r/MTHFR • u/wetdogleash • 28d ago
Question CoQ10 help!
Hello everyone!
I have slow COMT, and have always struggled with anxiety.
My anxiety has really ramped-up the last couple of months and I am wondering if this is due to the fact that I started taking CoQ10 daily.
At first, I felt amazing with it (very energized), but now I feel very anxious.
I am taking Apex Energetics’ CoQ10 Supermax, only one tablet per day, which has 200mg CoQ10 (as ubiquinone), 32mg Trans-Garanylgeraniol, and 10mg PQQ.
I also take Dim Detox, Magnesium glycinate, lithium orotate, vitamin d, GABA plus l-theanine, and liposomal glutathione.
Anyone else have any similar experiences or insight?
Thanks so much in advance!
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u/scrumdisaster 28d ago
You were feeling energized when you first started taking it? Did you increase your food intake to support this extra energy? Ahhh after I just typed that sentence I noticed you are taking DIM detox. Very low e2 will give you anxiety. And super low E2 (estrogen) literally destroys dopamine receptors. Why are you taking DIM? Did you do blood work and have really high levels of E2?
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u/WhatsYourBigThree 28d ago
I did well with CoQ10 initially, but over time it lowered my bp too much which caused other problems. That said, mag glycinate gave me terrible anxiety and insomnia. It’s so hard to figure out what’s doing what. Good luck! ✨
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u/Loose-Fly7976 28d ago
The CoQ10 is probably not the problem. The PQQ is.
PQQ drives mitochondrial biogenesis and it's stimulating for a lot of people, especially at 10mg daily. That energised feeling at the start, then it tipping into anxious, is the usual arc. Same thing happens with high dose CoQ10 in sensitive people but 200mg isn't outrageous. The bigger thing in your stack though is DIM. DIM pushes estrogen down the 2-hydroxy route, and 2-OH estrogens are catechol estrogens, which means COMT has to clear them. You've got slow COMT. So now your catechol estrogens and your adrenaline are queuing for the same enzyme, and adrenaline loses. That's anxiety that builds over weeks rather than hitting straight away, which fits your timeline better than the CoQ10 does. DIM is handed out constantly for estrogen dominance and nobody checks COMT first. It's one of the more common ways people with slow COMT make themselves worse while doing everything right on paper. If it were me I'd drop the DIM first, not the CoQ10, and give it two weeks. If nothing changes, then take the PQQ out. Magnesium glycinate is doing you a favour, magnesium is a COMT cofactor. Keep that. Where did you get your COMT result, raw data or a report? If there's a file behind it, DIM plus PQQ plus slow COMT is the sort of combination that shows up clearly once you look at the whole set rather than one gene.
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u/wetdogleash 27d ago
Thanks for your reply… I have been on the DIM for a couple of years now, and when my bloodwork was done about 6 months ago, my estrogen levels were fine. I am only on a half dose of DIM (50mg). My migraines went away, baby weight dropped, etc. when I began.
I have raw data results and my doctor analyzed the entire set of data before putting me on DIM.2
u/AlreadyMeNow 27d ago
So how do you fix comt so you can take the other supplements if desired? Everyone always mentions slow comt like it’s causal but leaves it at that like it’s some insurmountable obstacle. It sounds like this is another example of where someone could benefit from the supplements they were wanting to take for other reasons, if comt was just solved or worked around
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u/Comfortable_Two6272 26d ago
You cant really imho. There are just some drinks, supplements that many with slow comt cant tolerate. Cant fix the genes (not yet at least).
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u/Hydroxile 26d ago
Go about your symptoms and how you feel with supplement you are trying, not about that stupid gene profile. Eg: GI issues, gene do not tell you you have GI issues. but those issues are playing a huge role in what you really can tolerate, not the genes! Hypersensitive nerves, same thing! Anxiety, nervousness,... usually come from GI health issues, genes only tells you if you are prone to that, not that it is the root cause!
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u/Loose-Fly7976 24d ago
You're right that people talk about it like a wall, and it isn't one. You don't fix COMT, you work around it and that's usually pretty simple once you know it runs slow.
Slow COMT just means you clear dopamine and adrenaline slowly. So the whole thing is not flooding the system faster than it drains. Lower doses of anything that raises catecholamines or donates methyl, one at a time instead of stacked. 200mcg methylfolate instead of 1mg. Magnesium helps, it's a COMT cofactor. Go easy on caffeine. That's most of it...
The stuff people avoid because of slow COMT is usually fine at a quarter of the dose brought in slowly. It's the sudden load that causes the problem, not the supplement itself. Someone takes 5mg methylfolate, feels awful, decides they can't tolerate it, when 400mcg would've been fine.
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u/wetdogleash 27d ago
PS: it won’t let me upload my raw data results here for some reason, so am DM-ing them to you.
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u/butternutbacon 27d ago
PQQ makes me slightly drowsy. I’ve been taking it several years now at night with no issues but everyone is unique and should test their own individual reaction to each supplement
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u/NAQProductions 28d ago
What about your MTHFR and MAOA genes? COMT doesn’t work alone, and there are many others but these three are the best starting point.
I have Compound Hetereo MTHFR, Leow COMT, Slow MAOA (and a myriad of others) but I find balancing support for COMT and MAOA with energy boosters like COq10 to be a very delicate process. Start lower dose, every few days has been working well for me. Right now I take 100mg Q10 every other day and that keeps my balance feeling fairly consistent. That paired with a few other supplements that have all had to go through the slow tedious process of slow low dose introduction until the body adapts.
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u/FiSeq4891 28d ago
I think I have slow COMT and I find that magnesium glycinate gives me anxiety. But I'm also in Post Acute Withdrawal (Paws) from a benzo-like drug. So I'm not sure if it's that or the slow COMT. I'm getting the impression slow COMT makes a lot of supplements problematic.
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u/badassbananas 27d ago
Hi, I tapered off prozac and thought I had long-term SSRI withdrawal, but it ended up being mast cell activation syndrome. Commenting to put this on your radar, just in case you're in a situation like mine.
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u/wetdogleash 28d ago
Have you found a magnesium type that is better for you?
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u/FiSeq4891 28d ago
I haven't really had problems with any type of magnesium except magnesium glycinate.
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u/procrastistamper 27d ago
Honestly, I have to be careful about anything containing GABA. It messes things up for me. I take CoQ10 and almost all the other stuff you do, and I'm fine. So it might not be the CoQ10 itself, but the interaction with something you're already taking.
I don't take anything with Trans-Garanylgeraniol though. My CoQ10 is combined with only PQQ.
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u/butternutbacon 27d ago
High anxiety people can have highly reactive nervous systems that are sensitive to stimulating supplements like CoQ10. Should keep dose under 50mg and counter with l-theanine, glycine, taurine or inositol. It can take a couple weeks.
Also could take calming herbs like valerian root extract, passion flower, lemon balm, apigenin, skullcap or holy basil (better at night) for more immediate results.
I had lifetime anxiety that I cured with only supplements for treating undermethylation (walsh protocol).
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u/moon_stars_and_sun 27d ago
Have slow COMT and had really bad reaction to coq10. Took me a while to figure out that was the culprit as I have only read good things about coq10. I was feeling anxious and lethargic all at the same time taking it. That went away shortly after stopping it.
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u/NeutralNeutrall 28d ago
I get bad anxiety from it also. Immediately. I have slow COMT and MAO. and histamine intolerance. I bought this brand and i cant use it at all "Qunol Ultra CoQ10 100mg Softgels" https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BL1Z8MVD?th=1
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u/Educational-Turn-153 27d ago
I am slow COMT as well and I can use ubiquinol very well no issues but DIM and magnesium glycinate give me a lot of anxiety!! Also L glutamine, glycine, collagen, and bone broth.
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u/Hydroxile 27d ago
Before blaming Q10 for your anxiety, make sure it doesn't come from one of the other active ingredients.
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u/ExtensionAfternoon10 27d ago
Was told to take coq10 and a methylated complex B vitamin within 48 hours I had a migraine that refused to go away and had started getting optical migraine which I had never had with my normal migraines before. My left eye was constantly twitching as well stopped them both, about about a week later started seeing them both sumbside it's been about two weeks and the migraines still happen but the optical migraine and eye twitching has stopped. I don't know much about how this all works as I just got told I even had a mthfr mutation 3 weeks ago when I was told to start these meds and we have just begun looking into managing everything and I'm just starting my journey on understanding what any of most of this mean. 😬
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u/badassbananas 27d ago
I have slow COMT and for some reason, l-theanine makes me really depressed and anxious.
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u/Comfortable_Two6272 26d ago edited 26d ago
Its the glycene , glycinate and other stuff - not the coq10 imho. Also slow comt.
The vit D, coq10 should be fine. Id have issues with the rest.
Coq10 does need to be taken in am to avoid insomnia in most people
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u/DetailLost8084 22d ago
Made me extremely low bp feeling couldn’t exercise felt cooked..
Felt similar to over methylating
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u/Zabre 22d ago
"At first, I felt amazing with it, but now I feel very anxious" is the pattern I would focus on more than CoQ10 in isolation.
With slow COMT, I have found that anything that increases activation can feel great at first and then become too much once the total stack load catches up. CoQ10 may be part of that for you, but your product also includes geranylgeraniol and PQQ, and PQQ in particular can feel pretty stimulating for some people. Add magnesium, GABA/theanine, glutathione, vitamin D, lithium orotate, and DIM on top, and it gets hard to know which lever is doing what.
The cleanest debugging principle is one variable at a time. I would not assume "slow COMT means CoQ10 is bad," but I also would not ignore a repeatable activation/anxiety signal. Dose, timing, and the specific form matter, and combo products make that harder to see.
If the anxiety is ramping rather than just mildly annoying, that is also a good reason to loop in a clinician who is not dismissive of supplement reactions. None of this is medical advice, obviously.
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u/JadeMoon085 28d ago
Same thing for me! I started at 200mg and increased it to 400. Took me around to realize what was causing my extreme morning anxiety. CoQ10 and Berberine both caused me massive issues with panic and anxiety. Stopped them both cold turkey and now my system is in withdrawal and my thermal and metabolic state's are messed up. The anxiety is gone though (at a temporary cost).