Aaaaaagh! Biotin side effects?!

[LocustSpawning]

The internet tells me that since it is water soluble, side effects aren't likely at all. I took 2000mg of it yesterday, 1000mg in the morning and again in the late afternoon.

In the night, I vomited 4 times, and this morning I've awoken with a red rash across my face, and spots on my chin and neck.. (I never have spots ever.)

Is this the Biotin?!

[aenflex]

Well I am sorry to hear that!!
I got annoying, small acne patches from it, but nothing that major.
You may simply need to try a smaller dose at 1st, like 500 or even 250 mg? You can empty out the capsules...wean yourself up to a higher dosage...

[littlenvy]

:shocked:Did you take it with food?? You have to take it with food.
But if this is the only new thing you did ... it does seem :disgust:.

I have known people who have taken 5000 twice a day for a total of 10000 and had no reaction ... but everyone is different. The kind of reaction you got is usually from B6 ... but not really from B7 :confused:

Maybe there is something wrong with your batch.
I would stop taking it right away!
Give it time and then you can try slowly again with 500 a day and see what happens.

[LocustSpawning]

Yep, I made sure I took it with food. Crazy, right?!

I won't take it today, even though I feel a bit better. Tomorrow I might cut a capsule in half and try 500mg. I hope this doesn't react with me either :(

[Akiko]

Did you really take 2000mg? That's 2,000,000mcg!!!!

[Igor]

Just because its water soluble does not mean it is okay to overdose on

[aenflex]

Just because its water soluble does not mean it is okay to overdose on

That was funny! Just in a 'general rule of thumb' kinda way!

[LocustSpawning]

I looked on Biotin threads on here and saw that people were taking more. & The bottle says 'Take 1 to 2 capsules per day with food.' That's what I did.. hmm.

[aenflex]

I looked on Biotin threads on here and saw that people were taking more. & The bottle says 'Take 1 to 2 capsules per day with food.' That's what I did.. hmm.

I can never follow those instructions. My body likes a slower uptake of substances. It's weird but true. If I put 1000+ mg of anything in my body that it wasn't used to, I would probably puke it up too....plus you might have an allergy to it or one of the other ingredients...

[nytquill]

Start slow and give your body time to adjust. Lots of people on here take 5,000-10,000 mcg without problems. Some people can't take any at all, it depends on the individual. I'm no medical expert but I bet with such a big dose all of a sudden like that, your body may have thought it was being poisoned, hence the vomiting. Acne is a possible side effect of biotin but gradual increase can help I think.

It could also be something unrelated like food poisoning (I hope not!)

[enfys]

Just because its water soluble does not mean it is okay to overdose on

Exaclty. The body still has to process it. Your organs still have to deal with it and it passes through your system.

It's quite possible that your body has reacted to it, and acne is the most complained about symptom. I haven't heard of vomiting, but that could well be related.

[Anje]

Well, it can definitely cause acne, but I haven't heard of the rash or vomiting before. Definitely give yourself a few days to recover. (Maybe you also ate something you're allergic to?) Then try a small dose, with food. If it causes problems, I think we can safely say biotin is not for you.

[LocustSpawning]

Okay, thanks for the replies everyone!

I think I took way too much for a first time. I should have been a bit more wary..
& Yep Anje, I'm definitely going to take a break from this.. I'm scared :( Haha.

[Felix_D]

Was it just biotin? It sounds like you experienced a textbook niacin flush. Niacin is vitamin B3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niacin#Toxicity).

[Hylia]

Yeah I think you are taking too much. Most tablets are either 500 mg or 1000 and the recommended dose is just one tablet a day.

[TinaDenali]

Was it just biotin? It sounds like you experienced a textbook niacin flush. Niacin is vitamin B3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niacin#Toxicity).

That's what I was thinking. I took niacin once because I thought it would speed up my metabolism (back when I was actually skinny and thought I needed to lose more weight! Bah!) and I had the same reaction you did. I was vomiting and had a rash over my face/neck/shoulders. It was awful!

Anyhow, often they pair biotin and niacin.

[Buddaphlyy]

Yeah I think you are taking too much. Most tablets are either 500 mg or 1000 and the recommended dose is just one tablet a day.

This is how much my physician told me to take. It even says that they 1000 mcg is 333% of your daily value so...

[Bellatrix]

Biotin can definitely cause acne. I've experienced this myself, and seen this as a side-effect of biotin on the boards.

But I stopped because biotin was causing me to grow fun new facial/body hair :(

Oh, and this was at about 5000mcg.

[Akiko]

I got sick shortly after taking biotin. Here is the thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?p=386965#post386965) and my post.
Now I remember finding some articles about high dosage of biotin lowering sugar level in blood stream.

A lot of people say biotin is vitamin and water soluble. You cannot overdose it. But I don't believe that's the case. After all, you can die from water overdose.

My dizziness and sickness always happened after taking biotin (5000mcg). As soon as I quit, I had no symptoms.

After all, I realized I don't need biotin supplement. Deficiency is so rare...

[christine1989]

That sounds like a full blown allergy to me. It may be the capsule the biotin is in or maybe some food you had eaten that day. I seriously doubt it is the biotin causing that but if it really is then you should either take way less or just stop.

[Maddy_T]

Oh noooo!!! that's horrible. I take 10,000mcg a day, which is a little overkill I know... :roll: I haven't had a problem with it so far, but once I took a 5000mcg pill in the morning on an empty stomach and felt like I had a massive hangover, so definitely agree about taking it with a meal!!....

[LadyG]

I have to take it with a full meal or I get a sick stomach, and it makes me*blushes* (constipated), so I have to take a little something extra with it (stool softener).......but it's working well for me other than that.

[littlenvy]

I got sick shortly after taking biotin. Here is the thread (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?p=386965#post386965) and my post.
Now I remember finding some articles about high dosage of biotin lowering sugar level in blood stream.

A lot of people say biotin is vitamin and water soluble. You cannot overdose it. But I don't believe that's the case. After all, you can die from water overdose.

My dizziness and sickness always happened after taking biotin (5000mcg). As soon as I quit, I had no symptoms.

After all, I realized I don't need biotin supplement. Deficiency is so rare...
Water soluble just means that its easier to clear out of your body than the fat soluble that have a tendency to stay in the fat tissue. But if you take too many water solubles, enough that your kidneys are unable to clear them fast enough from your system, they will become toxic too.
The reason why biotin is so hard to overdoes on is because your body makes it as well and therefore is used to it.
But as you said; anything can be an overkill, even water.

I'm glad you found out in time what the problem was and quit. Nothing is worth getting sick over.