vitamins/supplements ??

emmaadams

good morning all ..me and the hubby have been talking about vitamins ect are there any that would benefit me to take ???

i know iron is good for fatigue and for the blood but is there anything else ? as i have taken them before for my Anaemia ( borderline)

do any of you use them ? would i be best in just buying multi-vitamins as i presume they would contain more or less everything

i am not on any medication other than the pain meds and Sertraline should i ask my GP about them ? i presume that anyone can take Vitamins without having to inform their GP i dont really want to bother him for such a simple question

thanks Emma xxx

stickywicket

It's a good plan to do all you can to help yourselves, Emma, and even better that you are aware there could be interactions with your prescribed meds. There is a perception that vitamins and supplements must be good for us and can't be harmful as they are bought without a prescription. This is not true.

I suggest you read what NHS Choices has to say about them here http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/vitamins-minerals/Pages/Vitamins-minerals.aspx and decide, on the basis of that, what might or might not help you. Then go to your local pharmacy and ask the pharmacist if those you think might be of use would be OK for you to take given your problems and medications. Pharmacists are very good at that sort of thing.

If you do decide to get some remember they are unregulated and quantities vary enormously. Beware of any cheap internet types. It's virtually impoossible to overdose on vitamins and supplements from food but easy enough when they come in pill form.

Good luck and keep us informed

LignumVitae

Hi Emma,

I can't remember which flavour of arthritis you have. I don't personally take any supplements, preferring to work the appropriate ones into my diet so that I know I have had them in a natural form rather than synthesised but that's just my choice.

Arthritis Research suggest that calcium, vitamin D and iron and the most important vitamins to include in your diet and that selenium (brazil nuts are full of it) is another one to include. A diet rich in omega 3 oils is also supposed to be useful for all arthritics and if you have OA then some people find glucosamine beneficial for that.

I source glucosamine for my dogs by making a bone broth, it seems to be a new super food thing for people now but I've never tried it, I just don't like waste so like that I can use up the bones this way. I put bones from meat that has been cooked - chicken carcasses/ lamb bones etc in a pot covered with water, add some lemon juice and then slowly cook them for 24 hours, it gets all the goodness (glucosamine and chondritin) out of the bone and into the water and then people either drink it neat or add it to other meals. I mentioned I did this for my dogs to my sister in law who is always on the latest diet thing and she does it as part of her paleo diet. There's lots of info about in online if you are interested.

pot80

The only supplement I take are 3 Brazil nuts/day to be sure of the selenium daily intake of 3.5gms/day. Care needs to be exercised not to exceed the selenium rate so read any supplement label carefully before taking Brazil nuts as well. I rely on my wife to provide all my daily needs in our diet and this has been satisfactory for the last 56 years.

daffy2

Good advice as always from Sticky and LV. The pharmacist would also be able to tell you if a given drug creates an increased need for any nutrient. It's worth bearing in mind that increasing intake of just one vitamin or mineral, apart from the potential for too high an intake, can also cause imbalance with other nutrients. A multivitamin isn't really the best option - after all the pill manufacturers have no idea how much of any one thing you are getting from your diet, so no idea of which ones you need and which you are already getting enough of.
Vit D during the winter would be worth considering, otherwise I'd be inclined in your place to look critically at diet and consider things like sugar intake, processed food, quality of meal ingredients,increasing fruit and veg intake. Like LV , I prefer to get what I need from food as far as possible not least because that's how your body is designed to get and use its nourishment. Be aware if you look things up that there is a great deal of bad science and plain ignorance out there.

emmaadams

that was a lot of information to take in ...

after reading through all the posts i think i might just be better off as i am .. and maybe adding extra fruits and Veg into my diet .. more of a varied wider range rather than the same stuff all the time... i do like nuts so i might give them Brazil nuts a try ...

i never realised how many different sorts there was and i actually just presumed that they would be great and healthy to take and not cause to much harm .. i never factored in how they are made ect ...

LV i love making home-made chicken soup using the bones and boiling it to create a nice stock .. i never knew it was full of Glucoseamine ... i will be making some this weekend from my leftover Sunday roast ..

whenever i do a Sunday roast i will save the Cabbage Water ( mainly spring cabbage) as i know that is full of iron . i will normally Drink that with a little pepper mixed in for a little flavour and as its getting much colder i am having more Stew.Hotpot and Soups ect so i will be getting a fair bit of nutrients from that then really wont i ?

i might see if the Pharmacist can suggest something for Vitamin d though as with the weather recently and me not being able to get out that much over the last few months i may be low on that one as Vit D is obtained from the sun

well thank you all for your help ..

Emma x

mellman01

I take Boron and it's worked well, oI take it for a month on and two weeks off as it's said it can deplete certain vitamins from you but I've been using it for over a year now and I've had nothing but positive effects from it.

Slosh

I find I often suffer from a loss of appetite, or lack of energy to prepare a sensible meal after work. I checked with a pharmacist first and now take a daily multivitamin as a boost.