The desire to eat as many vitamins as possible in order to support your body, protect it from all sorts of ailments and diseases can often turn into a negative effect, then you have to find out what hypervitaminosis is. Like everything in this life, vitamins should be in moderation. Their excess can be almost as dangerous for the body as the shortage. An overdose of certain vitamins can lead to serious illness, even poisoning.
Features of the disease
Understanding what hypervitaminosis is, it is worth noting that these are violations in the work of our body, caused just by an excess amount of useful substances.
At its core, it can be of two types - acute and chronic. Acute appears with a single dose of a large dose of one or morevitamins. In its symptoms, it is very similar to poisoning. At the same time, chronic hypervitaminosis develops regularly, when a person systematically consumes more vitamins than he needs. In this case, the symptoms may not be as obvious.
Reasons
Now that you know what hypervitaminosis is, it's time to understand its causes. Most often, they are uncontrolled intake of drugs, in which there is too much of one or another useful substance.
In addition, this painful condition can also develop when you start to eat a large amount of food that also contains this vitamin in addition to the vitamin that you get through a certain drug.
You should always remember what hypervitaminosis is, what danger it poses. Each vitamin in our body performs a specific function. It is important that nutrients are in the body only in the required proportions.
Similar diseases
It is also important to understand what beriberi and hypervitaminosis are, to understand similar diseases. Unlike the disease to which our article is devoted, beriberi is an ailment that is caused by a lack of one or more vitamins that enter our body.
This disease, as a rule, becomes the result of malnutrition, in the absence of useful substances and minerals. This is what beriberi and hypervitaminosis are.
It is worth noting that there are several more painful conditions, the causes of which are also associated with a lack or excessvitamins. It is necessary to distinguish between hypovitaminosis and hypervitaminosis. If we already know everything about the latter, then the former is the result of insufficient intake of certain vitamins in our body compared to their intensive consumption. The difference from beriberi is that this condition is considered painful only if the consumption of a certain substance becomes too high. In another situation, vitamins entering the body could be enough for normal life. Avitaminosis is a more serious disease. Here are the features of hypo and hypervitaminosis.
The most dangerous thing is that hypovitaminosis develops completely unnoticed. A person's fatigue increases, irritability appears, appetite disappears and attention decreases. All these symptoms are often attributed to stress, without attaching much importance to them. In the future, such a state threatens with a significant decrease in working capacity, may affect the work of certain internal organs, physical and intellectual abilities, the functioning of the body's defenses, and the reproductive system. In advanced cases, it leads to the destruction of immunity, type 2 diabetes, and cancer.
Avitaminosis, hypovitaminosis, hypervitaminosis - diseases one way or another related to the amount of vitamins in our body. The level of consumption of these nutrients should be closely monitored, only in this case it will be possible to avoid serious he alth problems.
Too much vitamin A
One of the mostcommon variants of hypervitaminosis is associated with an excess of vitamin A. A large amount of this substance can provoke a rather violent reaction. Signs of hypervitaminosis in this case are as follows:
- hair loss;
- skin peeling and rashes on it;
- hyperexcitability;
- itch;
- fever;
- headache;
- vomiting and nausea;
- joint pain.
The level of cholesterol in the blood rises sharply, the work of the urinary system and kidneys is disrupted. It is worth noting that vitamin A hypervitaminosis can develop both as a result of taking vitamin preparations, and due to the consumption of a large amount of marine fish and the liver of marine animals.
In chronic hypervitaminosis A, symptoms do not appear immediately, manifesting themselves only as a headache, and all other problems appear only after one to two months. In the future, the consequences of hypervitaminosis may be the development of dry dermatitis. Anorexia gradually sets in due to loss of appetite.
Vitamin A hypervitaminosis and beriberi are one of the most dangerous conditions associated with an overabundance or lack of vitamins. The symptoms that characterize this disease must be monitored especially carefully.
Vitamin B
Danger is also a large amount of vitamin B in the human body. Vitamin B1 hypervitaminosis can cause general disturbances in the body, including headache, weakness, and drowsiness. Some have acuteallergic reactions.
This is considered to be the most severe form of thiamine hypervitaminosis, as convulsions, pulmonary edema, even deadly anaphylactic shock can develop in the long term.
Do not abuse with other vitamins of group B. With hypervitaminosis of vitamin B2, approximately the same general manifestations appear as with poisoning with other vitamins. However, this poisoning is extremely rare, since the body has the ability to quickly remove this substance from the body. In 95 percent of cases, the disease manifests itself due to the individual characteristics of the body in response to this vitamin.
Vitamin B6 poisoning is possible only at sufficiently high daily doses - an average of 500 mg per day. An excess of this substance manifests itself in the form of an intoxication syndrome, as well as characteristic local manifestations. In particular, the occurrence of convulsive syndrome, skin rashes and itching on the skin. With the introduction of pyridoxine in a volume of more than 2.5 g per day, violations of vibration sensitization appear. Possible damage to motor neurons, sensory neuropathy develops. This is what hypervitaminosis leads to.
Diagnosis
In most cases, the diagnosis of any form of hypervitaminosis without exception is based on the history of the disease, clinical manifestations, that is, symptoms, as well as the results of instrumental and laboratory data.
It is noteworthy that diagnostics have practically no specificity either with an excess of water-soluble or withan overdose of fat-soluble vitamins.
It all starts with a thorough study of the patient's history, his medical history. It is important for the doctor to find out when and how it all started, what clinical signs preceded this disease, what foods were included in the patient's diet and in what quantity, whether such conditions had previously occurred, how they could manifest themselves. It is important to clarify which medications containing a particular vitamin the patient may have taken recently.
It is worth noting that in most cases, hypervitaminosis develops against the background of the abuse of vitamin complexes, usually in childhood, when parents strive to give the baby as many vitamins as possible, and do not even think about the likely consequences.
The next step is to analyze the presence of clinical symptoms. In 95% of cases, these are common symptoms - headache, weakness, malaise. Specific symptoms typical of a particular type of poisoning appear in 95 percent of cases. At the same time, local manifestations are more characteristic of a certain type of disease.
In conclusion, it is important to determine the level of vitamin content in blood plasma. The concentration can be increased three to five times, and in some cases even a hundred times.
For all types of hypervitaminosis, this is where the diagnosis ends, and then treatment begins.
Treatments
The chosen method of treatment depends on the overabundance of one or another vitamin, which led tothis painful condition. In this case, therapy is aimed at eliminating the specific causes of the disease, and only then the individual symptoms. Of great importance is the correction of excess vitamins, since the consequences of certain hypervitaminosis can be very deplorable.
In general recommendations for the treatment of hypervitaminosis, one should begin with the elimination of the source of the vitamin. To do this, it is necessary to reduce the intake of vitamins in the body to the minimum physiological doses. In this case, one should rely on the norms, based on daily needs. This can be achieved by compiling a diet, radically changing the diet, reducing certain products in it. When this painful condition is caused by taking drugs, such as vitamin complexes, they should be immediately canceled.
Next, specific symptoms are eliminated. In any variant of this disease, the reactions that have appeared should be eliminated. However, it is worth doing this only after the intake of vitamins in the body is maximally reduced. Otherwise, the clinical picture will continue to progress if limited to symptomatic therapy.
Finally, detoxification therapy is being carried out. It is aimed at treating intoxication syndrome, since with an excess of vitamins, the toxicity that appears on the body can be compared with poisoning.
Advice for specific disease states
When treating an excess of vitamin A, you should start with the abolition of vitamin complexes,reducing the intake of this substance in the body with food.
If the doctor was able to diagnose acute poisoning, infusion solutions are administered intravenously to the patient. For example, 0.9% sodium chloride solution, which will help remove excess vitamin from the body as quickly as possible. Also for this purpose, Lock-Ringer's solution, coupled with diuretics, helps.
In most cases, it will be justified to prescribe vitamin C, which is considered an inhibitor of retinol, effectively reducing its content in the body.
As a rule, with timely treatment and following all the recommendations of the doctor, the symptoms disappear in a maximum of two weeks.
Overdose of the "vitamin of intelligence"
This is what B vitamins are often called, their overabundance in the body is very dangerous for humans. With a high content of vitamin B1, they begin with a diet correction and the abolition of drugs through which the substance entered the body.
In this case, one should not forget that in large quantities this substance is toxic, which can cause acute allergic reactions. There may be signs of anaphylactic shock or other dangerous allergic reactions. In this case, high doses of glucocorticosteroids, epinephrine, active detoxification therapy are prescribed.
In some cases, treatment continues with the help of Suprastin, Dimedrol. If the patient develops bronchospasm due to the toxic effect of thiamine, 15 ml of eufilin solution is injected.
In symptomatic treatment, it is important to pay attention to the elimination of edemalungs. For this, pentamine, diuretics, prednisolone are prescribed.
With an increased content of vitamins B6 and B9 in the body, in addition to general recommendations, the appointment of antipruritic drugs will be a prerequisite. This is one of the most unpleasant symptoms that manifests itself due to an excess of nicotinic acid. In most cases, Desloratadine, Diphenhydramine, Cetirizine are prescribed. With the development of hypotension, "Mezaton" can be introduced.
In all other respects, general therapy is provided, which should be aimed at eliminating excess amounts of a substance from the body, abolishing vitamin complexes.
Summing up, we can conclude that in the treatment of this disease, the principle is the same - excess substances are removed from the body, symptom-correcting drugs are prescribed, as well as detoxification therapy.
Prevention
To avoid an overabundance of vitamins, you should not abuse vitamin supplements and complexes. It is enough to use them only in autumn and winter, and in the rest of the year it is better to diversify your diet in order to get the necessary substances from food.
To prevent hypervitaminosis, you should take a break for a month after taking each vitamin complex. Unfamiliar alcohol solutions and products are also used with increased caution. When taking vitamins, strictly follow the doctor's recommendations. Without consulting a doctor, it is forbidden to give a child any medicines and biologically active substances,containing large amounts of vitamins. The vitamins themselves should be kept out of the reach of children.
Remember that you can get enough vitamins if you eat a balanced diet. If this is not possible for some reason, you should start taking vitamins. In most cases, vitamins of domestic production are prescribed, since they are created taking into account the population that lives in the region. These supplements are strictly controlled and tested.
Moreover, there are special medical complexes in which the daily norm can be significantly exceeded, even dozens of times. If you start taking these medicines without consulting a doctor and without medical supervision, you are definitely guaranteed hypervitaminosis. So before you start taking any drug, be sure to consult your doctor. Only in this case you will be able to avoid dangerous conditions. Seek immediate medical attention at the first symptoms.
