Allergy to B vitamins

@robindancer5678 I think the world is just beginning to understand the permanent nature of long Covid. As you have seen on Connect, there are so many things we don't yet understand. I am sorry that you, like my daughter and one of my very good friends, are finding your life turned inside out!

As for foo and supplements, maybe your body is telling you to go back to a more natural diet? Remember that along with "enrichment" (often from synthetic sources) come mystery chemical, dyes and preservatives.

What are you experiencing when you eat what I call "next to nature" foods? Examples are fresh fruits and vegetables, plain unprocessed free range poultry or pork, free range eggs, plain organic pasteurized milk with no additives, wild caught seafood, minimally processed rolled oats...you get the idea.

If you haven't tried this yet, perhaps it will help? Once you establish what you can (and will) eat you can begin to study the nutrient content of food to find which can provide the vitamins and minerals you need. If you still come up short, then it would be time to seek out supplements that are free of all the common allergens as well as dyes, stearates, and preservatives.

"Ugh," you say, "this on top of everything else!" But it may be the way out of some of your current problems. If you have trouble finding the kinds of foods I listed, let us know where you are and maybe others can help you with resources.
Sue

Hi Sue - you are absolutely right to advise a more natural diet. I had the privilege of traveling for work to Africa (Tanzania) three times and enjoyed very fresh food. They don't refrigerate very much - they market every day! True farm to table. It tasted better than our food here. I am starting to be more intentional about my eating - going to farmer's markets etc. Even before COVID I had a lot of food allergies, so I want to be tested again so I can avoid what I might be allergic to. Good advice! I hope your daughter and friend are doing okay.

I don't know of any hypoallergenic vitamins. I am fortunate to not have those allergies-- yet. My views about supplementing have changed over time. Right now one thing that I try to do is to make use of nutrient-tracking websites like cronometer and myfooddata.com in order to see what I get enough of and what I might be falling short of. Not every day, but once in a while, I'll type my day's food intake into the 'recipe nutrition calculator' on myfooddata.com and look at how my totals for vitamins and minerals add up. That can give me an idea of what I could do differently with diet or what I may want to supplement. The fact that you are already very familiar with natural foods and food preparation is a great advantage.

I just thought of something else, maybe not relevant but I'll put it out there anyway. I believe I may have read that riboflavin is susceptible to being degraded (or oxidized or something) by water/humidity. So this time of year, at least where I live, it's too hot and too humid for both me and my vitamins. I have some b complex tablets that are getting mottled with dark spots which i assume is moisture-related. Even the capsules are getting dark spots. So i'd almost wonder if any tendency to allergic reaction might possibly be exacerbated by this moisture damage/breakdown, somehow encouraging the body to be more likely to read it as 'enemy'.
If that were the case, i;m not sure how many solutions you could look for. I've seen some b's in blister packs (or maybe it was a multi?) but the ones i saw were on sale because they were almost expired, so probably even worse than fresh non-blister packed. I've seen some canisters branded 'airscape' that are meant to seal at least some air out to supposedly keep things fresher. I don't know if something like that in combination with some desiccant(s) or ordinary cotton would help to minimize any moisture damage, or not.
I prefer to take a b-complex that I get in a capsule at a local store, but I don't take the whole at once; rather i open it and tap out a tiny bit into a bowl or spoon. tastes awful but one capsule lasts me over a week.

I had Covid (3)s and swelling, nausea, headaches, etc. So I went old school and started with nutrition.
I have been on an elimination diet since Nov 2023. I started my food life from scratch. Christmas morning had hives, swollen face, neck, and chest, from (fresh from my baker) Brioche bread. Confirmed bread allergy 5 days later when I had same reaction to just the bread itself. 2 weeks goes by and I added Eggo waffles, same reaction but also wheezed. Naturally thought a flour or gluten allergy.
This week I added in my Vitamins. Multi and B complex. I swelled up in face and neck, wheezing, had to take Benadryl x 3 two days ago.
I just took my B complex alone today...same reaction!!!
I think I'm allergic to B vitamins. Niacin mono nitrate (b 1) is in both Brioche bread And waffles.
Confirmed by blood test, I do not have gluten issues. Like another person reported about COVID-19. Did it mess up bodies " motherboard" ( funny BTW to who wrote that)
Is a B allergy truly possible.??
Any more thoughts??

Greetings - "dasu" thanks for sharing your experience with vitamins, foods and your allergic response (and even sounds asthmatic)! It's weird how COVID affects everyone differently - and sometimes people look at me skeptically when I talk about my weird symptoms post COVID - (which I had over 2 years ago)! I don't think we have a clue yet as to what the long term effects of COVID are.

Dasu,
I’m sorry that you’ve had to discover the hard way about your B vitamins allergy. I do hope you look into items made with UNenriched flour, which is fortified with artificial forms of B vitamins, among others.
In your case, with the extreme reactions, you may not want to try these, but I am using gluten and dairy free methylated B vitamins because sometimes the fillers in vitamins and medicine pills/capsules are allergens, and because I do not break down lab-created B vitamins, and methylation takes care of that part of the process for me so that I may absorb them. Be sure, before you write off B vitamins which are essential to health, that the culprit is neither filler nor lab created “folic acid” vs natural form “folate”. Unfortunately USA standards make no distinction between the two and some companies even label their food or supplements as having folate when it is, in fact, folic acid. Be very careful so as to not risk anaphylaxis.

Yes, there are multivitamins made without common allergens (yeast, soy, nuts, gluten/wheat, diary etc.) but they are rare. I would consult an integrative health nutritionist, as they may know of specific brands.

I was searching for a list of supplements/acids/peptides, etc., derived from Vit B (I'm allergic to certain forms) that I should avoid or that might be causing my current allergic reaction (asthma, runny nose) when I found this post. I've had 3 variations of COVID19 (I'm such a lucky lucky girl) along with a host of other issues from birth. What I've learned: aging complicates sensitivities, combining different foods and supplements, herbs, even seasonings (example, say you just started liking and eating a particular ethnic food that uses a different blend of spices and herbs than what you usually eat...) can also spark new allergies and sensitivities. As suggested above, a very simple diet of whole foods--whole blandish foods, with minimal amounts of seasonings is a good idea. Nothing processed or aged. Do a search for two-week allergy test diet. I can't remember what all is in it, but no corn, nothing with artificial preservatives or additives--(including "health" foods--there are a ton of things that slip through the cracks and still meet the requirements for labeling), certain legumes, and of course, processed sugar, etc. It's really stressful if you eat out a lot trying to find things you can eat, so it requires a commitment on your part to follow it, but it's only two weeks out of your life, and it's a DIY, so no cost except the groceries. Wheat products (but rice and rye are allowed) are a no-no... Then you slowly start adding things back in, one at a time, every three days or so for another two weeks (at the minimum). Keep a record of it. Be sure to check with your doctor first, especially if you do have health issues of any kind. It will give you an idea of the more obvious allergens or sensitivities. Just to make this all more of a mess, there is a ton of misleading information out there, especially concerning health. Covid just made everything a lot harder. I temporarily lost my sense of taste and I'm just getting it back. The best place to start is to become an informed consumer and patient; the Internet doesn't make that easy because as I said, there's a lot of misinformation, so you'll have to do due diligence. Then, talk to your doctor or healthcare practitioner. Use common sense. Best wishes.

Have you ever tried the 5 strands test? https://www.5strands.com/