Vitamin E helps your immune system function properly and plays an important role in healthy blood clotting. It is also an antioxidant that repairs damage to cells exposed to environmental and other toxins. Vitamin E is sometimes used to prevent heart disease, cancer and other conditions but its effectiveness is unproven. Vitamin E can cause bleeding and other risks, particularly in high doses. Talk to your doctor before taking vitamin E.
Side Effects
When taken at recommended doses, vitamin E supplements rarely cause side effects, reports MayoClinic.com. But there is an increased risk of abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, tiredness, headache, weakness, blurred vision, kidney and reproductive problems, flu-like symptoms and necrotizing enterocolitis, which involves damage and even death of intestinal tissue. The risk of side effects increases at higher doses. Do not take more than 1,000 mg, or 1,500 IU, of vitamin E per day, which is the most you can take safely. At high doses, vitamin E may cause deficiencies of vitamins A,D and K or cause heart problems.
Bleeding Risks
Vitamin E may increase the risk of bleeding, particularly in people who have a vitamin K deficiency or another bleeding disorder. You should also be cautious about taking vitamin E if you are on a medication that increases the risk of bleeding, such as a blood thinner, aspirin, ibuprofen and anti-platelet medications. If you have any of these conditions or are taking one of these medications, do not take vitamin E supplements unless you talk to your doctor first.
Warnings
Some research indicates that long-term use of high dose vitamin E may increase the risk of death from any cause by a small amount, particularly if you already have a chronic illness. Some researchers question this idea because of weaknesses in the research and because not all studies have found such a risk, according to MayoClinic.com. Consult your doctor before taking high doses of vitamin E, or if you plan to take vitamin E for more than a few months, especially if you have diabetes or heart disease. If you have retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic disease that causes progressive vision loss, vitamin E may worsen your condition and should be avoided.
Interactions
Vitamin E may interact with certain prescription drugs in ways that impair your medication's effectiveness or increase the risk of side effects, reports the University of Maryland Medical Center. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking vitamin E if you are taking antidepressants, antipsychotics, beta-blockers for high blood pressure, statins for high cholesterol, cyclosporine and chemotherapy drugs for cancer.
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