I took a well-known supplement available in every pharmacy. It caused four years of agony – and I’ll suffer the consequences for the rest of my life

‘I couldn’t sleep. I’d wake up in the middle of the night with my chest and arms on fire.’

Andrés Lopez-Varela, 39, now refers to this period as the ‘worst of his life’. 

‘I couldn’t have a phone conversation with the handset held to my ear because the act of partially closing my hand was so excruciating. I stopped being able to drive properly because closing my hand around the steering wheel would send burning pain up my arms and into my chest,’ he tells me.

‘I couldn’t even sit down for long periods because slumping in my chair would cause the pain to explode. It was a fiery, burning, nerve pain that rarely went away.’

Andrés, from from Newcastle, NSW, suffered through extreme peripheral neuropathy – tingling, burning and shooting pains through his peripheral nervous system – for four years in total, though the lasting impacts will likely stay with him for life.

The culprit? Vitamin B6, a seemingly innocuous vitamin in the over-the-counter supplements he was taking.

For Brisbane woman Kathie Elliott-Scott, who was using natural supplements to complement the medical management of her chronic health conditions, the first inkling that something else was wrong was partial facial paralysis.

She was referred to a neurologist but her symptoms quickly worsened and expanded to include restricting the use of her hands and legs.

‘When I saw my neurologist at the end of November last year, I was in a very bad place,’ Kathie explains.

‘I hadn’t been sleeping. My whole body was just on fire, and I could barely walk. I couldn’t open jars, I couldn’t use my hands. It was just the worst I’ve ever been.’

Kathie, who lives with rheumatoid arthritis and Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, had been taking magnesium supplements to help with her joints, as well as a supplement meant to help with fluid reduction.

‘I was also taking garcinia [a natural weight-loss supplement] and my daily greens powder for general health. All of them contained B6.’

When the bloodwork Kathie’s neurologist had ordered came back, the pathology centre had included B6 levels on the report, even though it hadn’t been specifically ordered.

‘And good on them,’ says Kathie, ‘because my doctor told me he had never seen levels so high in anyone, ever.’

B6 toxicity is on the rise in Australia, with a spokesperson for the Therapeutic Goods Association (TGA) revealing that of the 125 reports about adverse effects the organisation has received, 110 of those reports have been in the past five years.

In Australia, there are more than 1,000 listed medicines containing B6, which can also be found in weight-loss shakes, energy drinks and some breakfast cereals.

In the correct dose, like anything else, B6 can be useful. Also known as pyridoxine, the vitamin helps the body produce antibodies, hemoglobin and neurotransmitters, as well as helping to maintain normal nerve function and blood sugar levels.

Depending on your age and gender, the recommended daily amount of B6 ranges from between 1mg for older children, to 1.7g for men over 50.

For men and women aged 19-50, that amount is 1.3mg.

Andrés, unwittingly, was taking more than 16 times this amount – in just one supplement.

‘I’d been experiencing some muscle soreness after going to the gym,’ explains Andrés, who considers himself fairly informed about what he is putting into his body.

‘My GP recommended a magnesium supplement, and I did see on the label that it had B6 in it, but wasn’t aware of any dangers surrounding it.’

This was in 2016, and the magnesium began to work. Andrés did see quicker muscle recovery after gym sessions, and so incorporated the dose into his daily routine.

‘About two years later, I began to get pins and needles in my hands when I was lifting weights,’ he explains.

‘I told my trainer, who advised me to work on my grip-strength, which we did,’ he recalls. ‘Then progressively, over a number of months, the pain pushed up my arms, into my chest and into my shoulder blades.’

After Andrés had been working with a physiotherapist for about two years, investigating theories ranging from thoracic outlet syndrome to carpal tunnel syndrome, Covid hit.

‘Like many during Covid, I lost a lot of work, and therefore had to cut back my training sessions, at which point the pain got significantly worse. I remember I couldn’t be completely pain-free unless my hands were completely open flat, or balled into fists. I had to sleep with pillows over my hands to keep them balled up, or the pain would wake me up.’

It was at this point Andrés was put on Pregabalin, a medication for the nerve pain – which came with a suite of side-effects almost worse than the pain.

‘That was terrible medication,’ shudders Andrés. ‘The side effects are tremendous. At this stage I was having panic attacks and in tears because I had pain with everything I did. Then I’d take the medication, and then the medication made me nauseous, made me anxious, stopped me from sleeping, made my vision blurry… it was hell.’

In late 2021, Andrés was finally referred to a neurologist, who ordered a battery of tests.

‘She did a CT scan, an MRI, a PET scan, a nerve conduction test,’ says Andrés, ‘and a whole host of blood tests. She said, “We’re just going to test everything, and rule out anything we can.”‘

When the results came back, Andrés’ neurologist contacted him to reveal that every test bar two had come back within normal ranges. ‘She said I did have carpal tunnel syndrome,’ Andrés says, ‘and that my B6 levels were nine times what they should have been.’

‘I looked at my supplements, and I found that there was B6 in my magnesium,’ explains Andrés.

‘The instructions on the jar said you could take up to three a day. I’d been taking three per day for a few years prior, but at that point I was only taking two per day. And in taking two, I was still having 16 times the recommended daily intake of B6.’

Andrés immediately stopped taking his supplements, and within three months, the peripheral neuropathy had subsided, though his carpal tunnel syndrome – something both his neurologist and physiotherapist believe was caused (or greatly contributed to) by the B6 toxicity, remained.

Andrés underwent surgery to release both carpal tunnel nerves in late 2022, but has been warned the nerve damage he sustained puts him at lifelong risk of further nerve injury.

‘Both the physio and the neurologist agree that I will be living with a compromised nervous system for the rest of my life,’ says Andrés, ‘in particular, the grip strength in my hands is really weak. I love to cook and bake, and I can’t hold a whisk in my hand and whisk for more than 60 seconds.’

Andrés urges anyone who takes supplements to check them for B6.

‘Even if there’s no reason to expect B6 to be in there, it may well be, and if you’re taking the supplement often, it’s very possible you’re exceeding the safe daily amounts,’ he explains.

‘If you’re worried about B6 toxicity, see your GP and ask for the right blood test to check your levels. As for doctors and other HCPs, I would urge them to please, please, please proactively ask all your patients if they’re taking any supplements and have a list of the highest risk ones on hand to share with them. B6 toxicity is no joke, it can be a truly life-altering diagnosis.’

Dr Terri-Lynne South, a spokesperson for the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, adds: ‘It is important that people know what they are putting in their bodies, particularly when it comes to tablets.

‘Vitamin B6 is in a big range of vitamins, medicines and supplements, and most people aren’t aware that they are consuming it, sometimes at levels more than 50 times the recommended daily limit.

‘Vitamin B6 toxicity can result in muscle weakness and tingling and numbness in the hands and feet, and nerve damage called peripheral neuropathy.’

Dr South says that in younger people, excessive Vitamin B6 is usually associated with energy drinks, while in older age groups it’s commonly found in muscle cramp medications and magnesium supplements. 

‘In general, most people’s diets contain the majority of vitamins that they need, and it is a good idea to discuss with your doctor before taking any regular vitamins or supplements,’ she says.

Three months on, after stopping all the supplements, many of Kathie’s B6 toxicity symptoms have started to subside, and she’s eagerly awaiting another suite of tests to confirm her levels have gone down.

‘Anecdotally, my facial paralysis has also gotten a lot better, although doctors still don’t know definitively if it was caused by the B6 in the first place,’ she explains.

Kathie shares her experience in the hope that it might save someone else from going through the same ordeal. ‘There needs to be more awareness about mixing supplements, and then just more awareness in general with both health professionals and the general public,’ she says.

‘I mean, you can just get them from the supermarket! So someone could feasibly have grabbed magnesium, weight loss shakes and energy drinks in their trolley without thinking, and potentially their B6 levels will have skyrocketed. It’s something you could be doing daily without even realising.’

A medicines safety alert for health professionals and a safety advisory for the general public are available on the TGA website.