One of My Favorite Wellness Tools

Teatime
Teatime
If you’ve taken personal responsibility for your own health and wellness, here’s a link to an invaluable tool, Ask A Patient.

This is a CONSUMER-based forum that allows actual patients/users post their reactions to a variety of prescription drugs and supplements.

Just enter the name of the RX or supplement you want to research, then read pros and cons that have been posted by real people, revealing their real world experiences.

I’m a very athletic, normal-weight ( size 8 ) woman. A few years ago, I experienced a very surprising, almost inexplicable 3-day, 6 pound weight gain, centered exclusively in an area where I never gain weight (upper abdomen). I quickly realized that for some reason, my cortisol levels were up. I eventually traced this (thanks to askapatient.com) to a very tiny dose of bioidentical progesterone cream I’d been using for many months.

Much to my shock and concern, I learned from browsing through AskAPatient that many women are experiencing some HORRIBLE side effects from what is often considered a “safe” and side-effect-free over-the-counter cream.

As in anything else you supplement, if you need it, it’s great (surprisingly, it can be helpful to asthmatics and those with COPD); but if you don’t (or if you get too much, as I apparently did), you can start a cascade of negative side effects.

Fortunately, I worked at correcting my issue by stopping the cream and using something called DIM (to simplify, a supplement that helps metabolize out excess “bad” estrogens). It took almost 18 months to “get back to normal,” even with careful eating and intense exercise. My lesson? Don’t Mess With Hormones! There ARE alternative solutions that are much safer and better in the long run.

Just as an FYI, here’s an in-depth article about the interplay of hormones and their complex relationships from Women to Women.

If you’re into self-care, preventative medicine, and personal responsibility for your own health, you owe it to yourself to make good use of AskAPatient.com. You’ll have to do a lot of reading and evaluating for yourself, but this is a priceless treasure trove of real world experience. Good luck!

Awesome Energy in a Bottle: A Special B-Complex

Teatime
Teatime
Here’s a quick post about an awesome supplement for anyone who needs an energy boost (and who in 21st century America doesn’t?).

Add the extra benefits of boosted mood, better memory/mental clarity, and improved immunity, and you’ve got a winning combination.

We’ve all heard of the importance of taking a good B-complex vitamin and I’ve tried many, many different brands over the years. Unfortunately, almost all of them caused me to feel nauseated, no matter what kind of food I tried to couple with them.

So, I dedicated some time last year to find some alternatives. I started with Source Naturals Coenzymate B Complex.

These worked GREAT and because they were sublingual (dissolved under the tongue), they bypassed the liver, allowing the B Complex to move directly into the bloodstream. This meant no more nausea! The downside was that since they had to be dissolved under the tongue, I found (to my dismay) that they stained my teeth. Even though they gave me more energy, it came at the cost of temporarily yellowed teeth. No go!

Then I found Country Life’s Coenzyme B-Complex Caps, thanks to the help of the generous reviewers at Amazon.

Country Life Coenzyme B-Complex Caps
Country Life Coenzyme B-Complex Caps

They worked GREAT for me. I took them for a good 6 months or so before it dawned on me that they might just help my husband with his longstanding fatigue problem. He took his first two on April 22 and has been feeling great ever since (it’s now May 2).

We shared some with some neighbors in their 70’s who were having some fatigue issues, and to our amazement, within a few hours of their first dose, they were feeling energized. SERIOUSLY energized. They spent the whole first day out in their backyard, doing yard work.

I can’t recommend this particular supplement highly enough. My husband has tried countless other forms of B-Complex vitamins that never, ever worked anything like these. The effects were potent and immediate.

One important point: unlike any other B Complex I’ve ever used, this one is DESIGNED TO BE TAKEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH. We take 2, first thing in the morning, with a full glass of water, about an hour before eating.

Depending on your energy needs, you may need multiple doses a day or just a single capsule in the morning. The great thing about B vitamins is that they’re water soluble, so you really can’t easily overdose on them–your body will eliminate what it doesn’t need. Fat soluble vitamins, on the other hand (like A, D, and E) are stored in the body and it’s important that you exercise more caution.

What seems to make this particular form of B Complex so effective are the additional coenzymes that make the B Vitamins more bioavailable (absorbable by the body’s tissues).

Here’s the ingredient list, FYI, direct from the manufacturer–just click on the “Supplement Facts” link on this page.

Good luck!

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More Info about the value of taking a high quality B Complex:

Study shows B Vitamins reduce incidence of macular degeneration in women by 1/3

Study finds Vitamin B supplementation may delay onset of Alzheimers

B Vitamins crucial in helping alleviate depression and anxiety

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(originally published elsewhere on the web 5/2/2011). I have no financial interest/connection with Country Life Vitamins.