Supplements while awaiting bloodwork?

[kw202]

Hello,

I'm brand new. Have had MRI suspect for MS but awaiting bloodwork to rule out other causes.

My question is - are any supplements OK to start on now, without fear of skewing my baseline bloodwork in terms of potential deficiencies that could mimic MS? I thought maybe fish oil might be OK to start.

Thanks in advance.

[lyndacarol]

Have had MRI suspect for MS but awaiting bloodwork to rule out other causes.

My question is - are any supplements OK to start on now, without fear of skewing my baseline bloodwork in terms of potential deficiencies that could mimic MS? I thought maybe fish oil might be OK to start.

I apologize for not responding earlier to this question in the Introductions forum. My attention was diverted for a while.

I am not the best person to answer your question, in general terms. Probably the most knowledgeable person about nutrient testing here at ThisIsMS would be jimmylegs – if she doesn't see and respond to your question here in the Natural Approach forum, you might consider sending her a private message (PM). She does usually recommend a washout period of at least 2 weeks before testing a specific nutrient. She also recommends serum tests for copper, iron, magnesium, vitamin D3, and zinc. Are any of these nutrient tests included in your upcoming blood work? I would think you would want to avoid supplementing any of these if they are going to be tested – the idea is to know how much your body normally absorbs and has available in the body.

I know that taking vitamin B supplements will definitely skew vitamin B blood tests.

There are many informed members here at TIMS, someone very confident in this area is bound to answer your question more completely. Or… If you can hold off on even fish oil until after testing, all issues could be avoided.

[kw202]

Yeah, I can hold off. I just hate feeling like I'm doing nothing while things are getting worse. I'm a fixer so it's even worse for me!

[jimmylegs]

treat your body right as soon as you can - not just supplements; start with good food and hydration

odds are your docs, if mainstream, aren't going to test the full spectrum of possible nutritional influences on ms risk without prompting. you can expect it to take some time even with receptive open minded docs. no, you won't get clean baseline nutrient tests, but it could be a long wait for all the tests of interest, and that is just the start of the fun.

you can always wash out once you do have the right requisition in hand...

[kw202]

Thanks. I'm going to hold off on b12 because I do have an order for that (awaiting end of the US holiday this week) but otherwise I'm going to start on some d3 magnesium and fish oil. Today in fact.

As for diet, I have read bits and pieces of your story jimmylegs and I feel like I'm sort of in the same boat. About a year ago I switched to a version of Dr. Fuhrman because I wanted to lose weight and be healthier. If you're not familiar, it's basically - plant and bean/legume forward whole foods, little meat, little dairy, little grains (eap refined like bread), little starch, little sugars, little oils, little dairy. I've stuck to it pretty well though I do still have meat every few weeks and I do love pizza. So to be facing a diagnosis where the dietary answer seems to be to do (essentially) what I've been doing is sort of daunting and confusing. I have lost lots of weight though.

Of course I can always improve. I can add more fish and I have no supplementation regime so I can do that. I can probably stand to cut down on dairy and watch my oils intake.

But I've already basically cut out meat which is the big leap with most of these diets. Which leaves me scratching my head a bit.

[jimmylegs]

hi i guess you might have read then that i was off many of the 'bad' foods for well over a decade prior to dx. although i have taken down a fair amount of content so maybe not!
at the end of the day, we can't paint everyone with the same dietary brush and we can't assess efficacy of any particular diet without measuring indicators.
the most important thing is to understand how each food might contribute to your individual situation. average joe maybe needs to cut down on this and that, sure. but not everyone is average joe...

[kw202]

Yeah I did read some of your story here and there. I'm a voracious information consumer but I have to admit the medical articles are way above my understanding. I've decided to follow the Jelinek diet - frankly it's not all that far off from what I've been doing for the past year, though I need to get away from frozen soy products, cut out dairy and oils, and add supplements and fish. But I've been tracking my saturated fat totals and it's not been hard to stay below 10g/day, often more like 5-6 (I suspect the key to this really is no meat).

The holiday here in the US messed up the timing of my vitamin D megadose Rx, but I just started on my own anyway. Yesterday I took 5000 IU D3 and today I upped it to 10000 IU with about 300mg of magnesium. I anticipate I'll get my vitamin D rx filled tomorrow. More MRIs on Tuesday. Spinal tap next week. And a work trip to NYC in between...

I also started on fish oil - 5g yesterday and 10g today. Though, it looks like the latest thinking is that flax oil plus oily fish is better than fish oil plus oily fish, so off to the store tomorrow to get some of that instead. And, once it gets here, I'll also be adding a probiotic.

Thanks for reading... sometimes the kindness of complete strangers is overwhelming in the best way.

[lyndacarol]

But I've been tracking my saturated fat totals and it's not been hard to stay below 10g/day, often more like 5-6 (I suspect the key to this really is no meat).

In my opinion, saturated fat has been demonized in the media. Saturated fat and cholesterol (another demonized substance) are needed for myelin (the "insulation" around our nerves, which is damaged in MS).

By reducing these myelin "building blocks" we may be undermining our own repair – in my opinion. I have no scientific research to support my suspicion.

Bottom line? I don't think you have to panic about your saturated fat totals, kw202. You could probably consume more than you are, with no adverse effects. (And grass-fed meat is a source of vitamin B12, which is necessary for many functions – formation of red blood cells, DNA, and many more.)

[kw202]

But I've been tracking my saturated fat totals and it's not been hard to stay below 10g/day, often more like 5-6 (I suspect the key to this really is no meat).

In my opinion, saturated fat has been demonized in the media. Saturated fat and cholesterol (another demonized substance) are needed for myelin (the "insulation" around our nerves, which is damaged in MS).

By reducing these myelin "building blocks" we may be undermining our own repair – in my opinion. I have no scientific research to support my suspicion.

Bottom line? I don't think you have to panic about your saturated fat totals, kw202. You could probably consume more than you are, with no adverse effects. (And grass-fed meat is a source of vitamin B12, which is necessary for many functions – formation of red blood cells, DNA, and many more.)

Thank you! I had never really thought about sat fat, to be honest, on a personal level - but ensuring the least possible amount of saturated fat consumption is a cornerstone of the Jelinek approach. His personal and clinical results are pretty promising so that's what I've decided to follow. There is an entire website with a forum set up just for that dietary approach, but the people there are so focused on him and what he says and does that it approaches, sometimes, zealotry/hero worship, so I haven't joined over there yet. (It's understandable - he took Swank's diet and built on the clinical results, which suggests the less you stray, the more you increase your chances of no relapses, but people are human.)

[kw202]

Got my rx. It's for 50000 IU D2, not D3. :/

I'm no expert, but D2 is shown to be much less potent than D3, yeah? I'm supposed to take one weekly for 8 weeks. This works out to probably about 7100 iu/day on the week, I'm tempted to supplement with another 5000 IU of D3 daily ....

[jimmylegs]

hi again, yea i don't know what it is with this D2 fixation.

fyi i have found that good mineral status supports optimal d absorption and that megadosing d without sufficient mineral balancing can land one in a world of hurt. <- that single sentence represents several years of very unpleasant learning curve i could really have lived without..!

[kw202]

Sounds terrible! Well, I don't know all my levels and I probably won't for some time. But I am taking about 300 mg of magnesium every day along with this, for what it's worth.

[NHE]

Got my rx. It's for 50000 IU D2, not D3. :/

I'm no expert, but D2 is shown to be much less potent than D3, yeah? I'm supposed to take one weekly for 8 weeks. This works out to probably about 7100 iu/day on the week, I'm tempted to supplement with another 5000 IU of D3 daily ....

If you shop at Costco, then this is a pretty good deal on vitamin D3.

http://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signatur ... 67951.html

600 capsules at 2,000 IU each for $11.99. I take a month's worth out and keep the remainder in the refrigerator.

Regarding D3 vs. D2, please see the journal articles I referenced in the following post.

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/undiagnos ... ml#p237830

[kw202]

http://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signatur ... 67951.html

600 capsules at 2,000 IU each for $11.99. I take a month's worth out and keep the remainder in the refrigerator.

Regarding D3 vs. D2, please see the journal articles I referenced in the following post.

http://www.thisisms.com/forum/undiagnos ... ml#p237830

I do go to Costco sometimes - I always walked past the vitamin aisle. I've been a healthy person all my life, no real medical issues, no surgeries, no invasive procedures, no medicines, no problems. So I never really thought about it, but it makes sense. I'll check out Costco's supplements next time I go. Thank you for the suggestion.

Just wanted to report that I started the 50000 IU weekly D2 dose yesterday, and considering that works out to a daily total ofa bout 7100 IU, D2's relative effectiveness (and my weight), I decided to also supplement on my own with 3000 IU D3 daily.

Happy to say I can tell a definite difference in my energy level today. I have a very high-stress job and figured fatigue just came with the territory. Looking forward to how I'll feel when I get my D levels up to where they should be.

[jimmylegs]

ah had thought you were off supplements pending bloods. 300mg of magnesium sounds fair depending on form; which are you taking?