Safe Medications

[tex]

As many of you know, I'm working on a listing of medications that are generally safe for someone who has MC. It can be found here:

Medications And Supplements That Are Safe For Most Of Us

To save me from unnecessarily wasting time searching (reinventing the wheel), which brands of vitamins are generally the safest?

Are any enzyme supplements actually safe (and useful)? (or should I just remove that category?)


Are any naturopathic and other supplements actually safe (and useful)? (or should I just remove that category?)

Any other suggestions, or some category that I'm overlooking?

Thanks,
Tex

[alcyone]

Hi, Tex!

I've always been super sensitive to any vitamin supplementing, but I've had the best luck with Country Life brand from the standpoint of them not being too harsh on my system. All of their supplements are certified GF and they keep a GF facility. They have very clear labeling for the top 8, and provide "no" statements for corn, yeast, magnesium stearate, and artificial anything, so it's been easy to quickly determine if something is safe for me to take.

Currently the only thing I'm taking is American Health brand Ester-C to help keep my mast cells calm (the kind without the citrus bioflavinoids). I was impressed with their clear labeling and have had no trouble taking 500mg a day, even though I've had trouble with C supplements in the past. They are gluten, dairy, soy, egg, corn and yeast free and don't have any artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

Hope this helps, and thank you so much for putting this together - it is going to be tremendously helpful!

[alcyone]

Oh, and not that you would necessarily put this on the list since it's not exactly a supplement, and it may not work out for people who are really sensitive to sugars, but since I do have so much trouble with vitamin and minerals in supplement form I've been taking about 2 tablespoons of Brer Rabbit brand blackstrap molasses to help me get a bit of what I'm missing.

One tablespoon is 60 calories, 13g carbs, but only 9g are sugars. It has 450mg of potassium, 20% calcium, 25% magnesium and 4% iron in that one tablespoon. It has agreed with me far better than trying to get any of those things in pill form. Any brand of blackstrap would be fine, but I strongly prefer the flavor of Brer Rabbit.

I hope this tip helps someone else as it has me!

[JFR]

Some of the "safe" manufactures are Kirkman Labs, Thorne Research, Pure Encapsulations, Vital Nutrients. These companies list all their ingredients and the allergens in their products. You still always have to read their labels first. Usually these have to be bought on line. A site like IHerb.com lists all the ingredients in the products they sell.

Jean

[tex]

Thanks, I've added them to the list.

Tex

[mcnomore]

I just finished experimenting with Digest Basic digestive enzymes and then Pure Encapsulations Digestive Enzymes Ultra. I had normans before and no normans since trying the enzymes, even had D for the first time in months.

I researched the side effects of digestive enzymes and read that the body needs about three weeks (for some) to adjust to them. I also read that sometimes you need to start very very slowly, even opening the capsule and pouring just a little on your food at first.

[tex]

Thanks for the insight on your experiences with those enzymes.

Call me slow, but I've always felt that if I had to force or coerce my body into accepting the use of some certain food or chemical, I'm probably way better off staying as far away from that item as I can. It almost always pays to listen attentively to what our body is trying to tell us, because our body is right there where the rubber meets the road, and no one knows more about how it is affected by anything, than our body, itself. Why should we try to force it against it's will, if we have a choice?

Tex

[mcnomore]

We think alike, I decided that I wasn't going to try to "adjust" and that the enzymes were not healthy for me, at least at this point.