I know that many people don't take a multi-vitamin and/or supplements, while others do. We do. What I wonder about is, when does a person know if a supplement is working or not? When to continue taking and when to stop? The Collagen II I'm thinking about getting, has Glucosamine in it, so I could stop taking the Glucosamine Sulfate that I'm currently taking......right? As far as "dosage" goes, some supplements have a pretty high dosage recommendations on the bottle. The Collagen 1 & 3 (one tablet) that my wife takes, states on the bottle to take 6 daily. Since each tablet is 1,000mg each, that would be 6,000mg daily. To her, that's way to much. She takes 2 tabs (2,000) daily. Your thoughts.
I only take D because my dr told me to, it all gets too confusing so I don't bother. Although I did recently buy some C because it was buy one get one free and I was buying some more D and I figured I don't eat enough fruit so I might as well get some C.
Wife and I take a daily multi-vitamin and some supplements, like D3, K2 and Krill Oil. We each have two 7-day/AM-PM Pill Holders that we fill every two weeks. We both also take Metformin (med for Diabetic II) and I take a prescribed cholesterol med and BP med. Wife see's her PCP the end of April and, hopefully, will get some type of med for her trigger thumb problem.
I see my dr every three months...should be every month for pain meds but he trusts me so will write out 2 more scripts and post date them.
Cody - my advice would be, don't take the 'suppliers' word for anything Everything sounds like a miracle cure and you end up spending a fortune Also, what works for one may not work for another Maybe you have a pain forum in the US to take a look at and see what works for 'most' people Sometimes I think I've found the answer, then it proves to not be so, I guess it depends how complicated the condition is and how much deterioration there has been
Yes @Patsy Faye is right about suppliers promises in my opinion, plus a lot of vitamin supplements especially at the cheaper end, are in a form that the body can't readily absorb, some such as calcium need vitamin D for it to be absorbed. The best way to get essential vitamins, is always through eating foods that contain the most of the vitamin which you are deficient in.
In answer to your question Cody regarding the glucosamine...if the collagen pills you're thinking of taking has the same dosage of *G* in them that you're currently taking then you can dispense with the extra Glucosamine sulphate ..but really you should always consult your primary doctor where possible before taking extra supplements in case they adversely interact with any other meds you may be taking . I have rhuematoid arthritis and never found the glucosamine to be of any benefit, in fact it always upset my hiatus hernia causing agonising chest pains I was taking vit B12 but stopped because I now use Biotin gel capsules 1000mcg otherwise known as Vitamin H (one a day )... Biotin is actually part of the B-complex family of nutrients, which also include thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, and vitamins B-5, B-6 and B-12., so no need to take any extra B vitamins However as @Terry Page rightly states, where possible it's best to use the foods high in the nutrients you need rather than from supplements, but sometimes it's just not possible for many reasons...but the important thing is to ensure you get your supplements from a trustworthy source, so many online companies fill their capsules with all sorts of harmful or at the very least useless ingredients
As far as seeing a PCP before starting to take any new supplement, that could/would get costly, even with insurance. A PCP doesn't see any patient for free. Can't call and talk to one either. Even though "online research" about a supplement has to be somewhat thorough, doing that kind of research is free. I've been told "don't believe everything that is in the Internet", but sometimes that is the only find out about anything. As for me, I have the time to do that "online research". I remember when my VA doctor gave me a BP med and it gave me pain in my legs. I contacted her, thru Private Messaging on my VA Patient website and she changed the med. I was fine after that.
Although my supplemental covers my dr bill completely, I think they might balk at me if I go every time I had a question for the dr. I usually write things down that I want to ask him so when I go every three months I don't forget something. As for supplementals they affect everyone differently ...magnesium oil does nothing for me, D3 did bring my levels up to normal but that's all I know. I eat a fairly healthy diet and I think I get most of what I need in my foods....a multi won't hurt and sometimes I buy them, sometimes I don't but always get the ones for seniors because I don't need as much iron as a younger woman.
Our Medicare B and supplement cover us, but only after our Medicare deductible of $183 is paid. Our supplement doesn't pay until Medicare pays and that doesn't happen until that deductible is paid. So, with that kind of cost, doing fairly thorough online research is much cheaper for us.
One of the things that I was reading about taking vitamins, or any kind of supplements is that it is always important to take them along with some kind of food. Our body does not recognize a vitamin capsule as food, and often it just shoves it along through the body, mostly unused and undigested. If you are also eating something when you take the vitamin or supplement (or have eaten recently), then it will get digested along with the food that you ate, and used by the body. The amounts listed on vitamin bottles are what is called "MDR", minimum daily requirement. That means that you need at least that amount not to start having symptoms of the vitamin deficiency for that vitamin. Many of the early symptoms of vitamin deficiency are not as profound, and we can be deficient in something and not realize it. If the vitamin is water-soluable, then any extra just flushes out of the system anyway; but sometimes, we need extra amounts. As an example, vitamin C, which helps with colds or a virus. When we have a cold, we can use a whole lot more vitamin C than we need otherwise. I usually take 1,000 mg every 3-4 hours if I get a cold (which is seldom).
It's only my supplemental that covers my dr visit...I have Medicare part A and B but that only covers tests and I guess a hospital stay if I ever need one but for dr and prescriptions, it's my supplemental. With prescriptions it's usually a $5 charge.
The "MDR" is only on vitamin bottles. On some supplement bottles it can say to take 6 tablets daily for maximum benefits. In taking 6 tablets daily of one kind of supplement, plus other supplements and a multi-vitamin.........that would be a lot to take in one day. But, if the bottle does have "6 tablets daily for maximum benefit, what does a person do? My wife takes Collagen 1&3 and it says on the bottle to take 6 tablets daily for max. benefit, but she only takes 2 daily. Follow what the bottle says?
I always take everything with food except my synthroid which states not to take with food but an hour or so before.
That's what my Glipizide says. "Take 30 minutes before eating". Glipizide is a Diabetic II prescription med.