posted
Has anyone stopped all their supplements? I have been on approx 66 pills and drops a day for a while now. The cost is astronomical as you all know.
Weeks ago I started to just let them run out as I cannot afford them or another appointment with the doctor. I still see a neurologist who prescribes medication for the fatigue, pain, orthostatic hypotension and severe constipation (which he thinks is related to the autonomic nervous system dysfunction (dysautonomia). All of that is covered by Medicaid.
I read, I think: confused: , in Yolanda Hadid's book that she too stopped everything (the almost daily IV's, which i haven't had since getting antibiotics at the beginning of this, all her supplements etc) and look at her now! (please clarify if I'm mistaken as my brain does not work).
Has anyone done this? Did you feel better or worse? My husband doesnt understand how so much medicine can be prescribed because "how do you know what is working or what is fighting each other", etc.
Grateful for any advice
Posts: 86 | From LA | Registered: Jul 2016
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Brussels
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13480
posted
Are the 66 pills all drugs or also herbs, minerals, vitamins?
It makes a big difference to take 66 pills of drugs, or 66 pills of herbs or frequency remedies.
I sometimes stop everything to evaluate what my body can do on its own.
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
Yes I take very little now. Constipation supplement, Vitamin D and mag. I have a drawer full of supplements. My stomach stopped being able to handle so many pills.
My hope is to eventually take them, use them up and not replace them. I dont think they did anything for me anyways. Most were for all that detox pathway stuff. I noticed no difference taking them. So much money....
Posts: 832 | From Somewhere | Registered: Nov 2010
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- If you have breast implants, it is important to consider a good assessment of the health impacts, many toxic effects, as Yolanda Hadid found out. She has far more than lyme, far more.
"Yolanda Hadid's book that she too stopped everything . . . and look at her now!"
Well, your cases are totally different. What also helped her so very much was removal of problem breast implants.
I'm not saying that stopping supplements for a while (and 66 pills a day seem too much) . . . but do not use anyone else as your model. No two cases are the same.
If your body is "telling you" to maybe stop - if you have a good LL ND, first talk to them. If you don't have a good LL ND, it would be good to find one -- or read all you can from Stephen Buhner's books.
Herbs - as medicine - are food for certain organs, etc. and each has their properties, characteristics and effects.
Better than just doing this or stopping that might be to determine what your body needs - as review the various ways you might achieve that.
Just because one feels overwhelmed or is tired of "too many supplements" does not mean this is a good move.
First, give it some real thought and make a plan - go back to the start and determine your needs and the methods at hand to help. Go back over your notes, books, articles on each herb, nutrient, vitamin. Review their reason in your world.
Like cleaning your closet, a popular routine is to banish all things that are not working out for us to make room.
It may be that going only to excellent organic foods for each meal and snack will be what your body needs right now.
Or it may not.
If certain herbs for, say, LIVER SUPPORT, are on board, they may still be needed.
Same with ADRENAL SUPPORT herbs. Before stopping these, you might go over your diet and determine the best foods then to nourish and nurture.
You don't want to shock your body by any drastic moves. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- Double duty. Say a Vitamin C supplement is on board and that maybe you also need some colon support. TRIPHALA is both - and also has various tonic effects.
There are many herbs that do double or triple duty.
Magnesium & Vitamin D can be dangerous if just stopped. If you take Hawthorn for your heart, that also should not be suddenly stopped without expert thought to other ways for cardiac support.
Good point: ""how do you know what is working or what is fighting each other", etc. "
This is where a good LL ND comes in. And, if you don't have access to one, be sure to systematically study all of Stephen Buhner's books.
As with a good LL naturopathic physician who will know the difference between herbs that are just support and those that might have direct, assertive effects on various infections
so, too, they will know the most important herbs, nutrients for the base line: which are truly required "food" for you now
which might be overlapping in a not so great way
which might be working together
and how to streamline and alter - in a safe way, in proper time - when you feel a change is in order. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
Herbal Safety considerations & reference books; etc.
BOOKS - Links to many articles and books by holistic-minded LL doctors of various degrees who all have this basic approach in common:
knowing which methods offer assertive & direct impact, which are only support and which are both. And when to use what, how to combine, & when to step back.
You can compare and contrast many approaches with links to articles, books, methods . . . -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
I don't know the answer to your main question. I take few supplements now, but I was pretty much over Lyme when I stopped them all.
I think the processing your body has to do to use a ton of supplements takes a lot out of it as well, so I take a few and sort of rotate in new ones when I think I need something and rotate out old ones.
I always take a thyroid supplement. I usually take a vitamin c (fruit sourced) and vitamin D. Other than that, they get rotated. I'm taking a mushroom supplement now for adrenals because I have a lot going on in life right now.
Read up about singing and gargling to stimulate the vagus nerve to help digestion. It's pretty interesting and may help you constipation.
The more fruits and veggies I eat keeps things moving, especially if I eat nothing but a raw vegan diet for a few days.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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posted
I quit all supplements and moved to a 100% whole foods approach to any supposed mineral or supplememt deficiences. If I need Vitamin C, I might blend a bag of frozen organic mangos and some milk in my nutribullet. Or I might eat some broccoli. Whatever you think the supplement maybe providing you, find a natural way to get it.
Posts: 173 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2015
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posted
Sixgoofy.. Which thyroid supp? Kayak was needing a good one.
-------------------- --Lymetutu-- Opinions, not medical advice! Posts: 96222 | From Texas | Registered: Feb 2001
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Bartenderbonnie
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 49177
posted
etb6855
I was thinking the exact same thing.
After 15 months of aggressive antibiotic and supplements protocol, I have 3 large boxes of empty pill containers.
It's hard to comprehend how much longer a body can tolerate this steady pace.
I want to stop ALL meds to access my current body's functions to gauge my progress. Maybe at this stage, it might be residual damage that we are left with ? Or maybe it's time to rotate or change up treatment strategies ?
Posts: 2977 | From Florida | Registered: Nov 2016
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- It can be very dangerous to think that at any point in time "it's been long enough" as there are so many variables.
Remember the park ranger in "Under Our Skin" ? Only at 3 years into a very well thought out and careful protocol did he feel somewhat good again. At year four, he said he finally felt well.
Some say the real trick is following Dr. B's protocol (individualized, of course). Anything less assertive can be a waste of time, many have reported.
Those doing alternate methods still have to follow the same kind of approach / plan - in a way, systematic, that is - just with other ways but they must work SPECIFICALLY or we can just waste our time.
We must be careful not to put our timeline on this without having a good LLMD &/or a LL ND -- or a couple different opinions on
whether the treatment path chosen will be adequate, will work within the science of lyme and the science of babesia or whatever other TBD are on board.
These infections require assertive vigilance
along with proper support methods for body.
Now, of course, maybe antibiotics may not be for all but somehow, and there are various methods with herbs / rife, etc.
However, whatever method is chosen, it has to be extremely well considered regarding the science regarding whether there will be adequate assertiveness for as long as needed for each individual case. -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
For patients with tick-borne diseases, the path to health can be confounding. Combining integrative and conventional approaches may be the best way forward.
. . . What’s more, many of these hard-to-treat patients, like Makris, turn out to have co-infections transmitted by the same black-legged ticks that gave them Lyme — infections that don’t always respond to treatments for Lyme disease itself. The blood parasite Babesia, for example, must be treated with antimalarial medications.
And, the co-infections Anaplasma and Ehrlichia do not respond to amoxicillin, a first-line antibiotic often used for Lyme.
Even if these and other co-infections are addressed, [Dr. H] says patients can stay sick for many reasons beyond simple infection itself. . . .
See all THREE posts here by Pamela Weintraub (who is a LL journalist who recovered from lyme - and write about her entire family dealing with it in "Cure Unknown" book ) -
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
I cannot believe I have been away from this site for SO long; Such valuable information and support!!!
The majority of my meds are supplements (for inflammation, immune support, HPA axis dysfunction, Pre and Probiotics, liver support (Glutathione and Glutathione recycler), vitamins E, D and C, magnesium, iron (was very low on this), hormone support (compounded estrogen, progesterone and a T3), as well as DHEA and Pregnenalone and then prescriptions from the neurologist.
My vagus nerve is affected according to the integrative medicine doctor and my uvula (per that MD and neurologist) the little thing in the back of your throat, deviates to the right which is the side all my tremors and movement symptoms are. Neurologist said that it deviates to the affected side.
The prescriptions from the neurologist are to treat the burning in my right elbow, and bottoms of my feet, treat orthostatic hypotension and severe constipation from the dysautonomia and then the fatigue. Those medications have been helping.
Keebler thank you as always for the helpful links!
Posts: 86 | From LA | Registered: Jul 2016
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posted
I think it depends on what the supplements are doing for us. I keep the necessary ones, which are not so many for me.
I suppose if we don't have a dire need for some supplements, to rotate them for budget purposes.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Christopher J: I quit all supplements and moved to a 100% whole foods approach to any supposed mineral or supplememt deficiences. If I need Vitamin C, I might blend a bag of frozen organic mangos and some milk in my nutribullet. Or I might eat some broccoli. Whatever you think the supplement maybe providing you, find a natural way to get it.
I agree!
There are a few I find I need to supplement, but this is why I stopped taking a multiple vitamin and so many supplements. I do benefit from higher doses of vitamin C than I can get in a day from food. My skin is better. Some of my moles and age spots have even dissappeared.
I can get enough of the B vitamins from greens though. I am homozygous for MTHFR, so I have to be sure to get enough of the good Bs. I like the greens much, much better than taking the MTHFR supplements which I found to be harsh.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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quote:Originally posted by Lymetoo: Sixgoofy.. Which thyroid supp? Kayak was needing a good one.
Allergy Research Group thyroid glandular.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
- etb6855,
Backing up. I don't think my eyes ever saw that you are treating. It sounded like maybe all you are doing is supplements. But my eyes dart back and forth a bit and can miss things.
To be certain:
Are you also seeing a LLMD or LL ND for direct treatment for lyme or other tick borne infections. You say you don't have money yet if you WERE seeing a LLMD or LL ND, might you still have notes from guidance they offered?
Many of the symptoms being treated by supplements, well, those symptoms should get better by addressing infection. The vagus nerve is just one aspect - that's greatly affected by lyme. So, too, many neurological symptoms - and also endocrine.
The " fatigue, pain, orthostatic hypotension and severe constipation " . . . well, those are all lyme symptoms. Constipation classic due to the neuro issues of the gut but also of the liver stress / toxins from infections - liver support if vital for the colon. Diet changes also can help the colon work better.
If your treatment with "regular" doctors (not LL) are pills to treat those, those might not be addressing the underlying issues and can make things worse in the long run for the liver. Be sure to check every Rx.
As you say that's all covered by Medicaid, my guess is the typical Rx path for symptom cover up. Many Rx can also cause some of the side effects. Some deplete glutathioine, some deplete magnesium, etc.
Back to the CAUSE of symptoms and figuring out how to reassess your action plan.
There is not one organ or system in the body that is not affected by lyme / other TBD.
But also some Rx side effects can cause the same symptoms so check each Rx carefully.
All the supplements in the world will not get anyone better if the infections are not assertively dealt with head on.
Supplements are intended to help ease the side effects of treatment - to manage herxheimer, to support the body while it's on the treatment path. Organic foods are helpful, too but may not always be enough for certain things.
MAGNESIUM, the right kind for you, can calm a lot of the symptoms you mention, including constipation, pain, fatigue. Of course, if lyme is the underlying cause, magnesium does not actually treat lyme but lyme causes a magnesium deficiency and when magnesium is supplemented, the body is usually so much better off.
Bottom line: since there sounds like there is no way you can get an ILADS educated LLMD or LL ND guiding you --
--( editing messed this up. to tired to fix the sentence strucure ) have you found herbal detail designed specifically by a LL herbalist - someone who knows all the science -- for those with lyme, babesia, etc. so that they can both direct and supportive.
Books by Stephen H. Buhner would be excellent.
Rife treatments are another option if you don't have access to a LLMD or LL ND. Still, careful supplement methods must be on board to protect against herxheimer.
Supportive [whether with nutritional supplements or herbs - or even the best diet] alone is not enough if tick borne infections have not been fully addressed. First, be absolutely certain that the "direct" part of the plan is adequate. -
[ 02-20-2018, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
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Keebler
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