Hi everyone,
Here is a photo of my PMR cupboard. The only things not shown here are my vitamin D and K, which for some reason I keep on my bed stand and take immediately upon waking.
Curious what supplements you take for your GCA/PMR and/or adrenal insufficiency.
I think the supplement suppliers saw you coming if you have all those things for your PMR!!
That’s what I thought!
Wow, agree with Piglette. I only take vitamins D and K2. I reckon I get anything else I need in my normal food.
I do not take any supplements, why do you need all of these? Try eating a healthy diet you would get most of these in your food surely. Who told you to take all these supplements? I am really sorry but I am totally surprised at the amount.
I have probably been no help at all.
I just take vitamin D and vitamin K2 for PMR.
Hi sferios,
I know we've discussed this before on the forum and it was generally agreed that most supplements do not live up to their claims.
Research and studies have shown that we absorb most of the nutrients we require far more effectively through eating a healthy diet than through popping a pill and that most supplements actually have little if no effect on improving our health.
Obviously, for certain people who have a specific condition (eg. Vit.B12 for people with pernicious anaemia) or people with a specific deficiency (eg. low Iron) then taking a supplement may be required, but for the rest of us it'd be more sensible to save your money.
The only supplements I take are Vit.D3 and Vit.K2.
Hope this helps.
Plant based diets also require some supplementation. Vit B12 is a definite and the vegan society recommends a few more like iodine (which in the UK we get from dairy milk).
Absolutely.
I know there will be people who for whatever reason may have a medical nutritional deficiency and will therefore need to take supplements, but for the majority of people, the advice would always be to look at your diet first.
The body absorbs nutrients far more efficiently from natural food sources than from tablets.
If you feel your diet doesn’t give you enough vitamins and minerals why not just take a multi vitamin tablet instead of all those individual ones? Suggest you try 2 weeks without taking any of them except the D and K2 and see if you feel any different.
a combined capsule of D and K2. One lonely little bottle.
Vit D, K2 daily. Omega 3 x3 a week because of poor dietary intake. A low dose multivit with B vits about 3x weekly because of my low intake. Magnesium depending on how my muscles feel and dietary intake that week. As for dosing and rationale, it has evolved from unscientific feeling my way.
Folic acid because my blood tests showed a great lack of folates…but just six months & stop. Initiated by my doctor! Vitamin D. My word, you must be their best customer. I cannot imagine spending this amount of money on supplements! If you look at related posts, you will see this topic comes up regularly.
Wow, that is certainly a lot, how do you manage to take them at the right time, in the right combination, before or after or with meals etc? Since I stopped eating any intensively reared meat I take some B12 as a spray , some Iron and multivitamin tablets, and the K2/D3. My food diet has become more focused on getting the right mix of protein, the right kind of carbs and the right kind of fats, it’s very tiresome.
My family favour the homeopathic approach so I am trying some kali phos tablets to address adrenal insufficiency but it is hard to find the right time to take them for effectiveness. You have to have a clean mouth for at least 15minutes before and after popping the tablet in your mouth and not use toothpaste with fluoride! Amy family doesn’t understand my PMR and dependence on steroids so I’m trying it their way haha.
Homeopathy has not been shown, by scientific analysis, to contain any active ingredients at all. Suggest really searching correct info about homeopathy. But not from merchants or unqualified “physicians “. Save your hard earned money.
To some extent I am paying lip service to me sister and mother who simply don’t understand PMR and our dependence on corticosteroids. My mother lived in France where homeopathy is more accepted and is alive and well at 96, still drug free. Guinness is her drug of choice 🍺
Goodness me - I think you’ll rattle most of the day 😂. Seriously a good diet can give you most of what you need. I’m prescribed Adcal-D3 and I take K2, apart from that a multivitamin and omega3 in winter. I think you could save a lot of money and potentially even feel better. There have been lots of posts on this topic so check them out.
I take D3, K2, B12, C, Omega 3 & 6, Magnesium. I am mainly vegetarian but occasionally have a piece of salmon so I think some of these are important supplements for me.
Me? None except vit D, 4000 IU per day.
There are no supplements that will improve adrenal function. We get what we need in general from a good diet - I spend my money on that rather than chemicals. The body does better with smaller amounts of the natural substance than loads of factory-made equivalents. And in many cases, more of something is sometimes worse for you than less. Overdose of some things is bad for you, even dangerous. Fat-soluble vitamins taken in even slight excess can build up in the body to risky levels and water-soluble vitamins are excreted quickly through the kidneys so just go down the drain.
It is a very different matter if you have certain conditions that stop you absorbing nutrients but that is usually very specific ones and just taking more isn't the solution - they must be in the right format, often injections.
Recent research has shown that the so-called wonder-substances. omega 3s, don't actually make any difference in cardiac disorders and while I have had doctors ask me if I have tried them for x or y, they can make cardiac arrythmias worse and that is bad enough anyway than you very much!!!
I take only 4000 D3, K2 and C. Occasionally magnesium. How do you know when to take which? That is a lot sferios and expensive.
Good grief! I would need to re-mortgage my house to afford all that lot! 
I'm not a big fancier of supplements, even though my work in that area helped pay off my mortgage for some years. I prefer to concentrate on getting good nutrition from my diet instead. Though I do accept that certain medical conditions or being in high risk groups can increase our requirements. For that reason, my dietary supplements tend to be fairly focussed.
I take Vitamin D 4000 IU. I get a monster tub from Costco, which contains at least a year's supply and costs about £6-7. All of us who live in northern climes with low levels of sunlight ought to be on Vit D and it has an important role in building healthy bones, important when on pred.
I don't eat any of the grains and therefore supplement with a B complex. I used to take Berocca, which is an excellent formulation, and also contains some calcium. It was one of my old products that I used to work on, so I got my supplies free. It is pretty expensive. I have since switched to the Aldi version, which is an almost complete knock-off of Berocca, but a tube instead costs pence. It's called Tropical Flavour Activ-max Energy Release. Since many of us complain of fatigue and lack of energy, I reckon that is a good one to be taking.
I don't worry about calcium supplementation on the basis that I am taking Vit D and I get plenty of calcium from my diet, though it is also present in the B complex that I use.
Apart from that, I focus on a loosely anti-inflammatory diet that is low GI and low carb, rich in vegetables and especially green leafy veg, no added sugar, no processed meat, low in processed foods, no seed oils but includes olive oil and oily fish, and gluten free as I am wheat intolerant and probably an undiagnosed celiac. My alcohol intake probably needs a little readjustment. I think that covers most of my needs.
Grass-fed meat, oily fish and, if you want to, organic vegetables. There is an argument that intensive farming methods have robbed the soil and what is grown in it of minerals and this may be true. In that case a multi-vit/multi mineral, D3 and K2 for sure. I also take omega 3, magnesium, CoQ10 and vitamin C. I think you'd need to be tested for deficiencies before you need to take so many other supplements.
Thank you for your responses everyone.
Since I got sick, I have tried to do everything correctly, as best as I can. This includes my diet. I eat keto with lots of fish now, and tons of fresh vegetables, especially the green ones like kale. No grains. No sweets. Red meat no more than once a week. Oh, and yogurt.
Some of these supplements, btw, I have been taking before I got PMR, like vitamin B12 (I have a deficiency), alpha lipoic acid, inulin, prebiotic fiber, fish oil, resistant starch, and MCT oil). I have been very health conscious my whole life.
I just call it my PMR cupboard for fun, since I added a lot since I got sick.
It's surprising to me that most of you haven't added supplements other than vitamin D and K. Maybe it's because of my autism, but I read and study and then try to do everything perfectly. I am really trying to get better and I am very meticulous about things. I always have been.
For example, I read in one of the adrenal articles here on the forum that vitamin B6 and B5 are important for cortisol production. Am I getting enough in my diet? Maybe. I have a good diet. But I didn't think it would hurt to add those vitamins too.
If anything I am doing here is harming me, I really want to know that.
This disease has been a lot to deal with, as I am sure all of you know quite well yourselves. I am just trying to do everything I can to heal.
I think you need to look at all your supplements - and decide what is really, really necessary to YOU... like VitB12. Then apart from VitD/Calcium and Vit K2 [to direct calcium to bones rather than arteries] - maybe wean yourself off the others.
If you action one-by-one for say a few weeks at a time... and if you don't feel any significant changes - ditch each one as you trial it.
As said, with a good diet you can probably achieve as good result without the majority of them...
Very neat cupboard - mine are all over the show! My husband has a lot to take (he is on Kidney Dialysis). His tablets are not neatly stored either.
As I understand the ground in which we grow our food is becoming quite deficient in minerals now, due to modern farming practices. When we had a few sheep we kept the weeds for them to munch on. They tend to have deeper roots and take up more minerals, such as copper. We would also let them have prunings from trees (never evergreen trees), and they really loved these. I heard recently that there is only about 20 years worth of zinc left.
In New Zealand (where my daughter lives) there is a real shortage of Selenium in the soil. I sent her some tabs recently at her request. So you are not alone in your supplement taking. I do admire though the neatness of your storage solution.
I've just seen your comment about porridge, in your profile. 2 spoonfuls of oats soaked overnight in milk or water to cover - they swell up. In the morning add more water or milk and microwave for 3 or 4 minutes. Enjoy! 😋 (Use a large enough bowl or basin to prevent boiling over and having to clean the microwave! 😱) I sweeten with 5 prunes for my osteoporosis.
Calcium, Vit D, Vit K 1 and 2, magnesium, cod liver oil, occasionally turmeric
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