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How do you take your supplements?

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:24 am
by JP
I am looking at the supplement list at David Wheldon’s site, all of them I’ve encountered on this forum too. So I seriously started to consider taking (some of) them, doing some calculations along the road.
So the daily (essential) supplements are:
- N-acetyl cysteine 600mg twice daily: 2 pills
- Vitamin D3 4000 IU: if I take a 2000 IU /pill dose, that’s 2 pills.
- Vitamin C 1 g: easily available dose for 1 pill
- Vitamin E 800 IU: either 2 pills at 400 IU, or 1 at an overdose of 1000 IU
- Omega 3 fish oil: 1 pill
- Acetyl L-Carnitine 500mg: 1 pill
- Alpha Lipoic acid 150 mg: half a pill of 300 mg
- Ubiquinone (Coenzyme Q10) 200mg: 1 pill

So that’s already 11 pills (half a pill is still a pill)!
Not counting the daily Doxycycline, and the Azithromycine 3 times a week.
Nor the Evening primrose oil, Selenium, B complex, Magnesium and Calcium 500mg supplements in the evening (remote from the time of taking doxycycline) daily, as well as the probiotics (lactobacillus acidophilus) and the high-dose sublingual Vitamin B12…

How do you all manage taking that many pills? Considering you’re at work untill 6pm, returning home by 6.30-7pm, not able to take them while at work?
Until now, I took my antibiotics right after dinner, but I can’t imagine taking 15+ pills at once… I’m afraid of taking pills in the morning, because I don’t have breakfast, and I had to throw up twice after taking my doxycycline with just a little orange juice on an empty stomach (yes I had to make the same mistake twice!).
Or do you take combination preparations? Would save me some trouble, and maybe even some money… especially if it’s a lifelong thing.

Any suggestions or tips? Quality brands with combination preparations? Other non-pill formulations?

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:01 am
by SarahLonglands
You can take doxycycline with a little milk: that way you stomach and digestive tract is lined.

The most important supplements are vitamin D and B12 plus a B complex, plus n acetyl cysteine. Then fit in what else you can around it. Here is a list I made of certain combinations to cut down the amount of pills you take:

CPn Help/sarahs_beginners_guide__0

They are all quality brands, good quantities, and all from the same place to make ordering simpler.

Sarah

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:15 am
by JP
Thank you very much for that list, Sarah. It's a tremendous help to me, really.

Another little question: importing those supplements to Europe, from what amount (how many months supply) is it worth the hassle with shipping costs and customs clearance? 3 months, 6 months? I can imagine customs are pretty suspicious about pills, at least they should be.
I don't know about the UK, but I'm not looking forward to problems with my country's customs every couple of months...

(sorry I'm bothering you with all those practical questions, thanks again)

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:34 pm
by Abe
Hey JP,

I'm following this regime too for probable MS. Starting to feel quite a bit better as I approach the 4 month mark...

I've been ordering from iherb.com and using DHL; customs charges have been minimal.

It's kind of tricky to pick quality brands. I seem to plump for 'Doctors Best' more often than not. It's so cheap that sometimes I wonder if the good doctor really is giving me his best. Hey ho :)

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 4:50 pm
by speedbird
I am also following this regime and get my supplements from Vitacost as in Sarah's list. The carrier is UPS and the import costs to the UK are high, but as I get them in quantity it is still cheaper than sourcing them here. Customs don't seem too bothered so long as they get their VAT and import duty. :wink:

It's also the least tiring way to get them.

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 10:01 pm
by CureOrBust
I generally have a stomach of steel, and don't normally have any problems with stomach reactions to pills. However, I recently started taking 4-AP and found having that on an empty stomach does have a minor effect on nausea. I have found that taking the pill with Omega 3 avoids all ill effects; about 5 x 1g capsules.

Also, I take 20-40 pills/supplements a day (in addition to 10-20 omega 3's of recent). I have trained myself to be able to swallow 6-10 in one hit. I also carry 2 "batches" of pills in separate containers (old empty medication cases) to work. One to take with a morning snack, and the other with lunch. By following this routine, I am able to manage all my pills in a day.

And by the way, as a kid I use to have problems swallowing the smallest single pill, so its just a matter of getting use to it. It was certainly less of an issue than learning to inject myself when I was on rebif! I also had my worst relapse while on rebif, triggered by a viral attack (I was on the abx at the time, so it must of been viral). So I personally doubt rebif's ability to block viral attacks.

Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 2:05 am
by SarahLonglands
As you can tell from my list, I get everything from Vitacost. The customs charges are just whatever the rate of VAT is in your particular country, the shipping costs depend on how much you order, but here is a minimum charge, so it is best to order quite a bit in one go. UPS aren't the cheapest, but apart from Amtrak, who I use to send my prints to the US, they are the quickest. Sarah