What Supplements Are Essential?

[cdg]

What works for you. What are examples accepted in the field. Looking to add some.

 

[DogwoodTree]

Tumeric/curcumin is one I must take every day, or I can tell a difference really quick.

I also take a good fish oil supplement that I think makes a significant difference. I'm always on the lookout for a placebo effect. And both of these have passed my "self-tests" for effectiveness (such as noticing if I forgot and didn't take it once I experience a mood crash).

A couple of other things I take for other purposes that are also effective...

Maca root helps balance the hormone system and supports healthy thyroid levels. My doctor recently told me lots of people would love to have my thyroid levels because it makes it so much easier to manage weight.

The fish oil also helps with cholesterol levels. Based on my most recent blood test, my doctor said my cholesterol levels are about the same as those of a professional athlete (and I don't work out that much, just a weekly hike or two).

Then I also take Vit D3 and a magnesium complex.

 

[Deleted member 31177]

Turning from an extrovert to a recluse after the last of many life severe traumas that triggered many life-changing events, my Psychiatrist actually ordered I take 4,000mg D3 because I don't go out anymore, so I'm not getting any Vitamin D from the sun anymore. I'm going to start taking Magnesium because I've heard it is helpful in so many different areas - that's number one on my store list next month! (I get paid once a month from Permanent SS Disability).

 

[Changing4Best]

My Dr. told me I needed to take B12, because it was low in my bloodtest. She said to take SUPER B and it would have enough of this vitamin in it for me. So I take those B vitamins, which also have Vit C in them. Then I take 5000 mgs of Vit D per day, because this was recommended as something that would ward off colds. I hardly get any cols now, so I am glad. Also, the Dr. told me that my blood test showed a good amount of it so to keep taking what I am taking. (A friend had told me about this one and how much ot if to take. 5000 mg seems like a lot, but then I also read in Readers Digest that it is an important vitamin to take as well. Then my Dr. told me that my Calcium level was too low, so I take a lot of Calcium now. I will get another bone scan next year, to test me and see how this has hopefully improved. They said to take about 1000 mgs a day, but this is for someone whose level of it is low. I don't know if someone else would need that or not, because other folks might not have low calcium to begin with. It is better to get a bone scan for an older person like me. No one gave me a bone scan when I was younger. I also upped my milk intake, to further make up for the lower bone mass. I don't want to get osteoporosis, because they told me if I did not take more of it, I could get that. But again, I am in my 60s, that is probably why.

Anyway, I do feel more energetic, I think, since I have been taking the Super B with the C and B12 in it, and I heard you have to take those every day, since they go right through you pretty quickly.

 

[Friday]

It very much depends on your own unique physiology & lifestyle & other medical issues*.

Even with the same phys, when I'm low/high in changes very much depending on my activity level, diet, location, & season. I take different things if I'm being a slug in the desert, or active in the mountains, and vice versa.

In general, most multivitamins are excreted out without being absorbed. Roughly 10% might actually be absorbed... while the opposite is true with foods, we absorb most vitamins and minerals that are in our diets. So ideally, if you're low in something? Increase that area of your diet. However, anything is better than nothing if you're deficient in it, so if changing your diet isn't an option? A pill will at least help some.

How to know if you're deficient? Blood test and expert analysis (licensed nutritionist, usually a Masters of Nutrition or higher).

You can guesstimate, as well, but that requires quite a bit of research & trial/error. Absolutely nothing out there is good for everyone, and some will cause people severe problems. Supplements are freaking expensive to be making random stabs in the dark.

* Ofher medical issues also includes PTSD. We may both have it, but if you're having 2 hours a day of panic attacks, and I'm having 10 minutes a month? Your potassium is going to be a LOT lower than mine. Unless you eat a lot of bananas and I'm a runner. Then your K+ might be high, and mine low. Really, the best thing, is to go spend 2-3 hours answering 500 questions & getting a blood draw.

 

[Deleted member 31177]

It very much depends on your own unique physiology & lifestyle & other medical issues*.

Even with t...

WOW! I actually had to do the answering of the 500 questions twice when I filed a lawsuit against my Psychologist who sexually exploited me for 6 months after giving me a very wrong diagnosis and having his buddy Psychiatrist give me tons of the wrong meds and I became a zombie.

Anyways, I love everything you said (btw, I was a runner all my life, track, and my favorite, long distance until I was injured, but still tried to keep running until I REALLY became injured). But how right you are about Supplements costing an arm and a leg! Jeez! But the Vitamin D3 at 4,000mg I DO need now that I've become a recluse (I used to be an extrovert, and besides being a Legal Secretary/Paralegal in L.A. for 24 years and another 3 years back in my home town) and while in L.A. was a pro ethnic Brazilian foclorico and samba dancer and after that took up percussion with the best of the best (good connections) and all the while, still running and still playing softball with the Landau Lawyer's League in L.A. and always out dancing with friends if not dancing professionally- it's hard to believe I prefer to be in the house now and with my special needs cats that I adore. I do miss being physically fit.

Along with PTSD, Major Depression and Anxiety, I also have the Severest kind of GERD (every day, gross), a Hiatal Hernia that's worsening, but the Gastroenterologist wouldn't perform the surgery, and Colitis that I've had since I was 19 or 20 when I worked at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant (lots of harassment there which I abhor! along with very long hours, non-stop) and one day they HAD to take me to the hospital because of the impossible bending over pain I had - didn't know what it was, but it ended up being Colitis and have had it ever since. Became ulcerative at one point, but got that under control. It's every day. Starting about 5-6 years ago, I started having big-time nighttime incontinence every night. The Urologist that I went to tried many medications - none of which worked, nor work still, that was a couple years ago, so there's another costly thing. I have changed my diet in the past few weeks to a GERD diet. I'd stopped drinking sodas years ago, and stopped smoking many years ago and am down to 1 cup of coffee a day and (sniff) stopped eating chocolate, and (DOUBLE SNIFF!!!) stopped eating GARLIC, my FAVORITE FOOD and ONIONS!! and my favorite spices. It's kind of a grieving period for me right now.

But I'm doing the best I can. I also added Ginger capsules to my diet as it's my understanding they are good for the digestive tract. I haven't really noticed any difference yet.

The meds I am on are:
A.M.
100mg. Topomax
2mg. Klonapin
200mg Sertraline
40mg. Protonix
550mg Ginger (Capsule)
4,000mg Vitamin B3 (Gel Caps

P.M.
200mg. Topomax
200mg. Trazodone
10mg VesiCare (which is almost gone; can't afford to see this specialist anymore and meds didn't work anyway.
550mg Ginger (gel capsule)

 

[:-)]

I think it depends on the individual person.

Most of us are deficient in vitamin D, so that's always a good bet (although the dose would need to be tweaked for your body)

Vitamin B is also a good bet, but again the dose needs to be adjusted for you.

I also recommend magnesium for both anxiety and muscle health.

Amino acids are my new area of exploration and I have started taking various ones with incredible results. Don't just focus on the essential ones, deficiency of non-essential amino acids can cause a lot of havoc in the body. This area really is hit and miss because you will likely react differently to each amino acid. The ones that are typically used for mental health issues I react poorly to, while I react well to some of the other ones.

Zinc is a good bet, too.

Oh, and a good probiotic. I throw it in my daily shake.

GABA helps, too.

 

[Lucycat]

"What Supplements Are Essential?"

A supplement is a - well - supplement. Therefore it is not and cannot be - an essential. If it was an essential it would be sold as that.

If you are enquiring about what people choose to take, well I have the following every single day;

• Caffeine ( in my Coffee)
• Vitamin ABCD & E (in my breakfast cereal, fresh fruit & Vegetables and Marmite!)
• Iron (in my meat and bread)
• Protein (in eggs, fish and meat)
• Carbohydrate (potato)
  
• Glucose (biscuits)

 

[Deleted member 31177]

I would like to get all my vitamins from food, too - for sure. Because I am not supposed to go out into the sun anymore for any period of time (and am a recluse anyways) I need to research what are Vitamin D3 foods because I need 4,000mg per day.

Oh, and I've heard that Magnesium is SO good for you and now that you (Guest) has revealed that it's good for muscle mass, I am MOST definitely going to get some with my next pay day. Even though I was an athlete most of my life, since becoming a recluse, even my memory body mass is starting to leave my body.

I cannot have anything acidic or fatty at all because of the severity of the GERD, so no coffee (I'm down to one cup, no sugar of any kind or fat on meat or anything else)

Protein I get from beans and meat with no fat, but i do not eat meat too often.

And I don't believe I am supposed to eat anything with Glucose at all, either.

By the way, WOW I love that picture of the Bull in your Avatar! Beautiful! The Hippie Bull! :-)

Thanks so much you two!