Help, myo inositol caused severe neurologic disturbances

Hello, thanks for the inquiry.

I'm well-versed in cellular pathways involving secondary messengers. Personally, I've never come across anything involving "inositol poisoning". What makes you certain that the inositol is causing these symptoms?

Because this all occured whilst I was taking it and it's obvious to me that it was the culprit.

There have been other accounts of people who had cognitive issues after taking it and myoclonic jerks. For me I believe it caused a big shift in whatever pathways it affects. Pathways that weren't functioning correctly prior to taking it, due to me having prolonged depersonalisation and dysautonomia from taking amitriptyline and nortriptyline before.

I know it has a big effect on calcium signalling and osmosis

Still could be a correlation, but not the cause...


Here's a look at how the secondary messenger system works:

https://videos.homeworkclinic.com/watch/562/second-messengers-in-the-inositol-lipid-signaling-pathway/

Give me a moment to think about this further, will get back to you. BUT do watch the animation above. As you can see, without a hormone signal, this pathway cannot initiate, regardless of how much inositol is present.

Thanks for your help, I've watched the video. This is what I believe could be wrong in my brain, too much phosphorylation maybe and an overactive PKC. I do find it pretty difficult to remember and understand all the various signalling components . I also believe I have high serotonin which is screwing things but know it's more complex

It's hard to diagnose something based on subcellular activities, since there's really no way to find out for certain. Many of the symptoms you've described seem like everyday things to me, for example, mental fog or forgetfulness. What do you mean by "prolonged depersonalisation and dysautonomia"?

You also mention taking these anti-depressants: amitriptyline and nortriptyline. Where those taken together with the inositol supplement?

I assure you that this is cognitive decline on another level. Like my brain will always get the wrong or opposite word to what I would like to think. Not to mention I see words differently in written text a lot. It's like a terrible type of predictive text in my head that gets everything wrong and it's like my focus is way worse. Even writing this is hard now to concentrate.

I mean that the depersonalisation and dysautonomia I got after being on those drugs has continued and shows no signs of going away despite being off them since 2018. With depersonalisation I feel a huge disconnect to surroundings along with emotional numbness which is indescribably horrendous. The alterations made to receptors and various other things have not reversed, which I believe is related to something going wrong with second messengers.  They probably can't dephosphorylate and the g protein receptors remain desensitized and inactive. That is my basic understanding from studying what little I could but it's incredibly complex for me. I know those drugs inhibit acid sphingomyelinase too. If this means anything I don't know.

I took the tricyclics a couple years before at separate stages. But I feel they set the stage for whatever the inositol did to me later on. It must have imbalanced me further.

With the Inositol I just wondered if it was to do with calcium signalling, as I know that is linked strongly to cognition

There is research that shows that a decline in myo-inositol can be used as a biomarker for people with schizophrenia, that is, people with depression linked to schizophrenia have lower myo-inositol. Therefore, inositol is believed to improve depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders by stimulating hormones like serotonin and dopamine.

https://www.nature.com/articles/npp201557

It also seems to benefit people with panic disorders. A small study published investigated the effect of myo-inositol on 20 people with panic disorder. After being provided a daily 18-gram dose of myo-inositol for four weeks, the participants were given a daily 150-mg dose of Luvox (fluvoxamine) for the four weeks. When compared to a matched set of individuals not given myo-inositol, those who were given myo-inositol had an average of 2.4 fewer panic attacks per week. *Keep in mind that a study this small is subject to systematic error and their results should be taken with a grain of salt.

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004714-200106000-00014

That's the good news, other studies showed that myo-inositol did nothing, and were inconclusive. A double-blind study found that a daily 12-gram dose of inositol improved depression scores compared to people provided a placebo, BUT the results could not been replicated elsewhere.

https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.152.5.792

Here's my final take. I'd recommend you stop using the supplement if it is getting the better of you. If you feel that its usage has lead to toxic effects that is affecting your cognition, then a psychological assessment is in order to determine if the mental state you're in right now isn't psychosomatic. I'm finding very few studies that suggests it is toxic, hence it's hard to make a reasonable conclusion.

Sorry but you don't understand: I haven't taken any inositol for well over a year. These are effects which occured whilst taking it and have not gone away, just like with the medication.

There are studies showing that it impacts cognition negatively.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18725861/

So something is going wrong and my brain is unable to return to how it was pre-use. I'm wondering if I lack something needed in these pathways and inositol exacerbated that. But I find the second messenger system incredibly complex and that's why I'm seeking help from someone with a vast knowledge. My uneducated guess is that it's linked to phosphorylation/dephosphorylation and altered phosphatase and kinase activity. Or changes in lipids

You took it over a year ago, and you're blaming your symptoms on an over the counter supplement? Don't mean to be condescending, but that sounds very silly to me. Whatever you're experiencing likely has nothing to do with myo-inositol. Did you read the study carefully? Re-read this excerpt:


Re-read the methods:


14 participants, >70 years of age. Do you fall into that category?

It sounds silly to you because you aren't familiar with long term negative effects induced by  antidepressants (that can last indefinitely afterwards)and cross sensitisation. Whereby it's possible to crash from taking ordinarily safe over the counter products.

Inositol affects these same pathways and something is very wrong in my brain in that they won't function correctly. It's clear as day to me that this was the inositol, and I'm not foolish. The change after taking it was obvious. I appreciate this may be difficult to grasp and imagine. I don't recall what was in the study exactly, just that it linked cognitive issues. I can barely read or focus to check. That is a direct consequence of taking inositol which hasn't gone away and I was not like that before, even after my other problems.


You can be as condescending as you like but I really need help with this as it's not going to reverse on it's own. I just want to get the pathways working properly again. The last thing I need though is to be gaslighted right now

Post Merge: A year ago

As I said, my belief is I have some sort of signalling deficiency which is why inositol and possibly other substances affect me negatively. I just need to identify what inositol affects and try and find what is going wrong and why things won't revert

Wait a moment, your thread started with the presumption that it is the myo-inositol causing (or exacerbating) the symptoms you're experiencing. I stated that "whatever you're experiencing likely has nothing to do with myo-inositol," and I stand by that. HOWEVER, I do believe that it was the anti-depressants that are responsible for your symptoms, as they're known for their long-term side effects.



It is, but you didn't overdose, and the product is a sugar. A simple carbohydrate that is made in the body and found already in foods, so it can't be that harmful.


If so, did you report this to a medical professional when you first noticed it? Otherwise, it would be both careless and dangerous to have waited a year before breaking the silence. The moment it happened, you should have knocked it to the curb. Fortunately for you, you can stop stressing about these cellular pathways because things won't get fixed at the cellular level like you think they do. Damage at the cellular level is fixed by the cells themselves, and it is done asynchronously as the body sees fit. If there is cellular damage, your cells will know what to do, and will regenerate or fix the problem on their own.


I believe that this rabbit hole cannot be extended beyond what you've already researched, and that's why you're here. You're looking for life-minded folk that will steer you in the direction that makes sense to you, but I'm here to tell you that it's all wrong. My conscience and experience learning, practicing, and knowing biology will not permit me to do that.

I didn't want to make things overly complicated as it just sounds too unbelievable. But the Inositol added a new layer of complexion to what was already ridiculous circumstances.

It may be a sugar but Inositol still impacts cellular pathways which obviously weren't working properly for me. I took it because I was led to believe it would resensitize receptors.

Yes I did report it but like always it was brushed aside and I was not believed.

The cells aren't functioning properly then as nothing has reversed. I still have all the cognitive issues from inositol. Literally just read "explain" as explosion. I'm also having strong muscle twitching and facial muscle pressure even though I've took lots of magnesium.

I don't know what the answer is but I believe I have desensitized receptors from the medication and cognitive complications from inositol. The cells simply must be lacking something or something is jamming the machinery

Are you dyslexic by any chance?