Vitamin C (ascorbic acid or ascorbate)

[Altostrata]

Vitamin C aka L-ascorbic acid, ascorbic acid, or ascorbate

 

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_c

Edited March 8, 2013 by Altostrata
updated

[alexjuice]

I've been experimenting with high dose C after I responded well to an IV vitamin treatment. I am definitely not recommending anyone else experiment with it. There are some potential risks. I also use sodium ascorbate and not ascorbic acid.

 

Has anyone supplemented with vitamin C? How was the result?

 

I have gotten relief from allergies, improved immune function, mood enhancement, cog fog improvement ... I'm a little nervous to overdo it though.

[Altostrata]

When I was in severe earlier withdrawal, I found that eating tangerines seemed to be calming. It was definitely beneficial for my neuro-anxiety.

 

Later, I added extended-release vitamin C to my regimen. I've been taking 500mg in the a.m. and 500mg in the p.m. for a long time.

[alexjuice]

I've found it beneficial for anxiety as well. That's interesting.

[ruby]

Hi,

 

Since I haven't been able to eat any raw fruits and veggies because I'm unable to digest them, I'm lacking Vitamin C in my diet. So yesterday I bought it in powdered form which dissolves in water. Right now I'm taking 1/4 tsp = 1000mg. I'm afraid of taking supplements because my entire system over reacts to many things including fish oil, vitamin b & d. Since withdrawal my hair has become very dry and brittle which I think is related to my gut not functioning properly.

 

Does anyone else take Vitamin C supplement?

[GiaK]

vitamin C as a supplement is generally a pretty safe vitamin to take and most people tolerate it okay even during withdrawal...

 

just proceed carefully and see how you do with it...

 

and if you're concerned, take less...you can really start with a lot less and add it slowly to make sure you're tolerating it. (actually as a general rule when adding ANY supplement it's good to start really small and add on)

 

the other thing you might do is spread it out throughout the day...make the water drink and sip on it all day long...then you only get tiny bits at a time...at whatever dose you choose.

[Jemima]

If that disagrees with you, you might try Ester C which is specifically made to avoid stomach upsets.

[ruby]

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll start with less amount and see how it goes. So far 1000mg seems ok on my stomach, but I felt a bit more anxious today than usual.

[Altostrata]

I preferred extended-release vitamin C myself. When you take large amounts at once, it doesn't get absorbed and a lot of it just goes out in your urine.

[Rhiannon]

I've found it beneficial for anxiety as well. That's interesting.

 

Given the histamine connection, you might find it interesting that large doses of vitamin C have an antihistamine effect.

 

I take megadose vit C--about 4-6 grams daily, more when I'm fighting an infection. I haven't had any problems with it.

[GiaK]

yes, my quercetin that I take for histamine also has a large dose of vit C in it for that reason...

 

in combo it's highly effective and totally chills out some of the worst of my autonomic symptoms! pretty amazing...a bioflavanoid and C...natural chill pill

[dunerbug]

I want to take Vit C but as someone who has become hypersensitive ... I would like to know what kind/brand has worked well for those who take it. Especially those who have sensitivity issues.

 

TIA

[Petunia]

The following 8 posts have been copied over from Waking with panic or anxiety -- managing cortisol spikes

because they relate to the use of Vitamin C

 

 

On 4/7/2015 at 11:44 AM, antidepressantsNoMore said:

 

On 3/14/2015 at 8:49 PM, Petunia said:

I've also read that vitamin C can lower cortisol, but I don't know if its true.  If you wanted to try if for morning cortisol, you would need to take it in the morning I think.  I take 1000mg at night and for a while I was taking 1000mg in the morning also, but it didn't seem to make much difference, so I stopped.  Perhaps you have to take a higher dose for it to have an effect, I don't know. 

 

If you decide to try it, do let us know if it helps.

 

Yeah 1,000 mg is nothing. I take 3,000 mg vitamin C in the mornings and it has lowered cortisol significantly. My anxiety/peace of mind is better throughout the morning and most of the day.

 

 

 

On 4/7/2015 at 3:22 PM, Meimeiquest said:

Vitamin C at the very least supports the adrenals while they are working so hard. I take 1000mg twice daily.

 

 

On 4/9/2015 at 2:29 AM, Petunia said:

 

On 4/7/2015 at 11:44 AM, antidepressantsNoMore said:

 I take 3,000 mg vitamin C in the mornings and it has lowered cortisol significantly. My anxiety/peace of mind is better throughout the morning and most of the day.

 

 

How long does it take before it starts 'working'?  What time to you usually take it?

 

Is it like you wake up with all the symptoms of high cortisol, you take 3000mg vitamin c and then X amount of time later you notice a significant decrease in those particular symptoms?

 

 

 

On 4/9/2015 at 8:00 AM, antidepressantsNoMore said:

 

On 4/9/2015 at 2:29 AM, Petunia said:

 

On 4/7/2015 at 11:44 AM, antidepressantsNoMore said:

 I take 3,000 mg vitamin C in the mornings and it has lowered cortisol significantly. My anxiety/peace of mind is better throughout the morning and most of the day.

 

 

How long does it take before it starts 'working'?  What time to you usually take it?

 

Is it like you wake up with all the symptoms of high cortisol, you take 3000mg vitamin c and then X amount of time later you notice a significant decrease in those particular symptoms?

 

 

Yeah. I'm starting to come towards the end of w/d. I take 3000 mg vitamin C every morning. I take it in powder form (asorbic acid) and I noticed a huge improvement in mood, stress reduction, anxiety and paranoia. I think since I overanalyze things, I put a lot of stress on my mind. Vitamin C elevates about 70-90 percent of that stress. I think more clearly and rationally. I don't get as upset as I used to either hence the mood improvement. And this is all due to Vitamin C and magnesium. My favorite combo for stress, anxiety, worry etc.

 

The first two weeks of doing this, I experienced loose stools and diarrahea but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did, because I can actually "feel" it working. Sometimes, I do have some bloating but the benefits outweigh the negative side effects so I'm going to stick with it for at least another few months maybe even longer.

 

Edited June 21, 2021 by Altostrata
updated link

[Petunia]

Thanks for replying aNM.  I decided to try the high dose vitamin C and it seems to have helped.  At first I was hesitant because after doing some research I learned that most vitamin c supplements are synthetic, not natural but instead ascorbic acid, which isn't actually vitamin c.  I had gone ahead and ordered some naturally sourced vitamin c supplements.

 

But last night/this morning I took 3000mg of the synthetic kind, which is all  I have at the moment, and this morning's cortisol/anxiety has been significantly less than what it usually is.  The difference is enough that I know its not placebo or my imagination.  I usually have a very unpleasant physical sensation in my gut which lasts for hours, starting from when I wake up until some time in the afternoon.  But its not there.  The adrenaline surges I usually get were very mild compared to what its normally like.

 

This is what I did.  Whenever I woke up in the night, I took a 1000mg tablet.  I'm not sure but I think I took them at about 2am, 5am and 7am.

 

My body is feeling much more relaxed than it usually does this time of the day, this is the best result I've had so far from trying anything, finally, something has helped

 

 

Ok. Wow! Vitamin C. Years ago I'd heard of taking vitamin C to counter the increase in cortisol after a strenuous workout. In fact, I've done it a couple times myself. I'm adding vitamin C after my next decrease.

 

 

 

Thanks for replying aNM.  I decided to try the high dose vitamin C and it seems to have helped.  At first I was hesitant because after doing some research I learned that most vitamin c supplements are synthetic, not natural but instead ascorbic acid, which isn't actually vitamin c.  I had gone ahead and ordered some naturally sourced vitamin c supplements.

 

But last night/this morning I took 3000mg of the synthetic kind, which is all  I have at the moment, and this morning's cortisol/anxiety has been significantly less than what it usually is.  The difference is enough that I know its not placebo or my imagination.  I usually have a very unpleasant physical sensation in my gut which lasts for hours, starting from when I wake up until some time in the afternoon.  But its not there.  The adrenaline surges I usually get were very mild compared to what its normally like.

 

This is what I did.  Whenever I woke up in the night, I took a 1000mg tablet.  I'm not sure but I think I took them at about 2am, 5am and 7am.

 

My body is feeling much more relaxed than it usually does this time of the day, this is the best result I've had so far from trying anything, finally, something has helped

 

See, I told you. Yeah your adrenaline isn't as high either because of it. Vitamin C is a seriously good cortisol blocker. It is very much overlooked. I just take my dose in the morning. 3,000 mg. Sometimes I take a higher dose. It last quite a while. Def. worth the price.

 

 

 

I'm finding I need to take the vitamin C about every 3 hours for it to continue 'working'.  But I'm seriously surprised and happy that its actually relieving one of my worst symptoms with so far, no negative consequences.

 

I've been taking one 1000mg tablet when I wake up in the night around 1am, 4am and because of this, I've been able sleep until after 7am, it seems to hold off the cortisol surges for about 3 hours, then I wake up.  So I've been taking another one when I wake around 7am. About 10am I'm feeling the pressure/tension/adrenaline start to come back, so I take another one and in about half an hour, I'm feeling physically relaxed again.

 

Its such a relief to have had 3 days free from ongoing surges of panic/terror.  It feels like my body is now able to calm down enough to really start its repair process properly.  I'm not in a state of fight/flight all day any more.  I've also noticed that I'm not exhausted by early evening like I usually am.

 

I'm still confused/concerned about the fact that regular vitamin C is actually ascorbic acid, a synthetic, not properly absorbed and possibly linked with some negative consequences, but its cheap.  According to some of the research I've done, the reason you have to take such high doses of ascorbic acid in order for it to really have an impact on illness is because only a small percentage is actually absorbed.

 

But for now, I don't really care, I'm getting some symptom relief with no negative down side and after almost 4 years of daily suffering, with no end in sight, this is.... well, it feels like a miracle and I'm not sure I believe it yet.

 

Thank you aNM, 

[Petunia]

I'm still taking what some might call a high dose every day. I take 2 x 1000mg sustained release 3 times a day, total of 6000mg. I've had no adverse effects that I can detect after doing this for about 5 months now.

 

It might be a coincidence, but I feel like the rate of my recovery has increased over the last several months. My physical symptoms have calmed considerably, it feels like my body has been able to relax more consistently and I've only noticed this consistent improvement since beginning the high dose C.

 

I've had an ongoing problem of what has felt like very high morning cortisol, which would last through most of the day, causing symptoms like shaking, hot/cold flashes, sweating, akathisia, nausea, DP/DR and a general sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. But this has all been diminishing and I'm left with a much less intense version of it for about 2 hours after I wake up, which I could probably get rid of if I took my last 2000mg much later than I have been.

 

Unfortunately, this hasn't been the only change I've made, so Its impossible to know if this is solely responsible for my increased recovery rate, I also started supplementing with Vitamin D about 2 months ago, and have been receiving distance healing.

 

As with all supplements, if you are in withdrawal, tapering or have a sensitive nervous system, start with a low dose and build up slowly.

[dreamspirit]

Hmm this is interesting. I have been taking 1000mg tablet of Vitamin C at night around 10 pm.. I'm going to up it and take 500mg in the morning an 500mg in the afternoon and see if it helps with adrenaline surges. 

 

Someone told me eating a small square of dark chocolate 90% cocoa helps with adrenaline surges too. Not sure if that's true but I heard that.

[happygirl77]

Do people prefer buffered or extended release ? I have not seem them together

[Petunia]

Some people find that Vitamin C upsets their stomach, if that's you, then you might need the buffered kind. I don't have this problem and take extended release.

 

Now Foods do a buffered/sustained release formula.

 

Or this one by Solaray, I haven't tried either of them.

[MRothbard]

Does Vitamin C rev you up? i took 1000mg this morning and feeling very energized but tight in the chest and restless.

[Petunia]

Its doesn't effect me like that, and I don't think I've heard anyone else say that, but in a sensitized nervous system, anything can have a paradoxical effect, so its possible. Maybe start with a lower dose and work your way up. It may have been a coincidence that you felt this way the day you took it.

[freespirit]

For a very long time, I couldn't take Vitamin C anytime after lunch or it interfered with sleep. Now, I can use it in the middle of the night if I'm having an allergic reaction to something and no problem going right back to sleep. I'd agree with Petunia on trying a lower dose or maybe a sustained release one, where you're not getting it all at once.

[starburst]

Putting this on my list of supplements. 

[fj929]

I am extremely sensitive to just about anything alcohol, excersise, ibuprofen etc so I don't experiment much with supplements. A month ago however i started having those early awakening cortisol spikes people talk about. Waking up early with anxiety and stress. It was brutal. I found some articles stating that Vitamin C helps lower cortisol levels so I started drinking 2 full glasses before bed. After about two days the early awakenings and cortisol spikes stopped. I couldn't believe how much better I feel in that regards. Did nothing for my other symptoms but I just wanted to pass this finding along. I had read on here that Vitamin C has helped some others with the same issue. I'm too scared to take supplements so I am sticking with the two full glasses before bed.

[Petunia]

This is great news fj and thank you for sharing your experience. But I'm wondering what exactly it is you are drinking. I'm assuming its orange juice? But it would be great if you would clarify that

[fj929]

Yes it is OJ. Sorry meant to mention that above.

I drink 2 large glasses of OJ every night prior to bed and the early awakening and severe anxiety stopped. 

[SkyBlue]

Wow. I am going to try this. I wake up with rage, like clockwork, at 1 am. Thanks fj929. 

[Junglechicken]

Watch out re: the acidity on your teeth fj929.

 

Wonder if you can get the same Vit C dose but reduce the acidity levels.

[Vonnegutjunky]

Thanks for this! Awesome idea!!! I'm gonna experiment I'll return with results!

[Petunia]

Similar topics merged.

 

After reading through this topic again, I'm going to increase my vitamin C dose again. I had slowly been reducing it, thinking it wasn't helping as much, but my mornings have been getting worse, so maybe it was helping after all.

[Area1255]

Vitamin C is an important co-factor along with Copper for the production of brain/body norepinephrine (noradrenaline).

So, Vitamin C could improve cases of Depression with a predominant outlying norepinephrine-deficiency-root.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3614808/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23022576

[fj929]

Just checking in. It still seems to be helping me. Are you others seeing the same results?

[Petunia]

 

After reading through this topic again, I'm going to increase my vitamin C dose again. I had slowly been reducing it, thinking it wasn't helping as much, but my mornings have been getting worse, so maybe it was helping after all.

 

Yep! It was definitely the C that was helping. I did a lot more research this time so I had a better idea of what I was trying to achieve. At 6 grams a day which I was taking before, it was helping to lower cortisol (I think), but from what I've learned, it was also most likely improving my resistance to stress in general and providing something which my body needed anyway in amounts closer to what my body would have made itself if we as a species were able to make our own vitamin C.

 

Millions of years ago, humans, along with a very few other animals lost the ability to synthesize our own vitamin C, so we need to get it from food sources. This would be fine, if we were always able to get enough of it from food, but when our levels of stress increase or when we become ill or exposed to toxins, our requirements increase, sometimes to levels which are impossible to get by eating enough vitamin C rich foods.

 

Animals who make their own vitamin C are able to produce huge amounts of it during times of stress and illness, and they do.

 

So anyway, this time I did it properly, I did the bowel tolerance test to find out my own optimal level and arrived at 12 grams per day. The highest I was able to go was 15 grams, that gave me some very uncomfortable symptoms, so I dropped back down to 12 and have been at that dose for 2 days now.

 

During the test I was taking between 1g and 2g every hour. But now that I've found my optimal level I'm taking 2g instant release on waking, then repeating that every 2 hours up to 6 grams. Then two hours after that I take 3 grams of sustained release and another 3 of those with dinner.

 

This morning, first time in years that I've woken with not one adreneline surge or hot flash.

 

Its still early days, but I've had a resurgence of hope and feel like I might be back on track again. Previously I was worried about taking such high doses and the fact that it was synthetic, but after much more reading and examining anecdotal evidence from people who take up to 100+ grams daily, I'm no longer worried and actually happy I only need 12 grams.

 

Here are some of the pages and sites I found useful:

 

http://vitamincfoundation.org/www.orthomed.com/titrate.htm

 

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8954

 

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8861

 

http://www.vitamincfoundation.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=134

 

http://ar.iiarjournals.org/content/29/3/809.full

 

Dr. Daniel Chong's bowel tolerance instructions

 

I'm not suggesting that everyone try this, in fact anyone in acute withdrawal should be very careful with all supplements, but I've been in protracted withdrawal for over 3 years and haven't been making much progress with my recovery.

 

As with all supplements and withdrawal, start very slowly at a fraction of the recommended dose until you know how it effects you.

[btdt]

Oddly enough I bought powdered ascorbic acid today to put in the bath... it takes the chlorine out of the bath water since I am bothered by most everything now including the smell of chlorine in the bath water it has turned me off epsom salt baths... so today I tried the vit C alone it really took the smell completely away.  I did not use epsom salts and I am not sure mixing the two in the bath is good for a person but it may be great if I try I will let you know. 

 

How To Remove Chlorine from Your Water with Vitamin C

www.20somethingallergies.com/how-to-remove-chlorine-from-your-water-with-vita...

1.  
2.  

Aug 7, 2013 - Ascorbic acid – 2.5 parts to 1 part chlorine (where to buy) .... 1/4 teaspoon Vitamin Ccrystals to neutralize chlorine in your bath if needed (read ...

 

As somebody above said their best things were mag and Vit C maybe this is the perfect bath  

it maybe that people who are really sensitive early on or even later like me could get the vit c and mag in the bath... I wonder if vit c can be absorbed thru the skin... lets find out.

 

I did not find out but I did learn there is a vitamin C shower head and things worse than chlorine in the water "Chloramine exposure may be even more damaging to the lung epithelium than chlorine, and may release ammonia as another toxic byproduct as well."

Vitamin C in the bath will deal with both of these as it detoxes the water... 1000 mg to one tub of water. 

https://chriskresser.com/is-your-daily-shower-making-you-sick/

to answer that question yes every time I had a shower I had to go to bed and wait to gain the strength to get up.. I thought it was the chemicals in the shampoo and soap maybe this is part of it too.. I have filter on the shower but baths were a compromise.  

 

Since I had the vit C I took half a teaspoon with dinner I do feel more clear in the head but I am not sure if it is the Vit C or not it will take a bit more to convince me but I sure would be happy to have a vit that cure brian issues... I hope it remains ok on my gut. 

 

Peace all and thanks Petu for all your work

[Prozac20]

I bought a vitamin C multi- blend supplement that contains 1000 mg of antioxidant vitamin c along with other vitamins and minerals . It comes in powder form and I put it in my water . It doesn't irritate my stomach like the pills. At first I tried half of the package in my water just to see how I did now I drink it all at once .

[Sheri755]

Some people find that Vitamin C upsets their stomach, if that's you, then you might need the buffered kind. I don't have this problem and take extended release.

 

Now Foods do a buffered/sustained release formula.

 

Or this one by Solaray, I haven't tried either of them.

Petunia,

Do you mind telling me the brand of extended release that you are taking?

I'm having sinus issues, ear pain and fluid in ears. Also, a lot of excess saliva that makes it difficult falling asleep because I'm constantly swallowing. Cortisol surges, also.

I have Dr. Mercola's Lipisomal Vitamin C, 1000 mg.

Thank you!!

[scallywag]

Sheri, Petunia lives in Australia. The brand she uses may not be available in the U.S. Vitamin C is a one of those products that is available practically EVERY WHERE.  Staff at a good health food store or a pharmacy assistant will be able to help select a product with the characteristics you want.