Some well-meaning frienda have suggested that I take a few supplements. I'd like to gather your collective experience.
Here's what else I "should" be taking, according to my friends:
Vitamin B complex
Papaya pills to settle the stomach
Zypan 8500, which is a hydrochloric acid supplement that aids in digesting proteins
A pro-biotic
Drenamin which From what I read is made from the adrenal glands of bovines to help aid in our adrenal functions.
I'm not against supplements, and I do wonder if I need to take something seeing as how I've run my body down the past 5 years...what do you take? Sometimes I get freaked out by all the supplements that are out there....and what they're made of!
I just feel like if food can kill me, it can heal me. Any thoughts?
Supplements
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
Supplements
Trace
Hi Trace,
The old saying, "you are what you eat", is probably pretty accurate. Unless you have a severe malabsorption problem, you should be able to get everything you need from your food. That said, I do take certain vitamin supplements, (bear in mind that I'm older than you, though). When I was healing, I started taking a vitamin B complex supplement, and I took sublingual B-12, because many of us seem to be short of B-12, if we have intestinal damage. Be sure that you are getting enough folic acid, though, or the B-12 won't do you much good, (about 400 IU minimum, to roughly 800 IU maximum, on the folate). Now I have replaced that with Centrum Silver, which pretty much covers it all, and I rarely pop a sublingual B-12, since I eat a lot of meat.
Never heard of papaya pills.
It's certainly possible that a deficiency of gastric acid could be the cause of your "slow stomach release" of the chime, rather than gastroparesis. I tried a "hydrochloric acid supplement", while I was healing, and it seemed to help, at times. One time I tried a digestive enzyme supplement, though, and it made me so sick, so fast, that I wouldn't ever touch it again with a ten foot pole.
A good probiotic is probably a very good idea. The problem is that it is almost impossible to find one that does not contain an ingredient to which we are intolerant. Most contain lactose, for example. Many members have tried many different brands, but I'm not sure that anyone has ever been entirely satisfied with the results, for various reasons. It's kind of like searching for the fountain of youth - a good idea in theory, but very elusive, in reality.
Here is the big problem with probiotic bacteria - they have to be pre-trained, or they will not stick around. IOW, unless they have previously resided in someone's colon for many generations, they slowly die off, and do not reproduce at an adequate rate to keep the colon populated. As far as I'm aware, all commercial probiotics, are produced in vitro, (in a laboratory), rather than in vivo, (in a living organism). Therefore, if you are to derive any benefit from probiotics, you have to take them virtually every day, and when you stop, they will fade away.
Never heard of drenamin.
If you take any supplements, be very careful about reading the labels. Remember that pharmaceuticals are exempt from the food labeling laws, so by law, they only have to list the active ingredients. Fortunately, most reputable companies also list the inactive ingredients, but since they are not required by law, many of them do not disclose the ingredients in "natural flavors", for example, and various other more "subtle" ingredients. A lot of supplements contain gluten, soy, corn, lactose, etc. The safest brand that we have found, I believe, is Freeda, and they are generally free of most intolerances for this group.
http://www.freedavitamins.com/
You're right, you can get everything you need from the food you eat. Polly has about as many intolerances as anyone here, and the only vitamin supplement she takes, (to the best of my knowledge), is vitamin D, (though she may not be taking that in the summer, with adequate sunlight), but for all I know, she may take it year round. Since Polly is a doctor, (an enlightened doctor), with a very restricted diet, I take that as a pretty strong endorsement for vitamin D, and a pretty strong rejection of the need for other supplements. Everyone has their own opinions about supplements, though, and opinions can change at the drop of a hat.
Tex
The old saying, "you are what you eat", is probably pretty accurate. Unless you have a severe malabsorption problem, you should be able to get everything you need from your food. That said, I do take certain vitamin supplements, (bear in mind that I'm older than you, though). When I was healing, I started taking a vitamin B complex supplement, and I took sublingual B-12, because many of us seem to be short of B-12, if we have intestinal damage. Be sure that you are getting enough folic acid, though, or the B-12 won't do you much good, (about 400 IU minimum, to roughly 800 IU maximum, on the folate). Now I have replaced that with Centrum Silver, which pretty much covers it all, and I rarely pop a sublingual B-12, since I eat a lot of meat.
Never heard of papaya pills.
It's certainly possible that a deficiency of gastric acid could be the cause of your "slow stomach release" of the chime, rather than gastroparesis. I tried a "hydrochloric acid supplement", while I was healing, and it seemed to help, at times. One time I tried a digestive enzyme supplement, though, and it made me so sick, so fast, that I wouldn't ever touch it again with a ten foot pole.
A good probiotic is probably a very good idea. The problem is that it is almost impossible to find one that does not contain an ingredient to which we are intolerant. Most contain lactose, for example. Many members have tried many different brands, but I'm not sure that anyone has ever been entirely satisfied with the results, for various reasons. It's kind of like searching for the fountain of youth - a good idea in theory, but very elusive, in reality.
Here is the big problem with probiotic bacteria - they have to be pre-trained, or they will not stick around. IOW, unless they have previously resided in someone's colon for many generations, they slowly die off, and do not reproduce at an adequate rate to keep the colon populated. As far as I'm aware, all commercial probiotics, are produced in vitro, (in a laboratory), rather than in vivo, (in a living organism). Therefore, if you are to derive any benefit from probiotics, you have to take them virtually every day, and when you stop, they will fade away.
Never heard of drenamin.
If you take any supplements, be very careful about reading the labels. Remember that pharmaceuticals are exempt from the food labeling laws, so by law, they only have to list the active ingredients. Fortunately, most reputable companies also list the inactive ingredients, but since they are not required by law, many of them do not disclose the ingredients in "natural flavors", for example, and various other more "subtle" ingredients. A lot of supplements contain gluten, soy, corn, lactose, etc. The safest brand that we have found, I believe, is Freeda, and they are generally free of most intolerances for this group.
http://www.freedavitamins.com/
You're right, you can get everything you need from the food you eat. Polly has about as many intolerances as anyone here, and the only vitamin supplement she takes, (to the best of my knowledge), is vitamin D, (though she may not be taking that in the summer, with adequate sunlight), but for all I know, she may take it year round. Since Polly is a doctor, (an enlightened doctor), with a very restricted diet, I take that as a pretty strong endorsement for vitamin D, and a pretty strong rejection of the need for other supplements. Everyone has their own opinions about supplements, though, and opinions can change at the drop of a hat.
Tex