Roll call – wondering who takes vitamins / supplements and why? After messing with some alternate-ish medicine for a bit, I’ve completely fallen off the wagon and feel like I should get back to the basics. I do still take magnesium and a probiotic. Occasional vitamin D when I brush my teeth. I am vegetarian (not vegan) and exercise just about every day. Help! Thanks - Jessica
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I take Nature Made prenatal. I’m far too old to become pregnant, not to mention that I’m a man.
I tested slightly anemic and my doc advised the prenatal vitamins because they have extra iron.
Anyway they cover most vitamins and minerals. My lab are good on electrolytes but B-12 runs high. And I take Metformin which can hinder absorption of B-12.
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I take a lot of vitamins and supplements. The supplements are for healing and exercise performance. And the vitamins are to just cover the basics of things I might be missing in my diet (which is often times rushed and less than ideal because of time constraints).
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I take vitamins D and B12, both because I seem to have a mild deficiency in them. I started the B12 when I was on metformin but I’m not on it any longer. I’m pescatarian, eat a lot of vegetables, and am pretty low carb (80-110g/day). I also drink electrolytes daily both because of exercise and just to keep them about level–I’ve never had any abnormal labwork there.
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@Eric, if you wouldn’t mind, will you give a run through of what you take? I know we’ve discussed offline before and I’ve got my packets of what you have sent, but I am very curious about your full regimen if you’re ok sharing with all? I want to give myself an overhaul and start fresh.
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Hi @JessicaD.
Yes I can share. But I will need to go get them all from the kitchen and drag them over to my computer, so I can list them all. 
Really, it’s that many!
I will try to do that Wednesday. It’s getting late now. 
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I’m curious to know.
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Here it is.
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L-arginine helps the blood vessels relax. It helps circulation, for better oxygen and fuel delivery.
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L-glutamine helps protect red blood cells, it enhances protein synthesis, and helps reduce fatigue and improve recovery.
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MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane), used to fight inflammation, help joint pain, and for muscle recovery.
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Glucosamine chondroitin to help with maintaining cartilage structure.
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Magnesium, because about 70% of people are deficient in magnesium, a lot of it is lost from sweat. I felt much better after I started taking it.
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Calcium, for muscle and bone health.
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Turmeric curcumin, which is a natural anti-inflammatory, used to help muscle recovery and ease soreness
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Tart cherry, another natural anti-inflammatory and an antioxidant, and also used for muscle recovery and ease soreness.
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Cordyceps, another anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
And sometimes the ginger, cinnamon, pomegranate, turmeric drink mix that I sent you.
Those 
are just the ones for exercise. 
Here are the vitamin/mineral/nutritional supplements I add, for general health:
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A multi-vitamin
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Alpha-lipoic acid, to help with blood sugar and to reduce free radicals for prevention of neuropathy.
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Vitamin D3
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Probiotics
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Fish oil and Omega 3-6-9 oil blend, to help lower triglycerides and raise HDL.
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Vitamin C, occasionally when I am not getting enough in my diet.
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Iron, occasionally when I am not getting enough in my diet.
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Vitamin B complex, occasionally.
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Psyllium, only occasionally, when I am eating something horrible for me, like Buffalo wings with blue cheese. To help get rid of all the bad fats.
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Thanks for this thread, @JessicaD, as I was just thinking about this yesterday. I am just like you! I have fallen off the wagon, too. I had been taking several supplements, including Vitamin D3, Alpha-lipoic acid (which I learned about here from @Eric!), Calcium, Zinc, Magnesium, a multi-vitamin with a bit of everything except calcium. And now I’m getting the muscle cramps back so I think I need to start taking magnesium again, and I’m considering the others, too. I read that one should not take magnesium and calcium together because each effects the absorption of the other, so they recommend take one in the morning and the other at night. I thought I’d take magnesium in the evening. I am going to check Eric’s list out again, too!
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I am also vegetarian, have been most my life. I take vitamin B12 (3x/week), vitamin D3 (daily), and alpha-lipoic acid (3x/week, though maybe I should take it daily?).
I also take a women’s multivitamin. Just half the dose my multivitamin package suggests though –
I can’t imagine there is really any benefit to getting 300% of the daily recommended value, except to increase sales.
I was prescribed B6 at the same time as B12, after complaints of a “fizzy” feeling nerve in my heel. Then two years later I was diagnosed with B6 toxicity! My main symptom was migraines, which I had never gotten before and haven’t gotten since. B6 toxicity only happens in people taking supplements, which is another reason I don’t like taking more than 100% DV of anything. Of course, the fact that my doctor knew I took it helped a ton in solving the problem! I do my best to write down everything I’m taking to share with my doctor. If he didn’t know I had been taking B6, who knows how long it would have taken to solve.
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Reading the responses after mine, I need to add to the prenatal multivitamins.
Glucosamine, Condroitin/MSM Complex twice a day.
Alpha Lipoic Acid 600mg twice a day.
Acidophilus
Psyllium as needed.
The last two became more of a thing after my recent surgery which was a definite insult to my digestive system - 
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@Eric Not wanting to add more to your regimen but you might want to consider trying Acetyl L-Carnitine and maybe CoQ10. The tart cherry you take was one of our best sellers in our store, besides helping with muscle recovery, it helps as an anti inflamatory too. High in antioxidants and even contains some melatonin.
Acetyl L-Carnitine helps with muscle recovery and can help with getting rid of lactic acid build up. CoQ helps muscle energy, that’s one reason it helps the heart so much, since it’s one big muscle.
It is something I used to recommend to the training athletes at my store. A couple of employees used to use it and said it helped some of the soreness and stiffness after exercising. But a more interesting thing was one of my employees sons decided to start mountain climbing. He was in good shape but hadn’t been climbing that long before he decided to go on a climb with a group to a higher mountain in Mexico. I had just read an article of someone saying how much it helped them in climbing. So I suggested it and he started taking both. There were approximately 20 in the group and a few ended up with pneumonia and only 3 made it to the top and those 3 were fine. He was one of them, and more impressive, he was missing part of a lung from childhood! That is when I started really recommending it for athletes! One of our runners that made it to the Olympic trials swore by it to. So you might try it 
I am on a burn out phase, but I know I feel better if I take my minimum, which is probably still a lot.
A multiple, but it can be a multiple in general, one for eye health, brain health or a liposome one for women. I just grab one of them each day.
Multi
Magnesium -general bone, muscles, etc health
Calcium -bones
Vitamin D
CoQ10 -heart and allergies
Tart Cherry -anti inflamatory
Thyroid Health
Iodine
LNG -herb blend for allergies
I usually notice if I skip from the above for even a day, except for the calcium, vit d, and multi
Then I also take periodically during the week below, how much depends on what I feel like grabbing and if I feel like grabbing something?
B12
Lutein
Hyaluronic acid
Glutathione
greens or a specific green
multi B
Those are just what is interesting me right now!!! I periodically will add the green or multi B to my daily regimen if I feel like I am lacking energy. Or if I feel like my memory isn’t responding as it should the brain health multi will be a daily one for a few weeks. I have some other various things I will add if I think I need to!
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Thanks, I will definitely look at those!
You all are fantastic! I am going to re-build my arsenal.
(How the heck are any of you taking psyllium? I bought it after talking with @Eric , but OMG I seriously gag when trying to down it. It’s like ingesting wet cardboard!)
@Marie do you own a wellness store? So cool!
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I use the pills. 
They may not be as good as the powder, but they are easy to take!
You have to take several of them, but it’s not too difficult.
https://www.amazon.com/NOW-Psyllium-Husk-500-Capsules/dp/B0013OW2KS
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Nowwww you tell me!!! Just ordered – thank you!
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Sorry about that!
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@JessicaD I owned a health food store for 27 years and retired 7 years ago.
Is the psyllium for fiber? Here are some other choices.
I’m not sure if you are buying preflavored or plain psyllium. You can get unflavored powdered psyllium at a health food store and mix it with the beverage of your choice, I’m sure it’s online too. Sweetleaf Stevia drops come in all sorts of flavors for 0 carb flavoring if you want. Drink a protein drink or smoothie? It will help thicken it, they have recipes online for it to get you started if you want.
But some people prefer chia seeds for fiber, You probably have had a chia drink with the small round pieces in it? They make some really good premix drinks or pudding like packets, but you can buy your own and let them sit in something flavored preferably (or not) and just drink or make a pudding. Flax seeds also have lots of fiber and you can get it ground to sprinkle over things. Flax seeds are better if ground (flaxmeal) Some like ground chia better. If you let either sit in a liquid for too long, you get a pudding! Flax and Chia have omega 3’s, I think they both taste pretty good in odds and ends. Flax is cheaper than Chia, they both have some different benefits. Some of the premade Chia packets/drinks really are delicious, just the more expensive route to use. Psyllium has no calories, fat etc. Almost pure fiber (hence your cardboard thought). You get tired of one you switch to another!
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Thank you for this info! So cool that you owned a health food store!
I bought the plain psyllium and tried to slam it down in cold water, hot water, etc. Wound up being able to tolerate a LITTLE bit of it in smoothies, but not enough that would be beneficial. The taste was such a bummer. I do really like flax and chia – I have a granola that I eat with yogurt that has both in it. Will experiment with both! Thank you!
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I am not sure if this has already been mentioned in this thread, but oats are another useful thing for lowering LDL.
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