I currently take evening primrose capsules and vitamin D tablets together late afternoon (primrose includes vitamin E). Is it better to separate these or to take with food? They both have added incipients. Should I be looking for natural vitamins instead?
Also, I have purchased some Liposomal vitamin B complex (recommended on here and from Amazon). When is it best to take these and if you need to take with food?
To add further, I asked my GP recently if I had antibodies when I was first diagnosed in 2004 and he said no and they were retested last February again no antibodies. Are vitamins essential and do they need to be optimum even if I appear to not have autoimmune thyroid illness (post radio iodine due to overactive thyroid).
Thank you
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Sailing14
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Vit E and Vit D are both fat soluble vitamins. Taken together they will compete for fat for absorption. Best to take at different times.
Your B Complex should possibly tell you how to take it. I have the original version of the Amazon one which is the same supplement and I take mine with breakfast. The bottle doesn't say it must be taken with food, it just says take with a glass of water. As B vitamins can be stimulating they're best taken no later than lunchtime to avoid any chance of them keeping you awake at night.
Do I need to take primrose oil and vitamin D with food?
As they are fat soluble they need to be taken with some fat to be absorbed, so that could be dietary fat in which case you would take them with some kind of fatty food, or have some kind of fat in the supplement, eg olive oil. I tend to take most of my supplements with food, not for any particular reason other than it's easier to remember to take them at meal times than try to remember to take them at other times.
Are vitamins essential and do they need to be optimum even if I appear to not have autoimmune thyroid illness (post radio iodine due to overactive thyroid).
Optimal nutrient levels are essential for thyroid hormone to work properly and good conversion to take place, it's not specific to autoimmune thyroid disease.
I wouldn't buy Vitabiotics. They only make tablets and gummies and I would avoid both because they're full of unnecessary rubbish that has no benefit. I prefer my supplements to have as few excipients as possible, preferably none.
For D3 I have used Doctor's Best D3 softgels for many years and done well with them. They contain just D3 and extra virgin olive oil for absorption, nothing else.
K2-MK7 is also needed when taking D3. This is because D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems such as calcification of arteries, kidney stones, etc.
My choice for K2-MK7 is Vegavero capsules which contain the correct form of K2-MK7 - the "All Trans" form rather than the "Cis" form. The All Trans form is the bioactive form, a bit like methylfolate is the bioactive form of folic acid. Other similar brands are Vitabay and Vitamaze. They are all German brands and can be found on Amazon or Ebay. Sometimes hard to get and usually it's Vegavero that seems to be available when I restock.
90-100mcg K2-MK7 is enough for up to 10,000iu D3. If only the 200mcg dose Vegavero capsule is available then I take alternate days.
Vegavero capsules only contain K2-MK7 and linseed flour and as linseed is rich in fat it aids absorption of the K2 which is a fat soluble vitamin.
If I wanted a combined D3/K2 supplement (which I might consider next time I need to restock), this one would interest me. The K2-MK7 is the All-Trans form and you work out the number of drops needed to give the amount of D3 you require:
Thank you for all your helpful and useful information on vitamin D and those relating to it.
Regarding the vitamin D, my last vitamin D result at the end of February was 93. I have looked on the Doctor’s Best site and they sell 5000iu (I currently take 2000iu daily). Would this dose be too high? Although, I am keen to start a new brand soon so would hope these would be okay.
I have looked on the Doctor’s Best site and they sell 5000iu (I currently take 2000iu daily).
Yes, I'd say it would.
You can use the Vit D Council's website to work out how much you'd need, I prefer this to any other Vit D "calculator", some require your weight but to be honest I don't see what difference this makes, you're at a particular level and your aim is to reach a certain level so you take the approprite amount to achieve it (the level recommended is 100-150nmol/L with at least 125nmol/L being recommended by Grassroots Health):
Your unit of measurement for Vit D will be nmol/L (which it usually is in the UK) then to change it to ng/ml you divide it by 2.5 so 93nmol/L is 37.2ng/ml and if you want to achieve 50ng/ml which is 125nmol/L then the Vit D Council website suggests you take 2,500iu daily.
I have looked on the Doctor’s Best site and they sell 5000iu (I currently take 2000iu daily).
Doctors Best do sell lower dose softgels. Check out Dolphin Fitness, BigVits, Amazon, Ebay, Bodykind.
However, it's often cheaper to buy a higher dose and take less days per week, for example if you need 2,500iu daily then buy 5,000iu dose and take alternate days.
Could I clarify the vitamin D dose as I have looked on Amazon and it describes the 2000 iu as a 2 day depot and 5000 iu as high dose weekly depot. Could you help explain what this means?
I have no idea what "depot" is supposed to mean in this context considering that depot means a storage facility.
Considering that some brands say 2,000iu is high strength, some say 4,000iu maximum strength or ultra strength, I would take no notice of their descriptions. You need what you need and you can double check what I said above by going to the Vit D Council website that I linked to or have you already done that?
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Thank you for your help. I will go to the site today but I did refer to your advice on needing approximately 25000 iu daily initially so I could maybe reach a better level as I take 2000 iu at present. Could you clarify though if you have ordered these recently with the same description referring to depot?
Also, I am going to start the B vitamins I ordered that you recommended. I was going to take them after lunch so they are not too near my thyroxine, but I have started to take the vitamin D at this time too. I will soon be ordering the K2 MK7 you described and the magnesium. Could you clarify on how and when it is best to take all these vitamins. I take a primrose oil capsule at breakfast (2 hours after my thyroxine).
Thank you again and for the reply to message details.
but I did refer to your advice on needing approximately 25000 iu daily initially
I didn't say you needed 25,000iu daily initially. Please refer back to my other post where I explained that you needed 2,500iu according the the Vit D Council website.
Could you clarify though if you have ordered these recently with the same description referring to depot?
I don't buy mine from Amazon. This is where I buy mine from and there is no mention of the word "depot" nor has there ever been in the 8 years I've been buying them:
I have no idea why Amazon use the word in their item heading or what it means, the word does not appear on the bottle anywhere, if you want to know what it means and why they use it then you'd need to ask Amazon.
I am going to start the B vitamins I ordered that you recommended. I am going to take them after lunch so they are not too near my thyroxine, but I have started to take the vitamin D at this time too. I will soon be ordering the K2 MK7 you described and the magnesium. Could you clarify on how and when it is best to take all these vitamins. I take a primrose oil capsule at breakfast (2 hours after my thyroxine).
As I mentioned above, fat soluble vitamins will compete for fat for absorption if taken together. The fat soluble vitamins are
A, D, E, K.
If they contain their own fat (eg olive oil, linseed flour) you could take them together or be more cautious and take them at different times. Also bear in mind that evening primrose oil contains GLA which is a fatty acid and it's suggested that it should be taken with some fat.
Vit D should be 4 hours away from thyroid meds.
Magnesium should be 4 hours away from thyroid meds (evening is best time for magnesium as it is calming and can aid sleep).
Others can be 2 hours away from thyroid meds.
I take my thyroid meds in the early hours of the morning when I always need the bathroom, usually about 4am-ish.
I take my Vit D and B Complex with my breakfast (I'm retired so my breakfast time is probably around 10am) and my Vit K2-MK7 with my evening meal and my magnesium just before bed.
Don't start all new supplements at the same time, start with one, give it 1-2 weeks and if no adverse reaction add the next one, give it 1-2 weeks to see if any reaction and if not add the next one, etc. That way if you do have any adverse reaction you will know what caused it.
I have read through your post and it has been most helpful. I will trial the vitamins and leave time to see how I am with them. Could you confirm the magnesium you would suggest? Also, could you recommend a spray for the vitamin D with the same properties, as I seem to be having absorption problems at present, and I am going to trial the vitamin D recommended first (but maybe a spray version if there is one) .
Could you confirm the magnesium you would suggest?
It's not possible to recommend a magnesium supplement because there are many different forms and each has it's own uses. Check them out and decide which form is best suited to your own needs:
The following link is included purely to describe the different forms of magnesium, ignore the fact that it mentions calcium is necessary, calcium is only necessary if you test and found to be deficient and then your GP should address that
I have no personal experience of vegan D3, I only know it is often from lichen or algae whereas many non-vegan D3 supplements are from lanolin which is obtained from sheep's wool.
If you are not vegan then do you need to consider it? Here is why I wouldn't use the vegan version
Well, it's not made from an animal that's died to provide the lanolin, sheep need shearing for comfort and health and the lanolin is a component of the wool, so a vegetarian has to decide if that's acceptable to them.
It's often the case that the most advertised brands are the ones people think are the best, whereas in fact the better quality brands don't advertise and aren't found on the high street.
Just went to have a gander of your bio, but you haven't one. There's 18 posts to wade through at present where you could probably summarise in a page or so. Have a look at mine and some of the others.
That said (no posts other than this one read, indigestion? You might need to go gluten-free and dairy free (this can be optional to introduce a bit back if no adverse effects. Hypothyroidism, in many cases causes low stomach acid and poor absorption of vitamins which then lead to deficiencies. Heartburn can be caused by low stomach acid as well as high stomach acid and because they present the same they are erroneously treated the same - with PPIs. PPIs are for high stomach acid. Trouble is if you are already suffering low stomach acid, PPIs can make it worse. I was put on PPIs routinely when very hypo by GP, with no discussion. Luckily the forum alerted me and I got off them quick. I went gluten-free pulled right back on dairy for a while and even now a couple years on don't over indulge and certainly not one day to the next. I also kept a food diary - worked out triggers that way. Certain combinations of food I can't tolerate. Sorry if this is a repeat of info you have had before.
Anyway the bio is not obligatory, but by heck, its helpful. I've done mine as a case study so if I come across someone who's situation resonates and I think reading mine would help them I can just point them in the direction rather than constantly repeating myself.
Thank you for all this helpful and useful information. I have got a caeliac blood test soon. Is this accurate enough to consider if I need to go gluten free? Or did you choose to eliminate gluten and dairy free without tests?
I will consider the bio as it makes sense to save on time . Thank you again.
I just went gluten-free straight away and the effect was so profound to me it’s almost moot as to whether or not I am coeliac or just intolerant. I think it is a very useful thing to do though I probably should’ve done it but there you go - I wouldn’t dream of eating gluten again to test the theory.🤗
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