Hi guys,
I'm trying to figure out an extreme reaction I had to vitamin k2. I had been diagnosed with lowish D3 (29) and thought this might be contributing to some sleep difficulties I'd been having. I tried supplementing it, but weirdly it made me feel tense and anxious and gave me a stomachache, which it had not done in the past. I tried adding magnesium, but to no avail.
I read about how k2 was supposed to help the body "use" d3 more properly, so I decided to give it a try. I have had lowish platelets and lowish blood pressure all my life, so I figured that, if anything, I didn't need to worry about excessive clotting, since I was more of a "bleeder."
I tried MK7 first: a tiny, tiny dose. I broke up a 90 mcg tablet into about ten pieces and took one of them. Strange but interesting reaction. I felt full of a kind of euphoric energy and couldn't sleep all night. It seemed to me like K2 was doing something good--only it was very strong, and shouldn't be taken at night. I looked into it more and read that MK7 could cause heart palpitations and the like, while MK4 was more "natural," had a shorter half-life, and could be taken in larger doses (obviously I've eaten cheese, pepperoni, liver, etc. and never had a strange reaction. I've even had natto a few times a while back, and I don't remember any especially strange reaction), so I tried to switch to MK4 in the morning.
I bought a 500 mcg pill and again split it into about 10 pieces, so I was taking about 50 mcg each morning. It seemed to have a similar effect--made me feel very happy and energetic, a bit manic, even, and also horny. Seemed like a great thing, albeit surprisingly strong. But after about a week of this I started having frequent heart palpitations and noticed veins standing out on my body strangely. My blood pressure had gone way up, and, worst of all, I started noticing a big increase in vitreous floaters in my eye.
I quit the k2 altogether and went to an eye doctor to find I had an atrophic hole in my retina. They don't think it had anything to do with the K2, but I have a hard time believing it was just a coincidence. Moreover, I'm sure the palpitations and other cardiovascular symptoms were connected. Now it's been almost two months since I took K2 and I'm still suffering with the floaters (the hole was treated with a laser but there's not much they can do about the floaters), and occassional heart palpitations and chest pains, though those have gotten much better over time. It may be unconnected, but I also notice a weird symptom: it looks like my skin has lost its elasticity--the opposite of what K2 supposedly does in skin products. I could just have gotten older all of the sudden, but it seems weird to me. Also, connective tissue disorders can lead to ocular problems.
Anyway, this is in one sense just a warning to people about K2: some people seem to have extreme reactions to even a little bit of it, and I strongly advise against taking it.
On the other hand, I'm trying to figure out what caused my extreme reaction: it could have something to do with my low platelets, I suppose, but why the huge bursts of energy and libido when I took it? Why the weird blood pressure? Why the possible eye damage? It's quite a frustrating mystery.