiply the dose. Short term, extra vitamins are probably not a problem but longer term excess A is toxic, some level of D (the actual level is controversial) also. Excess K, if your multi has it, might be a problem. If your multi includes minerals, it's conceivable that one of the trace minerals could be a problem if taking too much.

Repeat: Frequent headaches that don't go away with aspirin sounds like a good reason to call your doctor.

[Dangerously Amused]

9. Thanks,

I think I will cut back on the mega-doses for a while and see it that helps with the headaches. If not then yeah, probably a trip to the doc is in order.

:hi:

[NJmaverick]

4. Vitamins are not something to play with

there can be serious health problems from overdosing on them.

[Dangerously Amused]

10. I know.

I didn't think I was taking so much that it would cause new issues, but I have been doing it for most of the summer so maybe the cumulative effect is becoming a problem.

Thanks.

:hi:

[1gobluedem]

11. Yes

And they can make you very nauseated too. Be careful; vitamins are nothing to fool with.

[Dangerously Amused]

12. Yeah, I am learning that the hard way lol.

Go, me. :eyes:



But, thanks. :hi:

[jxnmsdemguy65]

13. What is your health issue?

I've been doing urine therapy - that's right - drinking your own urine - and it has done wonders for a herpes/candida infection that I have been having. It's definitely worth researching - and it's FREE!!

[Dangerously Amused]

14. Ah, I've been doing it for a number of reasons.

One reason is because cancer runs in my family, and my Mom rid herself of recurrent small bladder tumors with a specific mega-dose of several vitamins. So I'm just trying to get a jump on all that if I can. Another reason has been a recent maddening tingling in my left hand, I wondered if it could be a circulatory issue and a naturopath suggested bulking up on the vitamins and especially on niacin (although he didn't give a specific amount of either and I may be overdoing it). It does seem to be helping. Though the tingling may just be due to spending too much time on my computer with my wrist at a bad angle to the keyboard, lol.

Anyway yeah, I googled "urine therapy." Never heard of it before but there were a lot of articles on it and it was very interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I'm not sure if I could ever make myself do any of that, though. I got completely grossed out this summer when a family member was keeping a pitcher of urine in the refrigerator for a medical test.

But I'm glad you are finding it helpful.

Welcome to DU!

:hi: