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For those of you that have been on AP for quite sometime for RA, what supplements do you take besides your antibiotic/probiotic? Have you found that with time you decided to stop certain supplements?
I take so many supplements and I wonder how many are really needed and how many I am just wasting my money on. Here is a list of what I take…perhaps someone could offer some suggestions as to what I should keep and what I can stop.
Multi-Vitamin
Calcium Citrate +D – 2 a day
MSM – 1500mg/3 a day
Glucosamine/MSM -1500mg/3xday
Magnesium
Zinc
B6 – 200mg
Vit E – 400iu
Folic Acid – 1mg. (now that I am no longer taking Methatrexate do I still need to be on th is one?)
Iron – (Niferex 150)
B-Complex
Vit. C – 500mg
Green Tea capsule
Vit A & D
Fish Oil – 1200mg/9 times a day
Probiotics – 8 a day
Plaqunil – 200 mg/twice a day ( thinking about going off this one. I had no side effects going off the methatrexate and I know this one is not very strong.)
Synthroid – 0.15mg
Cymbalta – 60mg
Flexeril – 10mg (occasional muscle pain)
Tramadol – 50mg (occassional pain)
Hydroco/Ap5-500mg (pain)
Alprazolam – 2mg (sleep)
Ok…so now you can see why I have such a hard time spacing my pills. I need to get organized here…toss what I really don't need. I just want the basics. What supplements do you believe are a must have that you take? Any help would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Lori
HOLY SMOKES! I could never-ever tolerate all of the stuff you are taking! You must be way stronger then some of us. Iron alone would lay me out in the bathroom with severe cramps. In place of iron supplements, one can take 1 TBS of molasses.
Everything that you are taking as far as supplements are certainly good choices. Do you need to take additional B6 since you are taking the B-complex? What is the Green Tea capsule for? I should know this… YOu are taking Vit. D two times with your Vit. A and with the calcium. Could one of those be cut back on?
Your med list is long too. I see that you have a picture of Dr. S. I'm jealous! I love that man!
Hugs,
Diane
Hi Lori, I also used to take many supplements, but I now believe that it is much more beneficial to get the vitimins and minerals we need thru our diet. I've been told that all those supllements don't do much unless we're already eating foods that contain those supplements-otherwise they just don't get absorbed. If we ingest them in a natural form that our bodies are built to absorb, we're much better off.
I'm pretty sure you don't need the folic acid any more since you're not taking mtx. The minerals need to be taken at least 2 hrs before or after antibiotics. We have an ongoing debate on whether or not we should take vit. D and in what form, thru supplements or sunlight.
I noticed no change in my arthritis when I stopped taking supplements, and I saved a lot of money. Everyone is different, tho, so you're the only one who can really know if they are helping you. It is very frustrating, these chronic illnesses lend themselves to all kinds of “cures” , some legitimately help while others don't.
linda
Diane,
Yes! I take a lot of supplements. I read up on them and think” that sounds like something I could benefit from” and it just goes on from there. The Green Tea is basically just an antioxident. Its supposed to help with fatigue and boost metabolism. I have never had any problems with any medications/supplements I have taken. I guess I have a tough tummy.
YES! That is the amazing Dr. S in my photo. He is such a dear man. I love him too! 😀
Thanks for your suggestions on what I could maybe eliminate.
Hugs back at ya,
Lori
Linda,
If only we knew how much of the nutrients in these supplements our bodies actually absorbed. I really have no idea if they are helping me. I originally started taking them 5 years ago to supplement my diet which was not very good. I've been taking them since then and I guess I'm worried that if I stop them maybe I'll feel worse? My diet still needs a lot of work… and I exercise alot so supplement because of that too. It is a bit ridiculous though…perhaps a good multi vitamin would do the job. Is there any tests that can be done to see what you are lacking as far as vitamins? Also are liquid vitamins better than pill form? There is so much debate over what to take, how to take it, when to take it, etc. it all gets a bit confusing.
Thanks for the input. I wasn't sure about the folic acid.
Lori
Hi
2mg of alprazolam (Xanax) seems like a pretty high dose for sleep. It is much stronger than Valium, and mixing a benzo with all those painkillers can be dangerous due to respiratory depression, not to mention addictive. Just my 2 cents.Green tea – on another board, someone posted a study that said drinking green tea made abx more effective. It said it ever made certain abx work on resistant strains when normally they wouldn't.
Didn't know if this study was financed by the Green Tea Grower's Association or not LOL, BUT…..my dad recently had an infection in his hand and his dr. told him to drink green tea while he was on the abx.
Seems benign, so I bought some for my daughter to try. Lipton. She likes it.
Mom of teen daughter with Poly JIA since age 2. Current med: azithromycin 250 mg MWF.
i just wanted to say that i too was on many supplements (not as many as you tho!!!) anyway last year we took a 10 day trip to san francisco and i didn't take any supplements and i felt good, i chalked it up to vacation. on 3/21 i had surgery, i stopped all supplements, advil and motrin before the surgery and never started them back up again and i have been feeling fine. (except today, feeling just awful so maybe i need to re-think this) of course i also stopped the mtx before surgery and just thought i would stop this too…maybe i am starting to pay the price. you say you had no symptoms after stopping the mtx? i am worried.
what did dr s. say about all these supplements? oh i continue with probiotics.
sue
There are newly published studies from the U.K. that repeatrepeatrepeat what was said more than a decade ago… taking vitamins is not good for you. You can google the latest study, but I saw it today on CNN.
I like the book by Michael Pollan, “In Defense of Food”. In it he talks about the mystery of the foods we eat- how ..stuff.. in food keeps other ..stuff.. from killing us. When you separate vitamins out from the food, these vitamins can become quite dangerous. The antioxidents can cause cancer cells to mulitply. The arrogance of the food scientists who pull an “essential” thingy from a food and tell us to eat it…
So, while an herbal is still a whole food, and I'm thinking of dried oregano, different teas, pot..;), etc.. I believe you should look into the vitamin and suppliment thing.
Have you heard of Chlorella? It's a whole food; an algae used by a lot of folks in Asian countries. It's full of iron, vitamins, minerals, protein- It's considered a “food” in countries outside of the U.S… where it's considered a “dietary suppliment”.
As for the question “which should you continue to take” (sorta quoted that).. I would say just the probiotics. You can drink the cup of green tea rather than take a suppliment. We make a lovely pitcher each and every morning of whatever tea we all agree on. Then, we add fresh mint, squeeze fresh lemon, lime, orange or whatever into the pitcher. I got the kids off of the sugar in it … slowly. This morning we made “Stash” wild raspberry tea. I use 7 tea bags of the flavor we want and two teabags of “The Republic of Tea” brand daily green tea.
The pain relievers- well, I don't tell anyone to forego pain meds. I've been in pain. Take what ever helps.
Jenn
When I first was finally diagnosed with sclero. I freaked out and went on every conceivable supplement imaginable. I must have been up to somewhere around 50 or more different vitamins, minerals, herbs etc. It took me all morning to take them all because of my GERD. Finally I couldn't stand it anymore so I quit, everything. You know what, I didn't feel any different not taking them, no difference at all. So what was all that time and expense for? I'm sure a multivitamin, probiotics and one or two others, depending on your needs is all anybody needs. The big thing really is a good diet, that's where you want to get it from.
All the Best,
Steph
I really like Michael Pollan's books. I just finished The Omnivore's Dilemma.
I take a lot of supplements, too (although not as many as you) but I'm with Jen that the more we can get from foods the better, so even though I take a lot of fish oil I try to have a little fatty fish every day, and even though I take OTC probiotics I also eat a lot of probiotic foods.
I stopped taking fish oil for a couple of weeks and I did notice a difference. Other supplements I've stopped, not so much.
I find eating a local-as-possible whole foods diet really helps. I'm not a fanatic, but I eat good nutritious healthy food about 75% of the time. Like Michael Pollan says “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Hi! I'm concerned you are getting too much A & D, both of which are fat soluable vitamins and are not as easily eliminated. Your multi-vitamin no doubt has them, your fish oil is a natural source of A & D, you are taking calcium plus D and on top of that, you are taking an additional A & D supplement.
You definitely do not need that much folic now that you are off MTX.
I wonder too about the iron.
The other supplements make sense to me, and if your diet is less than optimal, I think they can only help you.
Sierra
Joe… I realize that 2mg of alprazolam sounds like a lot! I remember when I first started taking it I was taking .25mg and it would make me so sleepy. Now the 2mg does nothing for me unless I take it with flexeril and a pain pill… and then its pretty “iffy”. I honestly think that my body does not absorb pills like it should. I have the same problems with novacaine not working for me. When I was recently in the hospital for surgery, I had excruciating pain and nothing worked for me. I had a morphine pump and not even that helped.
I have cut way down on taking the alprazolam and the pain pills. They are on my list of elimination!
Thank you for your concern.
Lori
Suzanne –
Drinking the green tea sounds like a good idea. I am going to give that a try.
Kudos to you for getting a 5 year old to drink tea. That in itself amazes me! 😀
Thanks for the suggestion.
Lori
Hi Sue – Were you on Methatrexate and AP? I stopped my Methatrexate 2 weeks before I started AP so I have been off the Methatrexate since Feb 26th. Honestly nothing bad at all has happened to me. Almost right away I started to get my energy back and wasn't so fatigued. The “brain fog” cleared and I don't feel like I'm walking around in a fog anymore. Nothing but good things so far.
Dr. S said nothing about all the supplements. I think I will bring it up to him next time I speak with him. I'm sure he would know which would benefit us the most.
Hope that you are feeling better….how long have you been on AP? Could it be a herx?
Sending healing thoughts to you.
Lori
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