What Vitamins/Suppliements are you taking??

[MassnAnge]

Hey Everyone,
Just wanting to see what everyone else is taking suppliment or vitamin-wise and if it's working. I'm off to see my naturopath today and I'm bringing in all the goodies my wife makes me take
Daily Dosage:
- Fish Oils x 3
- Vitamin D x 1
- Flax Oil Pills x 3
- Men's multivitamin
- Vitamin C x 3
- Bio-K (probiotics) - 1 cap a day
- Aloe Vera juice - 1 oz mixed with a glass of water to take my vitamins
- and sometimes I take meluka raw honey

 

[ThatGuy2006]

I just got an ileostomy so I can actually take vitamins and stuff again...for some reason, when I used to take them I got so nauseous.

Just a regular Men's Multivitamin is what I take right now but I'm thinking about adding some Vitamin D and some Fish Oil to it.

 

[Cat-a-Tonic]

The vitamins I take are (sorry, this list is going to be long):

Multi-vitamin
Calcium chewable
Vitamin D3
Peppermint oil extract
Ginger extract
Cranberry extract
Biotin
Vitamin B12
Fish oil
Slow FE (iron)
Probiotics

And that's in addition to the Entocort & Amitriptyline I take every day, and the Lomotil & Zofran that I take as needed. I take a lot of pills every day!

 

[Rebecca85]

In my signiture! But will be asking my GI about vit D when I see him next week. Didn't worry over the summer since I was spending the majority of my time outside. Also the fish oil and multivits have some D in them.

 

[fadingsun430]

Multivitamin, Feosol (iron), fish oil, probiotic

 

[stefan]

Hi there,

Here's my current list, but I forgot I also tend to eat the honeys that are supposed to promote healing etc like Jarrah, as my uncle lives by a nice honey farm in Perth

Turmeric is an interesting one that a lot of people seem to neglect to mention, though admittedly the trials that have taken place aren't too conclusive yet, there's a bit of evidence to suggest that 4 to 8g/day is therapeutic to treat inflammation -- curcmin, the active ingredient in turmeric, is a natural TNF inhibitor, like Remicade (infliximab) And Humira (adalimumab), but obviously at a relatively low dose in comparison, and of course using, and medical strength powder, which your local Indian restaurant has nothing on

Prescription

• DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone)

Over the counter

• Fefol (Ferrous suplhate/folic acid)
• Folic acid
• Fish oil liquid
• Citrical (Calcium citrate) + multivitamin (Phosphate)
• Turmeric
• Vitamin C (Asorbic Acid)
• Vitamin D (Cholecaliferol) + multivitamin
• Citrihexal (Calcitriol)
• Inner health (Acidophilus & bifodobacterium)
• Normacol Plus

 

[shazamataz]

Hi Stephan - cab you get DHEA on script in Ozzie? we can't here and i took it for a while, not sure what it actually did as far as feeling any diffrent?

 

[stefan]

Hi Stephan - cab you get DHEA on script in Ozzie? we can't here

Hi Shaz,
Yes we can, it's approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (like the FDA in the US - ie it's legal), but it's not subsidised by the Government (ie on the PBS) so 50x 100mg/day costs me AU$79, and I get about 15% of that back from private health cover. It's also not easy to find a compounding pharmacy to get it made up, as they appear to decreasing in number quite substantially now.

i took it for a while, not sure what it actually did as far as feeling any diffrent?

For me it wasn't so much about benefits, but getting my levels back to normal as they were very low, mostly due to the pred. Now I'm back in semi-normal range we're not so concerned about the positive effects, but rather attempting to avoid any negative effects. Since starting pred, I've always had a lot of factors contributing to bone loss, which was always the biggest (only?) concern about the low DHEA levels.

I've seen some people talking about the use of DHEA in IBD, but haven't looked for any real evidence behind it myself, nor have I been able to attribute anything to the DHEA.

 

[Poppysocks]

Vitamin D
Turmeric
Ginger
Align probiotic
Resveratrol

 

[outlier]

Multi vitamin
B-12
Iron
Calcium

And I am currently doing an experiment on my self with Vitamin C.
I saw a crazy doc and it kept repeating something about Vitamin C being good with Inflammation and I think it gets rid of my canker sores. So i am taking it three times a day til I finish the bottle of 100 and I'll see. My doc said i could play as long as i drank extra water. So far not impressed.

 

[stefan]

I should add something about fish oil that I clarified with an A/Prof at a public lecture earlier this week, after being suspicious about some of the claims I've seen on some of the US sites.

He confirmed that fish oil is indeed systemic, and thus there is no difference in how the liquid or capsules are absorbed. So, despite what some of the companies have been saying, the claims the capsules will be "absorbed in the gut" and are better for IBD than the liquid are purportedly false.

 

[outlier]

Fish oil makes me worried because I heard that it has high level Mercury like fish.

 

[Rebecca85]

Stefan- it is possible to get enteric coated capsules that will dissolve in the gut not the stomach. However, I simply can't afford these. Normal capsules are designed to stop you tasting the liquid since many people can't stomach it.

 

[stefan]

Stefan- it is possible to get enteric coated capsules that will dissolve in the gut not the stomach.

Ah yes, it's been so long since I looked at them that I forgot to specify I meant the enteric ones to the Prof, but I did specify being absorbed in the bowel vs the stomach, so either there's something else to do with absorption going on or my above statement may still stand.

I still can't find any comparative journals that can prove anything, other than they do both work. Unless there's something (else) I'm missing, it does seem that increasing the does of standard fish oil by a fraction would have the same effect as taking the fancy enteric ones, since their claim is that our stomach acids break down the fish oil, a claim which seems to be refuted by a large number of people, though you'd expect enteric coating would solve the repeating problem.

I'll report back if I find anything useful either way, either from one of the drs that did trials here, or from another journal. It sucks we're so often left guessing with supplements like this.

 

[CrohnsHobo]

For a year now I have taken everyday:

Probiotic
Multivitamin
Omega- Fish Oil
Vitamin D3- 5000 IU
Vitamin B12- Tablet and Prescription Nasel Spray
Calcium+D3
Vitamin C
B Complex
Green Tea
Ginger
Tumeric

Are they doing me any good for my Crohn's? Not really.

 

[STLGirl]

Thanks for asking this question MassnAnge. I was about to ask the same one. It was good to read what everyone finds helpful. I see many different amounts everyone is taking and to me it's a bit confusing how much to take. But I see my GI next week and I will ask him for the best amount that's best for me. But my question is........ can we Overdose on Vitamins? Meaning.... if we are already taking a multi-vitamin, then add more C, D, B-Complex, B-12, Calcium, etc. , wouldn't we be adding more of the same thing we get in multi-viatmins and therefore taking to much in one day OR do we Crohnies need that much more to maintain?

 

[kildare crohnie]

acidopolis 2
glutamine 4
flaxseed oil 2
vitamin shake 2
iron 1
digestive emzynes 4 or 5
aloe vera 3 or 4 mouthfulls a day
zinc 1
cacichew 2

 

[Rebecca85]

Some vitamins can be overdosed on. Vitamin A springs to mind- I think current guidelines are if you regularly (every week) eat liver or liver products such as pate, you shouldn't take a multivit with A or cod liver oil. Instead try regular fish oil. Other vitamins you would have to take so much of it is practically impossible to od on. Such as vit D- I think to get symptoms you would have to take a minimum of 20,000 units (recommended intake is something like 5 units). Having said that, I am trying not to add extra vitamins unless they're actually needed. Like I stopped the calcium and vit D once I was off the pred, I eat dairy fine and there's vit d in my multivit, fish oil, and the fortified foods I eat.

 

[lynx]

Yes you can OD on vitamins as Rebecca said. There are two different types of vitamins (mainly) Water soluble and non water soluble (fat soluble). The water soluble vitamins like vitamin C leave the body really fast usually by way of your urine and pose very little threat in overdose. Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin and takes a longer time to metabolize and therefor your body can build up a large amount of the chemical and it can cause problems. Vitamin A in women is recommended up or less than 10,000 IU. In men though it is recommended that we take up to 25,000 IU (IU or International Units is a measurement of drug or chemical potency and NOT weight).


I thought i would add this on...because our bodies do not absorb nutrients like "normal" people, we should have blood work done to see what we may be deficient in and then go from there as to what vitamins we take. I myself, after reading a post in this forum decided to add a magnesium pill to my daily vitamin dose. I do not know if any of this helping me at all to be honest. I do know I was told by my Dr. after a blood test to take a daily iron supplement.

Hope this helps, and as for the original post all that I take is listed below...and I have no idea if any of it is helping me really at all....(the vitamins part that is)

 

[outlier]

But my question is........ can we Overdose on Vitamins? Meaning.... if we are already taking a multi-vitamin, then add more C, D, B-Complex, B-12, Calcium, etc. , wouldn't we be adding more of the same thing we get in multi-viatmins and therefore taking to much in one day OR do we Crohnies need that much more to maintain?

Yes you can theroticly O.D. on specific vitamin but it is very unlikely for an adult. I know Iron is on the list. It most vitamins are water soluble, so if you take to much you just pee out the extra like vitamin C.
Some like Vitamin C can cause some issues at large doses like Kidney Stones.
Ask your doc for amounts for years i was taking half the dose of Iron I need cause i was just told to take Iron.
Also ask when to take vitamins. Some vitamins can't be digested together like Iron and Calcium and coffee. Also some interact with meds like Calcium and Ciparo.
Good luck

 

[STLGirl]

Thanks everyone, you all are great help.

 

[StarGirrrrl]

You should always take vitamins for a specific reason and not just wake up one morning and decide to start something!

I take echineacea daily (after ME started I was getting bug after bug) for immune system
Multi Vit with Iron (when I thought it was IBS I was concerned about not getting all I needed, plus to boost immunity)
Garlic, during winter, as additional immune protection.