Supplements?
 

I've seen on other threads that some people take supplements, such as vitamins or oils. I'm curious as to what everyone is taking and what are the benefits?

As for me, I'm currently taking:

- 50,000 IUA of vitamin D every 10 days
- a calcium supplement 500 mg with some vitamin D included twice a day
- alpha lipoic acid 200 mg (with L-Caritine HCL 400 mg) daily
- Cerefolin NAC 15 mg daily

Not as supplements but I'm also taking thyroid medication and anastrazole daily.

Everything I'm taking is at a doctor's prescription or recommendation but if there are other things I could be doing to help things, all the better. Thanks in advance.

Re: Supplements?
 

Lucy,
One of the best things you can do for cancer prevention and prevention of recurrence is following a balanced/nutritious diet and exercise (as permitted by your doctor). Please note some of our previous threads on plant-based diet. Best wishes!

Re: Supplements?
 

Hi Lucy,

Be sure that you're taking the thyroid medicine and calcium 4-6 hours apart. More is better. Also, you might want to keep a food diary for a while just to be sure you're not getting too much calcium. Cron-O-Meter and FitDay have free online diaries that track many nutrients, but there are others available. I only take 200 mg/day, and some days, I just skip it, because I generally get enough from what I eat.

I take a ton of supplements, although I now about half as much as I was taking a year ago. I've tried to tailor my supplements to my specific needs and to what I know of my genetic wonks. A lot of what I take is based on research I no longer remember doing, but I have attempted to give up some supplements only to find I feel worse without them.

NAC is great. I don't do well on methylfolate (B9) or methylcobalamin (B12), so I take a B-complex that includes food-derived forms of both vitamins. The need for methyls really depends on which of the MTHFR alleles you got in the genetic lottery, and even at low doses, methyls make me sleepy and foggy. I used to take alpha-lipoic-acid with my acetyl-l-carnitine, but I've given up the ALA without noticing any change and I've cut back the ALCAR to 500 mg/day (from 2000 mg/day). I may increase the ALCAR again, because lately I've had some tingling in my feet. As to the D, I take nearly 8000 IU/day, but again, that's on account of a wonk in one of my genes, and I need that much to keep up the blood level.

You might want to read about Vitamin K, magnesium, zinc and ubiquinol. If you have hot flashes, pine bark seems to do the trick. (It is not a phytoestrogen.)

And since you have both chemobrain and thyroid issues, please get your ferritin checked. It has the potential to be a game changer. Sorry I didn't think of it before.

Re: Supplements?
 

About a week ago I read something about taking thyroid medication and calcium at different times during the day, until then I was taking it all at the same time. I vaguely recall reading about this years ago and it contributing to me not taking calcium supplements at the time but I didn't retain that when I was told to add calcium supplements because of the anastrazole (and I don't recall it being mentioned then either, of course we know my memory is shot so . . . ). I have to take the calcium because the anastrazole speeds up the thinning of your bones but I think what I'm taking is less than I was told to take (I think they said 600 mg twice a day and I'm taking 1,000 mg all at once now).

I've quit taking the Cerefolin NAC for the time being because my B12 levels were over 3,300 a few weeks ago and everyone thinks it's because of the Cerefolin supplement. I agree that's the likely culprit but I don't want to assume that because elevated B12 levels can be a sign of other bad things. Everyone told me to cut back but I didn't take it while on chemo and last April (a month into chemo), my levels were fine so I don't think being off it for a while will hurt anything. My endocrinologist has it as one of his tests to run in April so if noone else has run it by then, I'll get to see what my levels are then.

Ferritin sounded familiar to me so I went digging for the notes I said I'd taken from the cognitive rehabilition thread you started. That was my one note (on my cable bill envelope because that's where everyone takes important notes down! ha!). I will definitely ask about it. Thanks Rhondalea.

Re: Supplements?
 

I take folic acid at the recommendation of my onc, CoQ10 at the recommendation of my endocrinologist, she believes it is helpful in protecting the heart and since I am on Herceptin long term I am hoping it helps. So far after 5 years of Herception my heart function has remained unchanged at 65-70. I also take vitamin D, Calcium, magnesium zinc, fish oil and vitamin C. I eat healthy foods and try to limit the amount of sugar and carbs I consume.

Re: Supplements?
 

Hi,

Just wondering if any of you have thought of iodine supplements? I've also just been told to take NAC so interesting you're also taking it, Rhondalea.I'm only taking Vitamin D and mushroom extracts at the moment. Everything else I researched seemed to have some kind of negative effect!

Rosalie

Re: Supplements?
 

Debbie,
Did your oncologist say why they recommended to take folic acid?

Re: Supplements?
 

One of the natural supplement which I use is manuka honey. It is beneficial for skin as well as digestive system. It has many medicinal properties. Manuka honey helps to reduce inflammation, nourishes new-growing tissues etc.

Re: Supplements?
 

How about melatonin? It is supposed to have anticancer action, particularly in breast cancer. My dog had a spindle cell tumour. This is not cancer but is not benign either. It is considered a low grade fibrosarcoma.I put him on 5mg melatonin daily. The tumour grew back, so I stopped the melatonin. However the biopsy of the second tumor showed only inflammatory cells and no spindle cells. I immediately put the dog back on his nightly melatonin. Speak with your oncologist about this.

Paul