My Thoughts On Supplements

Discussion in 'Health & Wellness' started by Lon Tanner, Dec 24, 2020.

  1. Martin Alonzo

    Martin Alonzo Supreme Member
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    As far as supplements go. If I had a broken wooden chair. I think you might need wood glue nails and screws also pain. Doctors would say you do not need them it will fix itself
     
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  2. Joy Martin

    Joy Martin Veteran Member
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    Comparing us to wooden broken chairs, is what I believe an allopathic MD would say, no you need a new chair, I'll sell you one....
     
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  3. Jeff Elohim

    Jeff Elohim Very Well-Known Member
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    In the medical school teachings forty years ago that I was familiar with,
    if someone had a problem they thought they had to go see a doctor for,
    nine times out of ten - at that time - they were better off and would get over it without doing anything at all;
    going to a doctor , often "to get something", led to further ongoing problems, loss of money, and often enough more diagnosed problems requiring , of course, more trips to the doctor and more money.

    The doctors usually were not trained to tell the patient they did not need anything,
    rather to follow ama protocol, even worse today, to get as much blood out of the turnip as possible for as long as possible, and tons more from insurance, estates, etc when possible.
     
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  4. Jeff Elohim

    Jeff Elohim Very Well-Known Member
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    Test everything no matter from which side, before getting brain washed.

    Otherwise it all may be money down the drain in any case.
     
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  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Does anyone have an opinion on Walmart's brand of vitamins (Spring Valley)? There are a few supplements I take that I get from WM, and I'm wondering if I'm wasting my money and should buy something else. Other than the general slander surrounding anything Walmart, the only quantified complaint I find is allusion to their herbals being tested at one point in time, and some of them had foreign plant material in them while a large number contained none of the primary ingredient! Apparently Walmart had fraudulently put an NSF certification on the bottles and had to remove them...or so that story goes. And that was only their herbals (which I don't take, anyway.)

    I read that I should look for certification from ConsumerLab.com, NSF International, U.S. Pharmacopeia and Underwriters Laboratory (UL), etc, but when I look at a Puritan's Pride bottle (and on the Puritan's Pride website) I find no such references.

    So what do you think? Is Spring Valley just as good as the next brand?
     
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  6. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    It is very hard to determine what is a good supplement. If you recall the New York investigation several years ago, they found that many of them didn't contain ANY of the stuff on the label. I trust USP, and I realize Puritan's Pride does not have that certification, but many of the Costco stuff does. If I remember from the NY case, GNC and Walgreen's were the biggest offenders but I am not certain of that. I am generally against government regulation, but I would like the FDA to treat supplements as food and make companies certify that what they say in in a product is actually in there. You cannot market horsemeat as beef, or pork as lamb, so why should you be able to market supplements as things they are not? No one will push this, as they are afraid the "camel nose under the tent" will occur since Big Pharma has been trying to get most supplements outlawed for years...unless they can patent them and market them as drugs.
     
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  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Pretty much my thoughts. I dislike government regulation, yet want things I consume to have reasonable oversight, but know the sword held by that same government that has always hung over the head of OTC supplements.
     
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  8. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    I never took vitamin's but my 80 yr old friend always takes hand fulls every morning. Also my 72 yo friend swears by B12 shots ,I think her and her hubby gets one a month but I could be wrong about that. I just know quite often when I call she is on the way to get their B12 shots.
     
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  9. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    For a while my doctor was nagging me to try B12 shots. I had no obvious symptoms. He just said they revised the normal blood level range from anything between 160 and 950 (pg/ml), to a lower threshold of 350 for seniors, which I didn't meet.

    I took one shot and didn't notice any difference and forgot about it. Too forgetful with supplements, and those don't work as well as shots anyway.

    One side effect of low B12 is peripheral neuropathy. Years earlier I suspected my father had low B12 levels, because a previous Dr gave him one shot one time, and he said he felt much better. But it was like pulling teeth to even get this Dr to try one shot. I don't think there is any danger in one shot. Maybe they just didn't like to be asked to do something they didn't think of trying. :rolleyes:

    The second shot didn't do anything for him.
     
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    Last edited: May 8, 2022
  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    That's interesting that a doctor would proactively recommend something like that when you had no complaints or symptoms. I wonder why he would do that? I think most of them are risk-adverse, for a lot of reasons.

    I take supplements 3 times a day (I spread them out,) and set up reminders on my PC and my phone. When I was working and there was structure to my life, I would always remember. But that was then...
     
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  11. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    @Nancy Hart you can get sublingual lozenges for B12 that taste quite good. B12 sometimes cannot be absorbed by seniors due to a deficiency in something called Intrinsic Factor, but can be absorbed directly by the tissues under the tongue. The first symptom of B12 deficiency is large red cells. The same symptom is exhibited by folate deficiency. You can do levels or you can take supplements --either orally or by injection--and see if the cells return to normal cells. B12 deficiency gone to extreme is pernicious anemia, also called megaloblastic anemia, but hopefully you provider will know all of this.
     
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  12. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    I think low B12 is one where the symptoms creep up on you gradually. You almost don't notice until it's more serious. Like tingling in your fingers, etc, that you write off as poor sitting posture at first. This Dr tends to keep up with current literature. His specialty is geriatrics.

    Like I said, I don't think even an overdose of B12 is dangerous. Isn't that one of the water soluble vitamins where an excess just comes out in the wash, so to speak?
     
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  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    That's good to have a doc like that. I don't know about B12...there aren't many things that store up (in fat cells) and can do you harm, but there are a few.
     
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  14. Joy Martin

    Joy Martin Veteran Member
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    I've been taking 1000mcg of B12 for many years. And for some yrs would have B12 labs done but don't anymore, and now even take 1000mc tab every other day or so. I believe my tiredness is due to chronic pain and aging.
     
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  15. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Do you remember what your labs said about blood level B12 the last few times, approximately? 200s, 300s?
     
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