I just wasted a bunch of money! :duh:

[Rosie]

Well, I just wasted about $62 on vitamins that don't work for me. When I learned that I was soy and yeast intolerant several weeks ago, I went on the hunt for a multivitamin that would work for me. I had been taking Centrum Silver, and it had several suspicious items in it, like "modified food starch" and maltodextrin. So I went to the Market of Choice to their vitamin section and purchased Pure Essence Lab's "One 'n' Only" containing no gluten, dairy, soy, yeast, sugar, GMO'd or aticfical colors or flavorings. I took one in the morning, and by luchtime I was all gurgly and then had several loose ones that evening. By the next day I was OK again, but figured that there was something in them my system didn't like. When I looked again at the ingredients, I realized that there were lots of herbs and digestive enzymes included. Then I remembered that when I had my original bout with D before my diagnosis with LC, I went into remission by just eliminating all my supplements. Then later I eliminated gluten. And now when I added some herbals back, I immediately started having problems. So back I went to Market of Choice. My second attempt was Super NutritioN's Perfect Family. This one also had some herbs, but there were many fewer, and they didn't include herbs related to women's health. Again, I had similar problems. By this time I was getting annoyed, so I pawed through all the dozens of possibilities, and finally found Nature's Plus Ultra One Daily Caps. This one had the least number of additives of any of the possibilities, no herbs, just extra PABA, inositol and choline. This one affected me worse than either of the others!

So I finally decided that since Centrum Silver hadn't appeared to give me any problems, I should call their customer service to inquire about allergens. I was told that the modified food starch and maltodextran was from corn, and that there wasn't any added dairy, soy or gluten. However, they couldn't guarantee that trace amounts didn't get into the vitamins during manufacture, since they didn't test the finished product for gluten.

Now here I am with 3 expensive bottles of vitamins that I can't use, just because I didn't think to call the Centrum manufacturer first. The Centrum Silver costs about 1/10 as much as the fancy ones!

So any of you looking for a less-expensive vitamin can check out Centrum.

Rosie

[Gas Bag]

That is indeed the shits Rosie, no pun intended.

Thanks for the good information. I do know a person can get themselves in trouble with various herbs and enzymes.

Deb

[tex]

Rosie,

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger - most of us have thrown away a lot of food and vitamins that we thought would be a good idea. I once had the bright idea that a good digestive enzyme supplement would be beneficial, so I bought a super-duper blend that cost me close to 50 bucks, and I took one with breakfast. By mid-morning, I was doubled over, upchucking my breakfast. By mid afternoon, I was down to dry heaves, punctuated by occasional D. It took about three days, before I felt half-way normal again. I decided that I probably didn't need any digestive enzyme supplements, after all.

I've been a satisfied user of Centrum Silver, also, for the past 4 or 5 years.

Tex

[Rosie]

That makes me feel better, Tex. It just seems like the money spent on this diet and the well-intentioned mistakes just adds to the frustrations in dealing with MC.

Before I got diagnosed with MC, I thought I might have IBS, and spent lots of money ov various supplements and digestive enzymes that were pretty useless, or even harmful. I guess at some point we get so frustrated that we'll throw money away desperately trying all sorts of supposed remedies. That's what keeps these people in business.....

Rosie

[Gloria]

Rosie,

I have a full shelf of rejected vitamins and calcium supplements. It does get very frustrating, especially when you spend months, even years trying to figure out what is causing problems. I am pretty sure that corn doesn't bother me, and many of these vitamins have corn derivatives in them. But I don't want to throw an unknown intolerance into the mix, so the vitamins are sitting there, waiting until I know for sure that they are OK.

I'm taking the Freeda Geri Plus vitamin until I feel safe taking a different one. I've heard others swear by Centrum Silver, too.

Gloria

[no-more-muffins]

I definitely can relate and I am sure everyone here can. I have bought a bunch of specialty stuff that I can't use now because it contains soy. I feel like I have thrown all this money away on expensive food and supplements that I can't use, or things that are just plain NASTY ("cheese" made from rice to name one, BLECH!). There is a huge learning curve. And it doesn't help that things are often poorly labeled and that they change the ingredients. It is so frustrating.

Your mention of supplements making you sick has sparked some interest in me. I might have to stop taking mine for a couple of days and see if my nauseated stomach gets better. I can't seem to figure out what is making me sick. They all say that they are GF, CF, SF but who knows about other stuff.

[RUBYREDDOG]

According to the label, Centrum Silver Mens Formula contains soy. I did not check the womens formula.

Hotrod

[tex]

Hotrod,

All four of the Centrum Ultra versions contain soy, and so does the Cardio version, (the Cardio version also contains peanuts). The Kid's version contains milk, soy, and wheat. All of the other versions are OK, (regular Centrum Silver, Centrum Performance, and just plain Centrum). Rosie and I are using the regular Centrum Silver.

http://www.centrum.com/productdetail.as ... %20Tablets

Tex

[RUBYREDDOG]

Tex, One can never be too careful. Thanks for that information.

Hotrod