Many threads seem to have a common thread where people want to reduce or give up their medication be it a statin, a beta blocker, etc. A large subset of these also mention taking various vitamins and supplements?
However, are these supplements medications in everything but name? Originally aspirin was made from willow leaves (so one could argue it was a supplement). A process was then developed to synthesise it before we ran out of willow trees and a so a supplement is now a medication!
The problem with most supplements is that they tend to be based on old wives tales and there is little or no formal scientific evidence of their effectiveness. I’m 64 now and took a variety of supplements for years but stopped when I started taking prescription medications about 18 months ago. Apart from my heart (arrhythmia, now treated with a pace & ablate) I like to think I’m in good condition for my age (although not as good as some). Can I attribute my good health to the supplements I took? Who knows! I don’t know how I would be if I hadn’t taken them.
I take a Multi Vitamin every day, along with Prescription Tablets. Recommended by the Pharmacist....!
I wasn’t meaning to include vitamins. There is good scientific evidence to show that they are essential. Normally, the necessary vitamins come with a healthy and nutritious diet but it is a good idea to take a multivitamin if this is not the case.
I think it's a good idea it my case anyway. I always just pick at Food, eat when I feel like it, plus I have a very sweet tooth. Not good I know but that's me 
I take Vitamin C 1000mg SR for its antiinflammatory properties. If you remember your history life juice was given to sailors to prevent scurvy - a disease of the blood vessels.
I can remember my Father talking about that years and years ago. My Mother always used to make us all take 'Cod Liver Oil Capsules' when we were all at Home. I hated them, didn't have a choice though, had to take them lol
I was given it on a spoon 😖
Urgh. That's even worse. Just the thought of 'Cod Liver' is enough but on a Spoon.....! :(:(
Trust me, holding the nose doesn't help. Not even a little bit.
OOOOoooh, bad memories, bad memories! We had to have a tablespoon of cod liver oil every night before bed and whatever brand it was, the smell was so horrid it quite put me off fish for life.
My younger sister bit into a capsule when she was little and the stuff went down the front of her pyjamas, the stink and stain never came out!!!
I can well believe that!!
Is it when the manufacturers can't be bothered to test it like a medicine or it just doesn't work.
Not sure about the Manufacturer's side of it but it's supposed to be excellent for us. Just not very nice to take!
What is good forvus?
I wasn't talking about cod liver oil
Well I do apologise!!
I saw someone posting this on other hub.
Haven't looked at it myself but here you go.
I assumed fish oil was for "the heart" "the eyes" and "joints".
Didn't realise people would take it for the "brain" also. . .
"Paying for Omega 3 is a waste of money for over 50s"
thesun.co.uk/news/9398518/o...
You are right, MIJH. There is more interest in diet and alternative methods (including supplements) people want to try.
Mainstream medicine is a dead-end.
Diagnosis leads to a set of medications. That's IT.
Still not getting better? "Well, you got a chronic condition, not our fault."
People also realise the info on nutrition from the mainstream sources are not entirely true/correct as evidenced on different hubs.
These hubs give so much relevant information that you could have otherwise missed.
If you are discerning enough, you could make well use of it.
Lol. You've made my day ha ha 😊😊😊
I guess it depends on condition and context. Around 90% of people with cystic fibrosis have pancreatic insufficiency (often as a result of sufficient pancreatic enzymes being produced but unable to reach the gut to breakdown fat and fat soluble vitamins) which left untreated is the cause of failure to thrive and was a big factor in early deaths from the disease for a long time. It’s compensated for using replacement pancreatic enzyme capsules that are taken with any food containing fat. These are prescription only, but officially classed as a supplement rather than a medication; as a result, many children who can manage their own creon dosing are allowed to carry them around with them in school rather than locking them away like all other medications have to be. However, I’d argue that’s a very different scenario than my rather dysfunctional mother having a heart attack a fortnight ago and declaring she wanted to treat it ‘entirely naturally’. Four stents later and her view has shifted somewhat, but the issue with her was much more about denial around what had happened/her health generally (and a touch of martyrdom) than about genuinely believing supplements and lifestyle changes would solve the problem. Without wanting to cause offence to anybody, I do sometimes wonder if those that are resistant towards western medicine to the point of seeming fanatical, and taking a billion supplements as a result, are actually just in denial.
Evidence based medicine provides us with consistent data that indicates what can be done. The China study, the Norwegian study, the Austrian study all clearly show an indisputable link between what you are and what you eat. More particularly what you don't eat - specifically sugar in all it's many forms.
Add in lifestyle and an almost total lack of exercise and you have a situation where life expectancy has stopped going up, and is now going down. Companies like Legal and General are handing back cash to their shareholders, by declaring special dividends, because the money they set aside for future pension payments will not be needed.
Amazingly the government is still pushing its demands that people should work longer and retire later and the NHS has been stripped of 17,000 beds over the last ten years.
I was born in 1945 and can remember rationing and being given cod liver oil and malt to prevent rickets. Now I go on cruise ships and watch non stop eating with some astonishment. It is a funny old world.
I lived in Ecuador 1958-62 then 1967-71. You may have heard of a village where people were living to 120 yrs easily. Then came the PanAmerican Highway and all that changed with a western influenced life style. When asked in the 50' what was the key to a long life it was working Dawn to dusk, mainly plant based diet, clean air. I remember the post war years and how simple life was. But we seemed to cope so much better then using basic remedies for ailments. What is different? We live surrounded by 'PanAmerican Highways' , our body clocks don't work anymore and we are fueling ourselves with the wrong stuff. But turning back seems now impossible.☹️Sorry didn't mean to depress anyone.No ☀️ today!
***I was born in 1945 and can remember rationing and being given cod liver oil and malt to prevent rickets. Now I go on cruise ships and watch non stop eating with some astonishment. It is a funny old world.***
It might be useful to try some holistic festival in sync with your present mindset.
You must be a Saint.
I'm off to commune with nature shortly, on a mountain top in Austria. I shall think of being a saint as I sit with a pint in my hand. Should make me laugh.
I have said that we're not living as long as our parents, I'm 72, I said it long before it was a known fact. I think it's an excuse the government dreamed up to make people work until they drop then they won't have to pay as much in pensions. I intend living until I'm 120 just to spite them!!! LOL
Cricky, hope I live longer than my parents...my dad died age 62 my mum 72!!
Britain and the US are the only two countries that have not recovered from the 2014/15 Flu outbreak and are the only 2 western countries where life expectancy is falling, according to peer reviewed data published in the British medical journal, following a survey carried out by the University of Southern California.
In America the fall has been put down to an epidemic of opiate misuse. In Britain austerity rules.
Live long and prosper.
The China Study is a great mention... Did you see the movie Forks Over Knives? One of the researchers is in that movie. I can access it on Netflix
I have family members, who are medics.
They often say, "patients don't want medications".
They seriously seem to think patients are rarely compliant.
I could say, I prefer to see some effort in making the genuine contents of supplements, verified, properly.
Some supplements comes with authentification, but these are very few.
We sometimes get to hear that we assume what the labels say, but it's not always what the labels say.
At least, with food, you can see what it is.
Don't forget to have Alaskan (or wherever else) wild salmon, not farmed, cheaper salmon, loaded with "undesirables".
Oh dear. First of all, willow does not contain aspirin. It is perfectly true that there is an active substance in willow (salicylic acid) which is chemically related to aspirin - but it does not have the same medical properties as aspirin, and it is seriously corrosive, so generally regarded as unsafe. (Preparations of salicylic acid have, for example, been used to burn away warts. Are you sure you want to swallow it?) There are better examples - foxgloves contain digitalis which is still used in some heart conditions, but its use is apparently decreasing because safer medicines are now available.
So, what about supplements? The clue is in the name. The idea is to make up a shortage of something you need. Two questions there - do you need it, and are you short of it? If you are eating a balanced, varied diet, you have to question whether there is anything which ticks both boxes. But perhaps you never get out in the daylight, or your diet is short of fruit and veg., so perhaps.
There is no shortage of organisations and individuals swearing by the benefits of x or y, usually for helping those chronic and ill-defined complaints which the NHS is bad at dealing with. Sometimes they are well meaning, sometimes they are after your money (though they may still firmly believe in what they sell) and sometimes they seem a little deluded.
The difference between medicine and the rest, is that medicines are likely to have been tested fairly carefully for safety and effectiveness. The system is not perfect, but it's the best there is. The others? Basically, you're tossing a coin. Remember the immortal words of Tim Minchin. "You know what they call alternative medicine that works? They call it medicine".
Many supplements can interfere with prescribed medications. Hearties taking some form of the Mediterranean Diet should be getting enough vitamins and nutrients and should not require any additional supplements apart from perhaps Vitamin D in the winter months due to lack of sunshine. So I was told by the Pharmacist when I was in hospital.
Mum said 'It keeps you regular' (she forced it on us via a tablespoon). Took me to age 50 to know what she meant by that
I go to a M.D who prescribes supplements. I've had some horrendous reactions to medications and delighted with an doctor who is interested in true health and healing. I do think some medications are crucial for some people. But I don't want to be that old person who takes a med and gets three side effects who then is prescribed three new meds to "heal" those side effects. My sister is like that and walks around feeling like crap all the time... She brags about how many medication pills she takes and how much it costs! I'm so happy I found a MD who is also a ND (naturopathic doctor).
Medication
Allergic reaction to medication 
Medication revue 
Low iron and connection to ACE inhibitors cough
medication 
