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Comment by DavidPiper | Hacker News Reader

Can confirm, overdosing on Vitamin B6 is bad. Lots of very scary symptoms.

I accidentally poisoned myself with B6 from Magnesium tablets over the course of a year: https://davids.town/vitamin-b6-overdose (my levels were 38x the healthy range).

tl;dr: Always check your Magnesium for what else the tablet includes. If it contains Pyridoxine hydrochloride (i.e. Vitamin B6) or another Pyridoxine compound, find one that doesn't. Since then, Swisse is the only brand I've found that consistently sells "pure" Magnesium tablets here in Australia.

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Definitely, excess of B6 is bad! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S216183132...

B-vitamins are water soluble..

I take 50mg a day in a bio-available form pyridoxal-5-phosphate. Consider this form instead.

I'm taking it because there is some genetic evidence that I would benefit from doing so. No neuropathies thus far but it's only been about a month and a half.

I wasn't even aware I was ingesting B6, I was just taking the tablets for the magnesium (it was one of the few with the full 440mg dose I was recommended).

Blood tests since then have shown that my B6 levels are fine with my usual diet, I don't take multivitamins or supplements anymore.

I don't know much about B6 beyond my own experiences with it, so all I can say is make sure you've discussed it with your GP, and be aware of the coasting effect if you do happen to develop any neuropathic symptoms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megavitamin-B6_syndrome

I have to admit I am troubled by reading all this including that it has a half-life.. I did have the assumption that water soluble meant that excess was eliminated out the same day as is the case with some things. I had literally never heard of this toxicity issue till last night. One problem in general is that supplements don't really come in a "smaller size" unless I guess, you get powder form instead of capsules. I will have to review the genetic data I have again.

Genetic data is useful to know really, especially for people with MTHFR mutations as many pathways get affected.

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