Connection of B-Vitamins with Diarrhea/Flatulence?

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Hi everyone,
I'm seeking advice of someone who might have experienced something similar.
About me: female, 27 years of age, self-diagnosed with mild Aspergers.
Since about two years I've been suffering from diverse gut-problems. It started with severe flatulence, which I quickly found out to be connected with eating whole-grain food. When I eliminated these from my diet the flatulence gradually faded to diarrhea, which hasn't really stopped since then. An all grain-free diet brought no improvement. In May this year I got diagnosed as being lactose-intolerant. After I stopped eating dairy I started feeling better (belly less swollen, weight-loss of about 4kg), but the diarrhea stayed. My doctor suggested I might have a problem with histamine, so I tried to reduce these things. Anyway I had never eaten much of them. Then I was told that a problem with histamine might be connected to a deficiency in B-Vitamins, especially B6. I started taking a supplement twice a day containing 3,3mg B1, 4,2mg B2, 4,2mg B6, 7,5µg B12, 48mg Niacin, 18mg Pantothenic Acid, 150µg Biotin and 600µg Folic Acid. Now, I'm diarrhea-free for the first time in two years, but instead I'm having flatulence again.
So my question is: Is this a necessary step on the way back to normal? Or in other words: Are my guts revolting because the vitamins are bad for them or because the vitamins gave them the power to fight something else that is bad for them? Should I go on with the supplements? Should I maybe even increase the dose?
Help is very much appreciated!

Cundrie,

firstly id like to say to you, relax. You probably have nothing wrong at all, dont fret.

The vitamin B supplement you took is very low strength, a normal healthy diet can provide you with quantities greater than that quite easily. For comparison, I have a Vitamin B Complex in front of me which gas 91mg Thiamin, 50mg Riboflavin, 50mg Niacin, 41mg Pyrodoxine, panothetic acid 69mg etc and so forth...

I take this when doing heavy training for sports. I know its rather overkill, but it never causes upsets.

A lot of the bodies Vitamin B supply normally comes from intestinal flora/bacteria which help break down foods like starches. The bacteria and their by products are useful vitamins in the B group, Vitamin K and more.

If you look at something like brewers yeast (which is dead yeast cells) you can see how incredibly rich it is in the B vitamins.

If someone takes anti-biotics, it will kill off gut flora which can make people deficient in these crucial vitamins - which can lead to health problems.

A poor diet can also result in these issues.

Vitamin B complex will NOT cause diarrhoea under any circumstance. Very high quantities of Vitamin C can though.

I think your problems may be due to an infection in your digestive system. Gastro-enteritis. I had this and it took many months to clear up. I lost 5kg in bodyweight in the first week!

Ironically, the same foods that feed your friendly gut microbes, can also feed the unfriendly ones. A suggested method of speeding up recovery is to starve yourself or starches, sugars, milk etc till you get better. If your infection is a virus however, this wont work. And neither will anti-biotics.

Your only choice is to ride it out, which can take months. It is a good idea to take supplements when having regular diarrhoea, and make sure you get enough electrolytes too. Eat bananas etc. But not if you want to try the starvation method.

Hi Herman,
thank you very much for your reply!
I have been checked for fungi or bad bacteria, but everything seems to be allright. In general I'm having a pretty healthy diet: dairy is out anyway and I eat a lot of vegetables and little sugar. Also I did not take antibiotics for the last ten years...
I'm pretty sure about the connection to the b-vitamins, as the diarrhea stopped like having been switched off when I started taking them. Also diarrhea is a symptom of a B3/niacin-deficiency. And Aspies seem to have a problem with B-viatmins in general. (That might be an explanation for their fondness for cereal-products?)
What I've been wondering is whether the winds are some by-product of getting better that I have to sit out? Or are they a sign that there's something else in the vitamins that isn't good for me? Maybe overdosing on or generally being sensitive to another vitamin in the mixture. Or being allergic to something in it...
There must be other people who had the same problem!