Epilepsy and collagen/zinc supplements effects

[Thisgirlme]

Dear All,
I had a seizure 7 years ago, I have been on lamotrogine and seizure free since, I have a very strong family history of it and I do get auras sometimes!
3 weeks ago I started taking 8mg collagen which also contains 8mg of zinc, I felt okay the first 2 weeks but 3rd week now I’ve been feeling a bit out of sorts!
ive been reading online and it’s crazy because some articles say zinc is good and some say zinc is baaad! My sister has frequent seizures and she started taking high dose zinc which made her seizures worse!
Does anyone take zinc and is okay with it if so how many mg also has someone got any experiences with this?

 

[Porkette]

Hi Thisgirlme,

Welcome to CWE! I've been taking zinc along with vimpat, Diamox and mysoline and I have found that taking 50 mg. of zinc once
a day has helped my seizures a lot but what has helped me more than anything is cbd oil (medical marijuana) and taking 2 Tablespoons
of apple cider vinegar with mother in it. The vinegar has lowered my seizures to the lowest in my life and I've had seizures for 50 yrs.

To find the best med to reduce or stop seizures ask your neuro to do a DNA test on you by doing this they will take some blood and
get some salvia from your mouth and send it to the lab. The lab will be able to see the amount of enzymes in the liver and the body
chemistry then the Dr. can match you up to the best seizure med with the least side effect or see if you are drug resistant. I found out
I was drug resistant and that's why my Dr. put me on the cbd oil. I wish you and your sister the best of luck and May God Bless the
both of You!

Sue

 

[XxBlaqkxX]

I haven't ever had problems with collagen or liquid zinc supplements. I try to get the best source I possibly can. I take Levetiracetam and it seems to be okay. I also try to take supplements every other day or add a bit more spacing to be sure I'm not overdoing it unless I am that deficient that I absolutely need it every day.

My collagen is a 6,600mg scoopable powder. The liquid ionic zinc is 15mg. (most medical websites say the recommended amount's for males/females 14-19+ years of age are about 8mg-11mg in a day).

Most people are deficient in zinc, our foods often lack enough. The risk for overdosing is low as it is not a fat-soluble vitamin. Although, with anything, I would assume it's possible to get too much and if your body is already exposed to zinc somewhere at toxic levels then a zinc supplement on top probably wouldn't help. Usually the zinc in the environment we're exposed to is minimal in water, food, soil, etc. People that are generally more at risk are welders (metal fume fever) and others that work with a lot of metal.

I think any metal toxicity can make seizures worse, to be honest. If you feel it bothers you in any way, stop taking it, of course.

Also, there's so many other ingredients in a lot of these supplements these days that could be the culprit. Sometimes it could be the capsules or other fillers. There's also a lot of different types of zinc out there. It's good to find supplements that are as bio-available as possible. If your body can't break it down, not sure if there's much of a point in using it.

 

[Nakamova]

Everyone has different sensitivities/allergies, plus different kind of seizures can be triggered by different things. You don't mention your age, but you're more likely to be sensitive to zinc and zinc interactions if you're over 40. At any rate, since your sister is bothered by zinc and you both have seizure histories, that's a good reason to be cautious about trying it yourself, even at a low dose.

I've found that taking zinc can make me feel a bit nauseous, so I try to get it from my diet -- yogurt mostly, but it's also in some cereals and in meats. If you like pumpkin seeds, that’s a surprisingly good source!

Aside from that, there are collagen sources that don't include zinc, so maybe that's the way to go for now.