DO YOU USE NUTRICEUTICALS TO TREAT YOUR MS; I.E. NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS THAT YOU BELIEVE HAVE BENEFIT FOR MS’ERS?
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Nutri- or nutra-ceuticals are food, or parts of food, that provide medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease.
Vitamin D3: 10,000 IU dailyFish Oil: 2.8 g dailyFlaxseed Oil: 1g dailyProbiotics: 6bn cultures daily(now considering upping fish oil by 50% as positive research on mice is published on omega 3)
Please don't tell us we're wasting out time by taking the vitamins, though if you do say we're wasting our time, then at least I'll at least save a lot of money on supplements.
Re: "Please don't tell us we're wasting out time by taking the vitamins, though if you do say we're wasting our time, then at least I'll at least save a lot of money on supplements."Regarding vitamins; the only one I recommend is vD supplementation. There is little or no evidence that taking other vitamins makes any difference. Fish oil or omega-3 is a difficult one. There are some potential health benefits outside of MS and the data is simply not there to recommend it to MS'ers. Flax oil, etc. Most MS'ers take that to help constipation and not modify their disease course. If you are interested in some more data and information on the vitamin and supplementation field I suggest your read "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre. The data is very thin and most of the time incorrect and misleading. If you read Bad Science you may decide yourself to save some of the money that you are currently spending on supplements.
I live in US. Our insurance co. will kick us off if they find out I have MS. So I treat with:5000 IU Vitamin D3ALA and L-Carnitine (1600 mg)2 g DHA and EPA600 mg Niacinamide plus B complex250 mg Trans-Resveratrol1600 mg Turmeric300 mg Magnesium 400 mg Sam-e (for depression)The D3 and the Sam-e seem to have made the biggest difference. I also eat a colorful diet and I exercise. No relapses since I've been on D3.Shall I ditch some of these?By the way…I love this blog! It is fascinating and very helpful…Just the ticket really!
Re: "Shall I ditch some of these?"Are you doing well because of the supplements, or vD, or because the natural history of MS is so variable? Of all the supplements you are on there is no class 1 evidence (randomised, placebo-controlled trials) to support their use. There are several other reasons, apart from MS, why you need to keep yourself vD replete.
Re: "Shall I ditch some of these?"Absence of evidence, doesn't mean evidence of no effect. A lot of the substances you are taking are underpinned by a hypothesis why they may work in MS. This is why we need to trials to see if they work or not. So whether or not to stop them is your call. In addition, you mustn't underestimate the placebo effect; the problem you are having is that a possible placebo effect may be costing you a lot of money! I am not sure if this is the answer you were expecting?
Thanks very much for your kind attention and response. As I am a skeptical person, I started taking the supplements, adding one at a time over the months…seeing if I felt any difference in 30 days…and then seeing if there was any difference after stopping. That is how I ended up with that list.But as you say…perhaps it is the natural progression? Or the placebo effect. (Sigh)When I am queen, or when I become a millionaire…whichever comes first…we definitely will be conducting research and clinical trials to find out if these theories work! That will be at the top of my agenda.
A placebo effect is still an effect so it's not a total waste of money