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vitamins
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
vitamins
I have always taken a mixed vit. supplement plus essential omegas, but learning about vit D I think it best to only take what I need in seperate tablets so what should I be taking? the multi vit I have been taking, not now has dosens of things in it? thanks Beni
Beni,
I no longer take a multi, but am considering adding one back at some future time. I take Vitamin D3 drops (Carlson's brand, which I sometimes buy around here but also order from iHerb.com) - my previous Vitamin D did not agree with me. I also take a B-complex vitamin, and extra B12. (And I take some other things, but that was my starting point.) Several companies have good brands of B-vitamins that don't contain suspect ingredients. You can read all the ingredient info at the iHerb web site. Many members here use and like Freeda brand, which is very 'clean' as well.
Hope this helps,
Sara
I no longer take a multi, but am considering adding one back at some future time. I take Vitamin D3 drops (Carlson's brand, which I sometimes buy around here but also order from iHerb.com) - my previous Vitamin D did not agree with me. I also take a B-complex vitamin, and extra B12. (And I take some other things, but that was my starting point.) Several companies have good brands of B-vitamins that don't contain suspect ingredients. You can read all the ingredient info at the iHerb web site. Many members here use and like Freeda brand, which is very 'clean' as well.
Hope this helps,
Sara
Lesley - I don't honestly know. We each seem to have different responses to the "other ingredients" - I still have no idea what it was in that Vitamin D3 capsule that didn't like me (and maybe if I took it today, after months of healing it would be fine??).
When I was having trouble stabilizing, I thought - all this stuff can wait. I am a long-time fan of supplements, probably some choices wiser than others, and I really felt weird taking NONE during those sickest days. So you must take my comments with a grain of salt - I know I can be very chatty and confident-sounding, but... hey, you can eat oats, which are my kryptonite, so... as Gabes says... there is no right/wrong way, but only your own way (which you are finding, though I know, not as fast as you'd like).
As far as choosing a brand, of course you are looking for something that's free of all the obvious Big Baddies. I like the liquid form of D3, maybe because I wrongly blamed the capsule for my reaction. Not all of this is rational - of course I am trying to make my choices based on my best thinking, but I also have certain preferences and quirks. It "felt" to me like a teeny drop of this liquid had less risk than a medium-sized capsule. That may not be a hard-cold fact, but maybe my feeling helped it to be so... and it does conform with the "fewer ingredients = less risk" theory.
Also - it doesn't just go by brand, but by product within the brand. I had a positive experience of a B-12 product from NOW, and bought a different formulation of theirs, which was labeled wheat-free.... not gluten-free (DOH!). This was a pretty recent stupid mistake I made - after months of feeling great. Luckily, because I had achieve stability, I was able to figure out the culprit immediately.
Suffice it to say - if you have any doubt, leave it out. My idea is that nothing we add (with the exception of major powerhouses like Entocort, and for me, Pepto) is as powerful as what we omit. If I were having significant/chronic pain, or relentless D, I might be singing a different tune, because we are hard-wired to look for help when things are tough.
As a general matter, your post is reminding me that I should speak more humbly - and I appreciate the generosity of your listening. But I don't have all the answers, and not all my answers are "one size fits all" by any means. (I do realize you're smart enough to know this already - here's hoping *I'm* also clever enough.)
As a useful tool - the iHerb.com website shows a lot of detail about the products they sell, so you can scrutinize at your leisure.
Tex (and perhaps someone else here?) is using a prescription-level, medical-grade B12, folate, and B-6 formula. It is called Metanx (and it's possible that you could get at least this item paid for by insurance, with a doctor's Rx). Each of the components are especially well-absorbed. The minus is that you'd have to persuade a doctor of something. It is prescribed for peripheral neuropathy, which is associated (as I'm sure you know!) with diabetes... I had the early stages of this, in my opinion, because of crypto-gluten-intolerance. The neurological fallout of gluten sensitivity hasn't gotten the fame of the digestive consequences (and look how under-appreciated our guts are!).
I hope this long ramble is helpful context for your own thinking about your brand/vitamin choices... I wish I knew for sure about all kinds of things.
All my best,
Sara
When I was having trouble stabilizing, I thought - all this stuff can wait. I am a long-time fan of supplements, probably some choices wiser than others, and I really felt weird taking NONE during those sickest days. So you must take my comments with a grain of salt - I know I can be very chatty and confident-sounding, but... hey, you can eat oats, which are my kryptonite, so... as Gabes says... there is no right/wrong way, but only your own way (which you are finding, though I know, not as fast as you'd like).
As far as choosing a brand, of course you are looking for something that's free of all the obvious Big Baddies. I like the liquid form of D3, maybe because I wrongly blamed the capsule for my reaction. Not all of this is rational - of course I am trying to make my choices based on my best thinking, but I also have certain preferences and quirks. It "felt" to me like a teeny drop of this liquid had less risk than a medium-sized capsule. That may not be a hard-cold fact, but maybe my feeling helped it to be so... and it does conform with the "fewer ingredients = less risk" theory.
Also - it doesn't just go by brand, but by product within the brand. I had a positive experience of a B-12 product from NOW, and bought a different formulation of theirs, which was labeled wheat-free.... not gluten-free (DOH!). This was a pretty recent stupid mistake I made - after months of feeling great. Luckily, because I had achieve stability, I was able to figure out the culprit immediately.
Suffice it to say - if you have any doubt, leave it out. My idea is that nothing we add (with the exception of major powerhouses like Entocort, and for me, Pepto) is as powerful as what we omit. If I were having significant/chronic pain, or relentless D, I might be singing a different tune, because we are hard-wired to look for help when things are tough.
As a general matter, your post is reminding me that I should speak more humbly - and I appreciate the generosity of your listening. But I don't have all the answers, and not all my answers are "one size fits all" by any means. (I do realize you're smart enough to know this already - here's hoping *I'm* also clever enough.)
As a useful tool - the iHerb.com website shows a lot of detail about the products they sell, so you can scrutinize at your leisure.
Tex (and perhaps someone else here?) is using a prescription-level, medical-grade B12, folate, and B-6 formula. It is called Metanx (and it's possible that you could get at least this item paid for by insurance, with a doctor's Rx). Each of the components are especially well-absorbed. The minus is that you'd have to persuade a doctor of something. It is prescribed for peripheral neuropathy, which is associated (as I'm sure you know!) with diabetes... I had the early stages of this, in my opinion, because of crypto-gluten-intolerance. The neurological fallout of gluten sensitivity hasn't gotten the fame of the digestive consequences (and look how under-appreciated our guts are!).
I hope this long ramble is helpful context for your own thinking about your brand/vitamin choices... I wish I knew for sure about all kinds of things.
All my best,
Sara
I haven't tried oats yet. I don't know what I am sensitive to yet. Haven't even sorted out basics yet. I think I might have to stick with beef, turkey and potatoes until I am settled down. I just find only that very hard to work up an appetite for.
I didn't have much today, but this evening I am swollen up and cramping as I write. Last night I was struggling with horrible C. Took Lactulose (YUK) docs recommendation as the mildest, and had what Cynthia refers to as slippery Norman this morning, giving me relief, but still no Norman on the horizon.
Oh, capsules. Right. They have always given me heartburn, and Gabes told me to use drops to counteract the heartburn. So that's what I have.
As a beginner in this arena, and a victim of real brain fog, and the results of Effexor as laid out to me in the article Tex provided me (what a researcher!) in memory and concentration (long term) I listen to learn from experience.
And you guys have it.
I find you plenty humble, knowledgeable and FUNNY! Which is the very, very best, laughter being the best medicine.
I didn't have much today, but this evening I am swollen up and cramping as I write. Last night I was struggling with horrible C. Took Lactulose (YUK) docs recommendation as the mildest, and had what Cynthia refers to as slippery Norman this morning, giving me relief, but still no Norman on the horizon.
Oh, capsules. Right. They have always given me heartburn, and Gabes told me to use drops to counteract the heartburn. So that's what I have.
As a beginner in this arena, and a victim of real brain fog, and the results of Effexor as laid out to me in the article Tex provided me (what a researcher!) in memory and concentration (long term) I listen to learn from experience.
And you guys have it.
I find you plenty humble, knowledgeable and FUNNY! Which is the very, very best, laughter being the best medicine.
I take the Trader Joe's one-a-day women's multiple several times a week, but my primary daily supplements are Carlson's D3 gems -4000 iu, Vitamin Shoppe's B-complex 100 and Cal-mag citrate in veggie capsules, and a fish oil soft gel. Sometimes I take a Country Life calcium citrate tab instead (my nutritionist suggested a higher dose, which I can't do with the magnesium containing formula.)
Without my b-complex, D and calcium, I feel "off". My body seems to care less about the multi, but I imagine it has things I need too.
Without my b-complex, D and calcium, I feel "off". My body seems to care less about the multi, but I imagine it has things I need too.
Lesley,
YAY for laughter, the best medicine (and thanks)... and - if you know you have brain fog, then maybe that's a sign your brain fog is lifting. I think there was a time when I was so fogged, I didn't even know I couldn't see straight. I couldn't even finish my first post for about a week after I found this forum.
Your thinking seems sound from here - and I know that doesn't mean everything is perfect. And even with sound thinking we will trip along the way.
Z, I expect I'll return to a multi one of these days. Maybe it's just more ingredients than I feel like studying at the moment...
I feel it when I skip the Bs & D (I can take a day of so off from the D3 - no more). Interesting about the calcium - I'm waiting for my doctor's appointment to hear about my bone density, and will consider... Thanks.
YAY for laughter, the best medicine (and thanks)... and - if you know you have brain fog, then maybe that's a sign your brain fog is lifting. I think there was a time when I was so fogged, I didn't even know I couldn't see straight. I couldn't even finish my first post for about a week after I found this forum.
Your thinking seems sound from here - and I know that doesn't mean everything is perfect. And even with sound thinking we will trip along the way.
Z, I expect I'll return to a multi one of these days. Maybe it's just more ingredients than I feel like studying at the moment...
I feel it when I skip the Bs & D (I can take a day of so off from the D3 - no more). Interesting about the calcium - I'm waiting for my doctor's appointment to hear about my bone density, and will consider... Thanks.