Recommended safe vitamins

[Edinburgh1953]

I have Polycythaemia Vera and take Hydroxycarbamide 2x500mg daily. Any recommendations for vitamins that are safe to take

[DJK12]

Your first port of call should be your haematologist/GP or hospital pharmacist to check whether you actually need them and what is safe to take. For example I am on a high dose of Vitamin D but that is prescribed after a special blood test by the GP.

Looking at the results of my last blood test I see that magnesium, potassium, calcium and others are all checked and you can see whether they have been highlighted in bold if there's a deficiency.

These two NHS site are useful as not only is safety with HU an issue but also taking too much of certain vitamins or supplements unnecessarily can cause problems - apart from wasting money:

nhs.uk/common-health-questi...

nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-...

[hunter5582]

It really is best to base any supplements on measured need rather than general concern. Your GP can run a nutritional analysis to check your status. I consult with an Integrative/Functional Medicine doc for this purpose. These docs tend to be more aware of nutritional issues and the impact of various medications.

In addition to checking with a doc or pharmacist, you can look up potential benefits-risks- interactions yourself. Here are some resources.

reference.medscape.com/drug...

General information about herbs/supplements.

mskcc.org/cancer-care/diagn...

All the best