Table Of Content5/3/22, 7:45 PM How Megadosing On Vitamin B3/Niacin Saved My Life – Awaken Spirit
Awaken Spirit
Travel, Adventure, Self-Improvement & Love
How Megadosing On Vitamin
B3/Niacin Saved My Life
ON FEBRUARY 14, 2013JUNE 9, 2021 / BY KARL
GESSLEIN / IN DEPRESSION, LIFESTYLE AND HEALTH,
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
It’s time for people to stop being afraid of being stigmatized and start
having a real conversation about mental illness. This article is the first
step for me.
(https://karlgesslein.file
s.wordpress.com/2013/
10/hatteras.jpg)
To say that the last year
of my life has been the
most challenging year
ever would be a drastic
understatement. There
was 3 months where every single day I wanted to end my life. I
constantly fantasized about suicide, I would have done anything to
ease the pain. It started like most tragic stories start, with a girl.
Her name was Elise and I was madly in love with her. The courtship
lasted a year and it was the most intense set of experiences I’ve had in
my life. We were like two reactive chemicals, when we were together
something unpredictable would always happen. The energy was
insane in every way, and there was no boundaries, nothing was off-
limits. Like most passionate romances, after a year it came to an
equally spectacular ending. For a month after we separated I was
elated, then I unwisely spent time with her again and the turmoil
began. Half of me knew I could never have anything remotely
functional with this woman, the other half was completely convinced
that I could somehow make it work. I became a man at war with
myself.
Each day was a downward spiral, my grip on reality started slipping
further and further from my reach. It wasn’t uncommon for me to
take 4 or 5 hours just to get out of bed. There was no joy in anything
that I used to do. Even when I would kiteboard, I would end up
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crying hysterically. Everything became a pointless distraction. I had
no direction, felt no control and nothing seemed to matter anymore.
For 3 months I constantly wanted to end my life every single day. The
only thing that got me through the day was the hope that the next
day would be better. It never was, and I was giving up hope. There
seemed like there was no way out.
Things got frighteningly bad. For a week I started shaking
uncontrollably, I couldn’t walk, and brushing my teeth became
impossible. I was so afraid and felt like there was no one I could turn
to. Then the voices started. There had always been a kind gentle voice
in my head that quietly told me what I needed to do to be satisfied.
Suddenly the little voice got very, very loud. It kept telling me to do
things that were absolutely out of character. It kept repeating “Just
end it now, end it NOW”.
After 3 months of hell, something happened and I started to pray. I
had never believed in a god, I was praying to something inside of me.
I prayed to the part of me that honestly believed that things could be
better. I wasn’t present for my son or anyone else in my life. My
closest friendships had self-destructed under the stress of my mental
illness and my relationship with my child’s mother was far more
stressed than it had ever been. I was desperate to heal myself.
Somehow the praying changed something in me. Subconsciously I
think I knew a lot of the problems I was experiencing but consciously
I was without a clue. On a whim I bought a blood sugar meter and
started testing my own blood sugar. For 6 years I had used a gallon of
OJ a day to regulate my blood sugar whenever I was hypoglycemic. It
turns out I had developed Reactive Hypoglycemia and my pancreas
was producing far more insulin than it needed to. On top of that I had
also developed something called Adrenergic Postprandial Syndrome.
This meant when my blood sugar would spike and I would produce
way too much insulin causing it to drop very quickly. My body
would freak out thinking my brain was going to get starved for sugar
and an adrenaline surge would start. This surge of adrenaline would
cause the liver to start burning Glycogen which would regulate my
blood sugar again. These constant Adrenal reactions were taxing the
entire system and causing me to act like a speed junkie. I was
spiraling out of control so I decided to cut all sugar and starches out
of my diet.
In the span of the next 3 months I spent almost $5000 on doctors and
tests to figure out what was happening with me. This was a leap of
faith, as I hadn’t been able to work for almost 4 months and I knew
that it would be several more months before I could work again. It
turns out my Adrenal Glands were massively overactive and
producing about twice the amount of Cortisol that they should have
been. On top of that I found out I was also Gluten intolerant. I
switched to a diet of mostly beans and squash and started feeling
much better. For about a month I was fine, then I saw Elise again and
started spiraling out of control again. I tried Cognitive Behavioral
Therapy as well as EMDR and both helped a little but not as much as
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acupuncture. When I did acupuncture I would cry the entire hour or
two I was in the chair, but I would get one or two days of relief. I
started to do acupuncture two or three times a week.
In my prayers the reassurance I constantly received from myself was
the message that if I believed that my body could heal itself. A big
part of this healing was through dance. I danced 3 or 4 times a week,
sometimes for over 15 hours a week. I danced like a man possessed
by demons, I danced like a monster, I danced like a god. I danced
because I believed that my body needed to move to heal. I danced
because it really helped.
The entire time I was trying to heal myself I was reading constantly. I
read over 50 books on depression and mental illness. I can’t convey
how strange it was to be so sick and to be working so hard just to
comprehend what was happening in my own mind. After 8 months
of struggle I finally stumbled on the solution.
A few sentences in an obscure book on Depression talked about
experiments that were done in the 50’s in mental wards all over
America where patients with extreme depression and schizophrenia
were given regular megadoses of Niacin (B3) and Vitamin C. They
had found amazing results by giving doses of 3000mg of Niacin
which is about 12,000% USRDA.
http://www.doctoryourself.com/review_hoffer_B3.html
(http://www.doctoryourself.com/review_hoffer_B3.html)
I took 500mg which is about 2000% the USRDA and went to bed after
the flushing. When Niacin flushes the blood vessels constrict, your
skin turns bright red and it feels like a bad sunburn for 10 minutes to
an hour. It was uncomfortable, but at this point I would have tried
anything to make things better. I remember clearly waking up in the
middle of the night to take a piss and feeling completely normal. I
was floored, it was as if my life was a dream and I had suddenly
woken up. I went back to bed and woke up the next morning and
everything seemed fine. I was still thinking about Elise constantly but
there wasn’t a desperation about it anymore, the sense of
overwhelming hopelessness was gone.
I ended up buying about $50 worth of Flush-free Niacin which was
enough to last 4 months at 3000mg/day. Over the next several
months I would fluctuate my dosage between 2000-3000mg a day
depending on my mental state. I also took 9000mg of vitamin C daily
as well. If I forgot to take the Niacin for a day I knew it, the darkness
would start creeping in again. In time the voices in my head became
silent and I learned to trust my instincts again. When I saw Elise in
the supermarket or on the street I would tell her how much I missed
her and how much I loved her, but I wouldn’t spiral out of control for
several weeks.
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Niacin saved my life, and I don’t understand why the public is
unaware that a simple vitamin might help severe mental illnesses.
The only conclusion I can come to is that there is no money to be
made from selling a vitamin that costs only $10 a month to mega-
dose on. When 1/2 of the undergrads at Cornell University are taking
some form of medication for depression, that medication represents a
HUGE amount of money. If you suffer from severe depression or
schizophrenia you should know that there is a chance that your
condition might be corrected by a simple vitamin.
What have you got to lose? You might gain a little bit your sanity
back. I did.
Update 10/28/2013: I’ve been off Niacin for almost 6 months now. I
slowly cut back and when things got bad I would just take more
again. The voices stopped, the depression stopped. My brother
passed away and I could deal with it. I saw my ex girlfriend and
instead of spiraling out of control I was just fine. I am thankful for
that short passage I found in that book on depression that talked
about those Niacin studies in the 50’s. It really saved my life.
ADRENAL ADRENAL GLAND B3 BLOOD
SUGAR COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL
THERAPY CORTISOL DEPRESSION DIABETES
MELLITUS GLYCOGEN HYPOGLYCEMIA MEGADOSE MENTAL-
HEALTH NIACIN PARANOID
SCHIZOPHRENIA SCHIZOPHRENIA
28 thoughts on “How Megadosing On
Vitamin B3/Niacin Saved My Life”
1. James Perry
God bless you my friend. Turning to God from being a complete
Atheist has helped my schizotypal disorder substantially. It’s
helping me to get out and face my fears for once, and to be less
ashamed. I am dosing on Omega 3’s, Niacin, multi vitamins, Vit c,
Selenium, Magnesium, Biotin, green concentrates, Zinc, and
Vitamin A and feeling quite well. Exercising is key I can’t tell you
enough. God bless though don’t forget to pray to God and talk to
him daily and stay away from sin.
James
(cid:44) NOVEMBER 10, 2013 AT 6:37 PM (cid:62)REPLY
2. Beny Footworn
Does high doses of niacin cause a deficiency in the other B
vitamins because they work together synergistically?
(cid:44) JANUARY 15, 2014 AT 11:52 PM (cid:62)REPLY
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3. Beny Footworn
That is great how you found this cure yourself and you are not
caught up in the psychiatric system of treating “mental illness”
with drugs. I wonder how you avoided that. And also, very
interesting article.
(cid:44) JANUARY 15, 2014 AT 11:55 PM (cid:62)REPLY
4. Beny Footworn
Does high doses of niacin cause a deficiency in the other B
vitamins because they work together synergistically? And
therefore other B vitamins need to be increased?
(cid:44) JANUARY 18, 2014 AT 1:01 AM (cid:62)REPLY
5. Sian Barry (@Sbarry25)
My niacin bottle says 100mg a day and the other day when i took
it without food it caused extreme flushing. Is it safe to take more
than the bottle recommends?
(cid:44) MAY 11, 2014 AT 5:46 AM (cid:62)REPLY
Karl Gesslein
Get no-flush niacin and it is extremely difficult to overdose on
vitamins. That being said I’m now off the Niacin and doing well.
Taking a lot of Niacin releases toxins in your cells and can
overload your liver if you take too much for too long.
(cid:44) MAY 11, 2014 AT 9:11 PM (cid:62)REPLY
6. MMalves (@Mmcalves)
Some say that the no-flush niacin is not good as the flushing effect
is somewhat related to healing of depression. just take small doses
in the beginning and gradually take more as you start flushing bit.
More info
http://www.foodmatters.tv/articles-1/how-to-take-niacin-
vitamin-b3-for-depression-and-anxiety
(cid:44) JULY 27, 2014 AT 7:28 AM (cid:62)REPLY
7. leena brit
These are the common signs of depression, you mentioned in your
blog.This blog will defiantly help the people to identify about
depression.
(cid:44) JUNE 21, 2015 AT 7:19 AM (cid:62)REPLY
8. tawfeeq (@tawfeeq_314)
that’s really great news to hear , hope you can give us an update ,
being checking the page from time to time to see any update since
January
Good luck
(cid:44) JULY 26, 2015 AT 3:25 AM (cid:62)REPLY
Karl Gesslein
My life is amazing. I am celebrating my one year anniversary to
an amazing woman and I have been very happy and well
adjusted for a long time. Occasionally I get really sad for a day or
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two and I take only 500mg of Niacin and exercise for about 5-6
hours and all is right in the world again.
I never thought I could feel so good. My life is like a dream I keep
trying to wake up from.
(cid:44) JULY 26, 2015 AT 11:59 AM (cid:62)REPLY
9. D Bulloch
Hey so Niacin is a vaso-dilator, so to prevent flushing maybe
combine it with a vaso-constrictor like caffeine, or anti-histamines.
(cid:44) AUGUST 15, 2015 AT 3:30 PM (cid:62)REPLY
10. Mark Terpstra
Beutiful story Karl! So nice to hear your doeing good now!
I myself, my mother and my brother want to try this because they
also suffer from depresion.
I Myself have allittlebit of psychosis and i want to use it for
fitness. When did you take the Vitamins?
All together or spread over the day?
And are these ones good?
http://www.bodyenfitshop.nl/vitamines/vitamin-c/body-fit-
sportsnutrition/vitamine-c-met-rozenbottel/
http://www.bodyenfitshop.nl/vitamines/vitamine-b/puritans-
pride/niacin-nicotinic-acid-500-mg-puritans-pride/
I have tried these 2 but only 1 a day what would you reccommend
me (70kilo 17years)
And my brother and morher are (100kilo’s)
So how much vitamins should we take? and all together, or spread
over the day?
P.S sorry for my really bad english
Greetzz
(cid:44) SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 AT 8:55 AM (cid:62)REPLY
Karl Gesslein
I don’t know what brands are best, I bought the cheapest no-
flush niacin I could get at Walmart, 500mg tablets. As for
vitamins again I can’t say, I feel like Niacin and fish oil had the
biggest effect on me. Vitamins never did that much for me.
Best of luck, I hope you can find some relief.
(cid:44) SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 AT 10:58 AM (cid:62)REPLY
1. cfsrecoveryispossible
Karl, by no-flush niacin, do you mean inositol
hexanicotinate? Can you check your bottle and let us
know?
(cid:44) JUNE 12, 2016 AT 1:24 AM
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Karl Gesslein
Yes it is Inositol Hexanicotinate
(cid:44) JUNE 15, 2016 AT 10:23 AM
11. Chris Kavanagh
Dr Abram Hoffer was using Niacin to cure Schitzophrenia years
ago. I believe there’s still a particular video of a conference with
various former patients speaking of how Hoffer along with Niacin
had cured them. . .
One nurse spoke of her son who had tried every drug known, and
seen many MD’s, and nothing helped until a colleague suggested
Niacin, due to hearing Hoffer speak of it. The next morning, her
son was “normal” after taking a entire bottle of Niacin.
As Hoffer said, different people need diferent doses, but there are
no known side effects other than Flushing (which is good for you).
Google him, and get the info for yourself.
Hoffer was a legend, who just passed away a few years ago
(http://www.doctoryourself.com/review_hoffer_B3.html). . .He
and Linus Pauling were friends and colleagues and both used
Supplements to help 1000’s pf people.
PS Hoffer was a was a Canadian biochemist, physician, and
psychiatrist. Hoffer was hired by the Saskatchewan Department of
Public Health in 1950 to establish a provincial research program in
psychiatry. . .In other words, he was no quack as some anti
nutrition morons will suggest.
(cid:44) APRIL 7, 2016 AT 5:00 AM (cid:62)REPLY
12. CW DP
“Half of me knew I could never have anything remotely
functional with this woman, the other half was completely
convinced that I could somehow make it work. I became a man at
war with myself.” Eloquently formulated. Seems your situation
mirrored mine. Was the longest affair I’ve ever had, off and on
though it was.
I’ve never felt I was too far out of control, however, perhaps I
should experiment with higher doses of niacin to see what
happens to me
(cid:44) AUGUST 1, 2016 AT 12:34 PM (cid:62)REPLY
13. Hannah Lindner
Thanks for the info. I think niacin might be helpful for my dearest
friend who is more like a big sister. She has suffered from
depression for many years, and most drugs either don’t do much
good or make her worse, and most of them cause horrible side
effects in the process. I do my best for her, along with her other
best friend who is also very dear to me, but it’s not enough
anymore. I am hopeful that I can gently convince her to give this a
try, knowing that it can’t possibly hurt her and may be the
breakthrough we need.
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(cid:44) JANUARY 29, 2017 AT 8:30 PM (cid:62)REPLY
14. Luís Federighi
Congratulations, Karl !!! You’re an inspiration !
(cid:44) NOVEMBER 27, 2017 AT 8:05 PM (cid:62)REPLY
15. Madeleine Car
Hi Karl, I’m so happy that you’re doing well. Thank you for
sharing your story!!
I’m just wondering – did you take the vitamin c in separate doses
or one large one? If you took it in separate doses, how much did
you take for each dose? I would really appreciate your response.
– Madeleine
(cid:44) OCTOBER 4, 2018 AT 10:36 PM (cid:62)REPLY
16. Pingback: Using eBikes as medication in the battle against
depression | ELECTRICBIKE.COM
17. rcmrm
Why don’t you put your story into book form? You could help a
lot of people. I’ll edit it for you. I read Hoffer’s book on niacin. He
also tells the story of spontaneous remissions from high dose
niacin and had at minimum an 80% cure rate. Merry Christmas.
RM
(cid:44) DECEMBER 7, 2019 AT 8:11 AM (cid:62)REPLY
Karl Gesslein
Interesting idea. After so many years it seems so far away from
me now, but I think you are probably right.
(cid:44) DECEMBER 7, 2019 AT 8:14 AM (cid:62)REPLY
1. rcmrm
I don’t want to plaster my email on the internet, if there’s a
way for me to contact you direct or you to contact me direct
and you decide to proceed contact me.
(cid:44) DECEMBER 7, 2019 AT 8:25 AM
18. cfsrecoveryispossible
You wrote: “When Niacin flushes the blood vessels constrict, your
skin turns bright red and it feels like a bad sunburn for 10 minutes
to an hour. ”
Uh, no. Niacin causes blood vessels to DILATE, that’s why your
skin turns red. Why in the world would it turn red if your blood
vessels constricted?
Doesn’t. Make. Sense.
(cid:44) JANUARY 9, 2020 AT 7:34 PM (cid:62)REPLY
19. gardenabbess
Karl, congratulations. When I was in my twenties, I had a bout of
mononucleosis. It triggered fierce headaches, totally disrupted my
thoughts. After six years of psychiatric help, I tried niacin, and
yes, it helped me. But I went further, and got tested for food
allergies, of which I had plenty. As my allergist proved I was
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allergic to cereal grains, I went gluten free, and have been so for
almost 40 years. But the niacin was my first clue. As I aged,
symptoms came out. In my mid 60’s, I discovered that my thyroid
was sensitive to the kale and cole crops. A few years later, it
happened that I was diagnosed with pancreatitis. I reversed it by
doubling down on cutting forms of sulfur in my diet..thiocyanates
and sulfites. My thinking is that it is an inborn error of sulfur
metabolism. Nonetheless, Dr. Hoffer was a GREAT thinker of his
time, and correct, having the information that he had then.
(cid:44) JULY 7, 2020 AT 2:30 PM (cid:62)REPLY
20. Iulia Iulia
I have a weird theory on what might happen in cases similar with
yours. This was a contextual psychosis and you must understand
what triggered it. And here comes my theory. You believe that you
fell in love with that girl because you lived the experience, but
what if the euphoria and high that you lived for for a year were
over the top because it was not really you who fell in love? It
might have been a character in your mind that functions as your
benevolent god, the source of that voice. Based on a person who
lived, a grand (grad)parent most likely. For such a “chemistry”
you need something dis-embodied, a pure mental representation.
When you broke up with that girl, you pissed off your own god,
who believed itself “alive” because something with that girl
triggered something coded in that character. Think of it like lines
of code in a program that match. When mental characters believe
themselves alive in our mind they tend to “cause” an adrenal
reaction cause they feed on adenochrome, and they need it. That
also happens to be the basis for the perpetuation of occult rituals
and sacrifices into modern times. It’s the same idea…idolizing
dead characters as alive and a subsequent need for adrenaline by
doing taboo acts.
What niacin does is to cut the adrenochrome production and
consequently puts your mental character back in line playing a
supportive role, not taking over your whole mental space as . I
believe psychosis is dis-embodied cognition activated by a mental
character taking our mind space, the effect being what we call
quantum computing. An alternative way of processing
information. It feels weird and it alters our perception, thinking
and functioning cause we normally use embodied cognition,
based on interaction with physical space and our being in body
experiences.
The morale of the story is for you in the future to avoid such
chemical attractions that are based on interactions between mental
characters in people’s minds, not the people themselves. No
wander you were not compatible. The over the top chemistry and
high was the signal to get back from a false situation. But we have
devolved to decode backwards our emotional signaling and to
enjoy the rush of emotion, the higher the better, not to take the
warning.
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These are my own insights, and in all modesty, it will take a lot of
time until people will get it, so we’d better not wait out for the
rest.
(cid:44) NOVEMBER 2, 2020 AT 12:55 AM (cid:62)REPLY
1. D.Masters (@dougmasters101)
Interesting stuff. Is there anywhere else to read about your
theories?
(cid:44) DECEMBER 24, 2020 AT 1:57 AM (cid:62)REPLY
BLOG AT WORDPRESS.COM. DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION
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