DISCLAIMER: As far as I can tell, this is causation. Since, however, my mood is not stable, and there are always confounding environmental variables, I cannot be sure that it is not just correlation. Do not let this story discourage you from taking inositol if you think you need it, but just be warned and try to schedule your experiment with it away from anything important.
About a 2 months ago, I started taking inositol to help with anxiety. I was only taking a moderate amount every day, about 2.5g, and I was planning on working my way up to 18g. I only took it for about a week before I quit.
I made a huge mistake in doing this. I normally attempt to thoroughly research my supplements before I take them, but Inositol looked like some sort of miracle drug. I looked through several sources, and all I could find was overwhelmingly positive reviews. People were saying "this cured my OCD!" "This cured my agoraphobia!"; I even saw one 'doctor' talking about how it was wonderful, and he always give it as the first line treatment against anxiety and OCD and that it was well tolerated. They were citing studies about how helpful it was to OCD, but I never actually read the studies. Not only did it help with mental problems, but it helped with skin and hair texture, two things that I am more than eager to improve.
So, I ordered some from Jarrow's formula on amazon.
What I failed to do was look up negative effects. Unfortunately, I soon found out.
The first day, I didn't feel much. I was a bit more sweaty than normal, but I didn't think it was a major problem.
As the week progressed, however, the sweating became more of an issue, and behavioral changes were setting in.
I did not keep a log, so I can't tell you exactly how long they took to set in, but these are a general overview of the symptoms and effects (as they were by the end of the week:
- It DID help with anxiety in a sense. Social anxiety was pretty much gone. As a result, I talked to people a lot more. For the first time in my life, I initiated conversations with professors. Getting my schedule set up for next semester was very easy.
- Lack of caring about others.
- Dampening of reflective and deep thought. I was very "in the moment". I could do things, and they would roll off me. I also had trouble writing.
- EXTREME agitation. I was having to try my very hardest to not mouth off to my parents and professors. I could not stand to listen to others talk. I was occasionally cutting people off when they were talking.
- The sweating got very bad, to the point where I would come home and have to change clothes because I was covered in sweat.
- Probably related to the sweating, my right ring finger began to look like it had water damage constantly. Like when you take a long bath, and your hands look wrinkly.
- Extreme need to get pleasure, translating to high amounts of masturbation and increased video game playing.
- Increased need to move.
- My grades did not decrease, however. There were 3 tests in that one week, and I did the same as ever.
- If the pleasure factor was taken out of the equation, I don't think there would have been change in attention.
- Little to no change in attention to detail (still very bad).
Also, be aware that the side effects lasted for about a month and a half, slowly tapering off at different rates. After about a month, I was worried that I had permanently screwed myself up, but I am back to normal now.
Lastly, about a week ago, I read the studies. Exacerbation of ADD symptoms was mentioned. Although I can't say that primary ADD problems increased, some symptoms that may be associated with ADD did increase such as trouble with impulse control and need to move.
