Sleep problems from taking certain supplements - Liver issues?

Can anyone provide any ideas on why the following supplements/nutrients cause sleep issues:

Vitamin K2 - I have read another post on this forum that K2 enhanced sleep for multiple posters. I have tried multiple forms from different companies including LEF, Now and Thorne and I can never sleep the night after I take it. I can eat grass-fed butter that I purchase directly from a farmer and is literally almost orange without issue. I think that it would be safe to assume that there is some Vitamin K2 in the butter.

Iodine - I can take a single drop or two drops per day of Lugol's 2% for several weeks and I notice nothing positive or negative. If I take half of a 12.5mg tablet of Iodoral per day, I begin feeling really good and usually sleep fine the first night but usually the second night, I can barely sleep at all. I generally notice a lot of beneficial effects using iodine, but only in the higher dosages.

Niacinamide - this effects me the least of the three, but it gives me the same feeling. I generally need to take over 500mg for it to effect sleep.

Also, MSG tends to give me similar effects as well.


I used to have this issue with Vitamin A, but Ray Peat told me that you must increase Vitamin A in proportion to thyroid function. This turned out to be exactly right, as I took coconut oil daily and made several dietary changes that raised my body temperatures and after several weeks, I was able to eat liver and pastured eggs without issue.

Those three substances seem to make sleep very hard if not impossible for me and they cause certain pains at the bottom of my right ribcage. I also tend to feel very hung over the next day. I have tried taking Thorne's Siliphos for a month at about 400mg per day, but I still have these symptoms when I take the above. Could you please reply if you have any idea of what this is and how it could be improved.

Thank you very much.

Try these things in the morning. Have you tried taking melatonin at night?

I only take iodine and K2 in the morning.

Melatonin makes no difference in improving sleep for me. I actually find that it increases the hangover effect.

Do you think that Lipoic Acid would have a more powerful effect than siliphos/milk thistle?

I think that with iodine, it is the halide detox kicking in and my body in some way cannot handle it. I feel really wonderful in every other way until the night I cannot sleep. This is only with the higher doses though. I have tried salt, selenium and the other recommended iodine protocol supplements without success.

rjfnyu wrote:
Vitamin K2 - I have read another post on this forum that K2 enhanced sleep for multiple posters. I have tried multiple forms from different companies including LEF, Now and Thorne and I can never sleep the night after I take it. I can eat grass-fed butter that I purchase directly from a farmer and is literally almost orange without issue. I think that it would be safe to assume that there is some Vitamin K2 in the butter.

The amount of K2 in butter is nowhere near as much as a tablet. There is no real way of knowing how much K2 is in your butter unless you test it in a lab. It might not contain as much as you think and you would probably have to eat a whole entire block of butter to get the equivalent K2 of a tablet.

GoingNuts2 wrote:

rjfnyu wrote:
Vitamin K2 - I have read another post on this forum that K2 enhanced sleep for multiple posters. I have tried multiple forms from different companies including LEF, Now and Thorne and I can never sleep the night after I take it. I can eat grass-fed butter that I purchase directly from a farmer and is literally almost orange without issue. I think that it would be safe to assume that there is some Vitamin K2 in the butter.

The amount of K2 in butter is nowhere near as much as a tablet. There is no real way of knowing how much K2 is in your butter unless you test it in a lab. It might not contain as much as you think and you would probably have to eat a whole entire block of butter to get the equivalent K2 of a tablet.

I would not be the least bit surprised if the butter I am eating contains just a few micrograms of K2 per serving, but I also have read about people improving dental health after using butter oil over a short period of time. Maybe only a small amount is necessary to benefit or maybe it is more effective in its naturally occurring context. Either way, why would supplemental K2 cause liver pain and insomnia in one person when it generally seems to have the opposite effect in others?

rjfnyu wrote:I also have read about people improving dental health after using butter oil over a short period of time. Maybe only a small amount is necessary to benefit or maybe it is more effective in its naturally occurring context. Either way, why would supplemental K2 cause liver pain and insomnia in one person when it generally seems to have the opposite effect in others?

Butter Oil would probably be more concentrated than butter, so delivering a higher dosage level of K2. Use the Butter Oil form instead of butter and see what happens.

Also, there are stories of a small number of people having allergic reactions to Vitamin K2.

I think that I will try the butter oil, but it is very expensive. Do you know if they actually concentrate the fat soluble vitamins in some way or is it basically similar to ghee?

I am openminded to the idea that all of these things could be an allergic reaction, but would that result in sort of a dull pain meets a knot-like feeling in the liver area.

I just experienced this sleep problem/liver sensation for the last few days when I was consuming pomegranate juice. I eliminated the juice for a day and then the sleep returned to normal.