Question....CoQ-10

Mary Jo · 10-07-2008, 11:53 AM

Hello everyone,

I have a question about CoQ-10. I went to Walgreen's to purchase CoQ-10 today but when I got their I found it comes in all different mg. From 75 - 100 - 120. I purchased the 120 mg (boy that stuff isn't cheap) and thankfully, Nature's Bounty had it for "buy 1 get 1 free." Before I open it though I want to hear from you who take this as to how many mgs. I should be taking. If I got the wrong mg. I will return it and get the correct dosage.

Anything else you feel that is important to share about this supplement, please do.

Thank you,

Mary Jo

Becky · 10-07-2008, 07:19 PM

I take 300 mg per day (100 mg pill with each meal) BUTTTTTTTT... you have to work up to it. I would start with 50 mg pills and take one with breakfast and do this for a couple of days. Then, after 5-6 days, take 2 50 mg pills per day (one with breakfast and another with lunch) and do that for 5-6 days, then take three a day (I think you get it). After you take 3 a day, you can then start upping the strength like take 100mg for breakfast and 50mg for lunch and 50mg for dinner and do that a few days etc.

Sometimes I only take 200 because I had a lunch meeting or something. My husband's cousin sells nutritional supplements and told me if I was going to take any supplement, it should be CoQ 10. I started during Herceptin (took 400mg then) and just never really scaled back much.

I hope this helps.

Mary Jo · 10-07-2008, 07:33 PM

Thanks Becky. Yes it does help BUT since I posted earlier today and hadn't heard anything I decided to open the 120 mg. bottle and took one with dinner. How about if I take a 120 mg. tablet every other day? Or every third day? After a few weeks of that, start working towards taking it daily? Could it harm me by taking a 120 mg. tablet already? I got 2 bottles of 120 mg. because they were buy one get one free. I really don't want to go buy anymore if this won't harm me HOWEVER if it could I will not take it the way I am.

Your opinions are appreciated.

Thank you,

Mary Jo

SoCalGal · 10-07-2008, 11:39 PM

MJ- I take 400 mg daily at once with my morning protein shake. I take chewables from Douglas Labs - they are extremely expensive but I consider them vital. I never was told to start low and build up. Right out of the gate I started w/the 2 chews a day and it's been at least 18 mos. I am seen on a weekly basis by an MD/ PhD (pharmacology) at UCLA's integrative oncology dept so I feel this doc is VERY trustworthy. CoQ10 is very good for many things - especially protective for the heart. Thump thump.

jhandley · 10-08-2008, 04:37 AM

hi.
I have done a lot of research on Q10. Whatever dose you take if you come off it, it is imp. to come off it gradually...as the heart doesn't like it if you come off suddenly. It also has a half life of 30 hours so best not to take it just before chemo... I stopped 3 days before to let the conc. drop to 1/4 ..it is a powerful antiox. and may interfere with chemo.....seems to be ok with herceptin.. i would love to see a proper study being done re. herceptin.
It is fat soluble so take with food....can cause insomnia in high doses..for me 300 mg is max. can cause mild nausea in high doses.

there is more....it normalises the bcl-2 gene which tells cells to die at the right time..so it is well worth the money!

cheers
jackie(down under)

mimiflower07 · 10-08-2008, 12:48 PM

great topic..did not realize that i was suppose to start slow so hey...i took 300mg at the get go and now am settled at 400mg! No looking back...but heres the catch. My muga was at 72% before chemo then 3 mths later 62, three mths later which was Aug my muga dropped to 55% *&%..it. I wondered if there was a mistake. So now i hope i can increase my score to beable to complete the herceptin. Also i'm schedules to have my oop oct 16 but the anestitist(sp?) once to see me regarding my muga scores. Is it possible that they will denie me my surgery with a 55% muga going into surgery. Perhaps they'll send me for another muga. Gee didn't think about this affecting my surgery! Any thoughts from you wise ones.
thanks...suzanne

Becky · 10-08-2008, 05:46 PM

400mg of CoQ10 will give you the maximum heart benefit (there was a trial that pinpointed 390mg).

Exercise will help - especially brisk walking one hour a day for at least 5 days. I don't know if you have an exercise regimen or not.

My echo didn't change between chemo and herceptin (had them separately) but it did drop at the end from a start of 65 to an end of close to 50. In fact, I had 2 more to go when I hit 50 and we (my onc and I) just decided to finish them since it was close to the end and my major drop occured close up at the beginning.

You have not dropped 15% and you are not below 50 so self advocate until those things happen.

When did you start the CoQ 10?

Alyce · 10-09-2008, 09:42 AM

I have always been a strong believer in preventative medicine and have taken coQ10, fish oil, protein shakes, glucosamin/chondroitin etc. During chemo I stopped all except for a multivitamin. Now I am on my last 3 months of herceptin and take femara. I can have calcium+D, multi-vitamin, Cosamin DS. At my last visit to my Onc. I asked about supplements. They absolutely do not want breast cancer patients to take supplements! The justification is that there has not been enough research to prove the good of supplements and there isn't enough to prove they don't feed cancer in some way. What a bummer! Part of me believes that there is no money in preventative health care so the medical world wants to ignore it. I am reading many of your posts and see that you are taking supplements. Is this with Dr.s approval? I am very curious about what if anything your Onc. has suggested. We are about 95% vegetarian so I hate giving up the protein shakes, but if there is a valid reason I will not go against my Onc. advice.
I'd really like to hear from all of you who are interested in the dietary piece of recovery.
Alyce
2008 - lumpectomy
Her2 positive stage 1
Chemo, radiation
one year Heceptin
Femara (no side effects! I swim 5 times a week)

Barbara2 · 10-09-2008, 09:08 PM

My onc is aware of the supplements I take and has no problem with them: Co-Q10, Turmeric, multivitamin, calcium.

An opinion from another onc (Dr. Pegram) regarding supplements:

"If you have a good balanced diet, you shouldn’t need them. But if you eat like I do, then you probably should take a one a day. Half of my patients admit to taking supplements; the other half just take them and don’t tell me! Everybody’s taking something. They’re all taking different things so it’s impossible to study. If you take them in moderation, it’s probably not going to hurt anything, but there’s no data showing that any of the supplements actually work in breast cancer. So the best thing, I think, is a healthy diet because if you do that then you shouldn’t need any supplements."

Vic · 10-10-2008, 01:16 PM

It's always great to hear what others are taking to maintain and improve their health. I thought I was taking a decent amount and my CoQ-10 is low compared with yours.

Since my cholesterol is a bit high, I've been taking Solaray (love this brand!) of Red Yeast Rice Plus CoQ-10 twice a day and I see that there's only 30 mg. of CoQ-10 in each capsule. So, maybe I'd better add a separate one to up the dose a bit.

As for my other supplements, I take NutriCology's Multi-Vi-Min without copper & iron, Vit. D-3 (2,000 IU), MSM, Turmeric, RXOmega-3 Factors (EPA 400 mg/DHA 200 mg), and Cal-Mag Citrate.

Big virtual hugs,

Vicki Z

donocco5w4 · 10-10-2008, 09:48 PM

In the 1990's there was a report of 4 metastatic breast cancer patients taking 390mg Q 10 daily (they were also on chemo) and the mets disappeared. I dont know what to make of this but who knows?. Ill try to find the pharmacy ournal I read this in so I can give an exact reference. Apparently q10 decreases the action of the anti-apoptosis BCL-2 protein and allows predominance of the pro-apoptosis BAX protein.

Paul