Symptoms of Too Much Vitamin A

There are two ways to get symptoms of too much Vitamin A.

One way is through getting too much Vitamin A by taking to many Vitamin A supplements (vitamins), and one way is by your diet including a lot of food that has a huge amount of Vitamin A.

Supplements

Let's say you go to Walmart and buy a bottle of Jamieson Vitamin A. You will see that it has 100 capsules of "Palmitate" Vitamin A. Each capsule has 10,000 IU (international units) of Vitamin A and online, it costs $5.97.

Or you can go to Amazon and buy Vitamin A drops, each drop is 5000 IUs of Vitamin A Palmitate, and also has 25 IU of Beta-carotene for $21.95. This one is more expensive per dose, but probably worthwhile for the Beta-carotene.

Palmitate is the kind of Vitamin A that comes from animal sources, and it's the kind that they say you can overdose on more easily because it is in the form that our body uses. 

On the other hand, the Beta-carotene comes from plants, our bodies have to change it and they say it's impossible to become toxic on plant-based Vitamin A, and also that it's "impossible to become toxic" from eating plant-based Vitamin A.

Really.

What's the matter with me then? lol

There is also concern that North Americans could get too much Vitamin A because of the extra Vitamin A that food companies are putting to food like breads and cereals. So perhaps watch your food labels to monitor this.

What Are The Symptoms
Of Too Much Vitamin A?

The symptoms can include:

Jaundice (due to your liver not working properly)
Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite
Irritability, confusion
Hair loss, dry skin, peeling and itchy skin
Joint Pain, headaches, lower bone density
Visual changes, blurring vision

Prolonged overdose can lead to:
osteoporosis, liver damage, and may increase the risk of birth defects if you're pregnant.

I definitely had the visual changes, (I started wearing an old pair of glasses instead of my normal ones, for some reason, they worked better), hair loss at my hair line, itchy peeling skin, excessively dry skin. Apparently there's an increase of fluid around the brain (which I assume is the cause of the headaches).

I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I read that if there is too much cranial fluid, they might do a lumbar puncture or give a medication that is a diuretic. I thought, "Coffee is a diuretic, I'll just drink that." So  when I feel the symptoms of too much Vitamin A coming on, I will drink (organic, free trade) coffee, and more coffee, and more coffee. It just feels like I need it, and then suddenly, I don't feel that way anymore. I do listen to my body, I think that the coffee does help to drain the fluid, and then I don't get so much peeling and itchiness in my skin.

I'm also reading that as you get older, you can have higher levels of Vitamin A in your blood because you're not metabolizing it as well - which again, is a liver issue.

So I Have Also Learned Something

While researching this page, I found out that Vitamin A works with Vitamin D and Zinc, and that a person can be toxic from Vitamin A because they don't have the Vitamin D they need to metabolize it. I sometimes take Zinc, but I haven't been taking Vitamin D. For those of you who live where it's sunny and hot, you probably have all the Vitamin D you need.

But for six months of the year, the only skin on me that sees the sun is my face and back of my hands. And that's a weak, watery, wintery sun. Then when summer comes, half the time we're hiding in the house anyway because of the mosquitoes and black flies. (For entertainment, watch this amusing video that portrays quite well how we Canucks (slang for Canadians) feel about black flies lol) 

Anyway - I will start taking Vitamin D and see if I can have more Vitamins A foods without getting any symptoms of too much Vitamin A. I'll let you know how it goes!

Teresa has left the city life and lives in Prince Edward Island, Canada with her husband
and is wondering if raising chickens will be her next project.
She has 4 grown up children and 5 grandkids who try to visit when they won't
have to spend too much time dodging mosquitoes and black flies.
Teresa is a certified Strategic Interventionist through Robbins Madanes training,
a certified StrengthsFinder adviser,
and a life coach with a life-long interest in nutrition.
Teresa has a passion for helping others to find and fulfill
their full potential and to live with abundance.
She sees optimum health as a necessary part of this,
and besides, isn't this what you want?