Natural Supplements That Work?

[dvan]

I was curious to hear from other members if they’ve tried any natural supplements that have worked for them. I don’t have a specific condition in mind, just if anyone has used a product for something specific and has had successful results.

I’ve tried a lot of things and most don’t seem to do anything, however some have.

The 2 things that have worked for me are Glucosamine and Flax Oil. The Glucosamine has made a noticeable difference in joint pain that I get and Flax Oil has helped with my eczema.

[Gambit979]

FISH OIL FISH OIL FISH OIL

Sorry for shouting but the benefits are literally too numerous to list. Supplementing with Omega-3's has stood the test of numerous peer reviewed studies. You just have to make sure you're not buying a crap brand. On the label you need to look for the phrase "Molecular Distillation" as it refers to purity. Also Fish oil tabs from cold water fish are of higher quality.

[Jazie]

Natural Supplements can be good for many things, but I have to throw a caution out here. If you are on any meds, I don't care if it is even just an antibiotic it is best to ask your Dr about them first as they may contradict your meds.

I found out the hard way and I had to reschedule a surgery because of some once and quit it for a week back in 2000. It was St Johns Wort and Magnesium. I also found that they were interfering with the absorption of one of my meds. Can't remember which one. Now I ask before I take.

I do strongly believe in holistic medicating, but after what I went through I learned to be cautious is all.

[cajunbulldog]

Joint compound for my knees, B-12 complex,and garlic for my blood along with a multi-vitamin. I used to use Niacin to clean fat from my blood but Doctor stopped that after I went on Crestor medicine.

[M77]

I have had some minor success with Melatonin for insomnia. I have also read that it is totally safe, and then the total opposite, it is an unregulated hormone, and may be really dangerous....so use at your own risk, and be careful.

[ProfessorMoriarty]

Castor oil. Not the gross kind in the little bottle at the pharmacy, the cold-pressed kind you get at Whole Foods and the like. My eyelashes fall out all the time and it is just annoying, so a female friend told me that all the eyelash serums have castor oil as the main ingredient and that is supposedly also grows hair (she was talking about her overly plucked eyebrows growing back after twenty years). I actually saw the eyebrows (as they were not the same color as the others, which she dyed), so I got curious.

After doing a ton of research on the benefits, both internal and external, I was pretty interested. As an "oil" most of us tend to think it will clog pores, etc., but castor oil does just the opposite. If you google "oil cleansing method" you will find tons of information about using it along with a carrier oil to clean your skin and reduce clogged pores, etc.

So I bought some and rubbed it into my eyelids (just a tiny bit) at night and immediately my eyelashes stopped falling out. I have plenty, so that wasn't the problem, it was that about 5 times a day I had to run off to fish one out of my eye. I also started trying the face cleansing method, which I did once a day, but had to use soap the second time just because I am used to it.

The oddest thing - I have been fortunate to have the majority of my hair, but still have the typical receding hairline. Get this - after about a week, I started getting little hairs growing back where there hadn't been any in at least 10 years! This was months ago and now you would never know it ever receded at all.

So this is not really "med" related advice or info, but it shocked the hell out of me. The nature of castor oil has a "drawing" or "detoxifying" property so it clears clogged follicles, apparently. And it is about $6 for a bottle that will last for 3 months.

Sure beats my neighbor who told me she was rubbing yeast infection cream onto her head for the same reason!

[Bungalobill]

Thats a very broad question. I think there are a few that the majority would agree work and some research backs up - fish oil as an example. I think most - particulary most (not all) of those aimed at the weight lifting or weight losing crowd generally create little more than expensive urine.

Some work for some people .. noy for others. The trouble with supplementys is similar to buying from an OP .. you don't know for sure whats in there. With the advent of google, I'd suggest people use it prior to supplementing ... paying particular attention to research done by university medical centers - if you can find it. People with a financial stake in supplements habve LOTS of web sites out there but you learn to spot them after a while. Believe it or not, they're not always totally objective (gasp).

@Jazie raises an excellent point

[SWIGRx]

I have had some minor success with Melatonin for insomnia. I have also read that it is totally safe, and then the total opposite, it is an unregulated hormone, and may be really dangerous....so use at your own risk, and be careful.

i try to sub out melatonin for benzos whenever i try to cure jet lag, insomnia, etc. its the sleep hormone. oddly it altered my daily sleeping habits forever. i wake up every night at exactly 3:06am. i really dont know if this is the melatonin but i have heard other similar cases reported on other forums. melatonin will rebuild your sleep wake cycle.

[agram]

It isn't terribly well heard of, but I find Mulungu (especially the extracts) to work extremely simillar to a benzo; it's a bit sedating, relaxing, an anxiolotic, and a very tasty tea. Without the extract one might need quite a bit though.

I'd really love to see more people try it out.

Being a natural plant though with no pharma companies trying to make their money from it, there isn't a huge amount of official research on it. But there are a small amount of experience reports on internet and most are positive. It's possible that it could have some addictive qualities, but it's perhaps the closest to a natural benzo one will ever find.

And being a lover of tea, it's nice taste is a huge bonus!

Well worth researching yourself to see if it may interest you.

[skibum]

Thats sound great. Is it easy to come by?

[DoomedSaintress]

It isn't terribly well heard of, but I find Mulungu (especially the extracts) to work extremely simillar to a benzo; it's a bit sedating, relaxing, an anxiolotic, and a very tasty tea. Without the extract one might need quite a bit though.

I'd really love to see more people try it out.

Being a natural plant though with no pharma companies trying to make their money from it, there isn't a huge amount of official research on it. But there are a small amount of experience reports on internet and most are positive. It's possible that it could have some addictive qualities, but it's perhaps the closest to a natural benzo one will ever find.

And being a lover of tea, it's nice taste is a huge bonus!

Well worth researching yourself to see if it may interest you.

Thank you for the tip! I'm all new here so Hello everyone, and thank you all too. I'm from Sweden btw ;-)

I'm suffering from so many different, although non-life threatening things. My muscles, joints, my spine, headaches, migraines, severe stomach cramps (too active intestines), gall bladder problems, and an ever so strange feeling of having the flu all the time (although I'm not). It got so bad so I had help with daily things at home et cetera, but I have found a way to deal with that (w/antibiotics) ;-)

Sorry for rambling but I just wanted to let you know that, for all those things, I did try the Anthroposophy's different kinds of medicines, which are herbal meds.

We have an Anthroposophy hospital here, nearby Stockholm, which I probably could have been able to get into (it's really hard) if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't get along with my Anthroposophy doctor *cough* *cough* (well, actually he started to yell like a really, really mad man at me for sending him faxes, which he had asked for - long ones - and apparently they got to him a number of times and he didn't know how to stop the fax machine - so that was it for me. He had been real nice before that.

Anyway, a friend of mine had leukemia when he was a little boy, and the normal treatment wouldn't help. Eventually, his mother called that hospital, he got there and is as healthy as can be now (50 y/o)

So, I never get to try all those medicines out. Is there anyone who has tried that?

Thank you again, and sorry for my long post

Now, I'm gonna google Mulungu

PS: I am not allowed to post links, yet, but the url to know more about the Anthroposophy is
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrop...hical_medicine
(that link talks a lot about religion, it seems, but I did not feel any of that when I was treated (I'm an agnostic so I'm not very into religion))

[M77]

@squallz506
I am glad you mentioned the sleep reset. I know that NASA uses it with Astronauts to do exactly what you said. After orbiting the planet, the bodies internal clock is totally thrown for a loop. That is why it is recommended for insomnia, and jet lag. I have had weirs things happen like waking up THE EXACT TIME too, every night, I never thought it could have been from the Melatonin, but I thin you are right. My time is 2:50 AM every night...weird.

[Peaches]

Great thread & lots of good tips!

I have to add probiotics. Can't go a day without mine.
With all the bad stuff we put in our body's, a good probiotic is a must for me. The best kind is the ones that must be refrigerated b/c they contain live good bacteria, I prefer Florajen3.
They keep your stomach functioning very well, whether you have constipation or diarrhea, it helps normalize things.
If you ever have to take anti- biotics, then you should always take a good probiotic to help put the good bacteria back in your body.

That Mulunga sounds interesting, something I will have to look into, thanks @agram !

[magchik]

A very interesting pressed seed product. Castor oil is the main ingredient in most lipsticks (from the $0.99 to the $25.00 per tube variety). It helps to bind the color to the lip tissue and also aids in the dispersal of pigment smoothly and evenly. Plus, the oil has important use in aircraft engines due to its high lubricity (does not thin out or break down under extremes of temperature compared to petroleum oils.) Of course there are different grades of castor oil.

There is a interesting site, kristinasoil that AFAIK, seems to present the data and references for castor oil studies and uses in a balanced manner. (I did not read everything as it is selling a product.)

"...all the eyelash serums have castor oil as the main ingredient and that is supposedly also grows hair..."

From the same site under Medicinal Warnings and Technical Tips

Avoid contact with eyes (3G). Pure cold pressed Castor seed oil is potent (unlike its diluted imitations) and can be an eye irritant similar to pepper spray.

Stay well!

*This post was auto-merged. The following text was added 5 minutes after the last post:*

Sorry, forgot to credit @ProfessorMoriarity for

...all the eyelash serums have castor oil as the main ingredient and that is supposedly also grows hair...

Magchik

*This post was auto-merged. The following text was added 2 minutes after the last post:*

OK, let's try this one more time.
It's @Professor Moriarity.

[Squelix]

Just a few more things about fish oil. Always buy oil that comes from wild caught fish. When I told my dr I couldn't take statins for high cholesterol (side effects). he told me to take a salmon oil pill every day instead. My yearly blood work came back and my HDL (good cholesterol) was up by 20 points, my LDL (bad cholesterol) was down 10 pts. Not exactly normal yet but I'm working on it

The one problem is that all of the fish pills I've tried are so big that I have trouble getting them to pass through the sphincter at the top of my stomach, into the stomach. Next time I'm trying Krill oil, smaller pills that supposedly contain 1200mg of the good stuff. Will report back on the results. Good health to all of you.

[SW19power6]

Why take supplements when you can buy wild salmon at Trader Joe's for a great price. It's not my fav food but we eat it 2 times a week and just say that this a health meal and get on with it!

[swedecream]

The 2 things that have worked for me are Glucosamine and Flax Oil. The Glucosamine has made a noticeable difference in joint pain

I had torn ACL in my right knee, and after using Glucosamine for several months, my knee has gotten better.

This is something the doctors told me would never get better without surgery.

In my case, the Glucosamine worked well, and I never had the surgery.

It is not a quick cure, but after using it for several weeks, I could definitely tell a difference.

[jrobs]

I have use L-Phenylalanine which supports positive moods and L-Tyrosine for mental alertness with B-1 and b-12. I find that L-Tyrosine works really good for me.

[taralumia]

There are just so many. One of my favorites is pomegranate powder. It's an antioxidant, a hormone-balancing agent, and a diuretic. Capsules and supplement powder can be pricey. But I get bags of it, cheap at my local Indian grocery.

I get sick of swallowing pills so I have played around with various topical and transdermal treatments. A nice hot bath with Epsom Salts (magnesium) and a few drops of vitamin D and E oils, can lift my mood for several hours. It's also great for sore muscles and joint pain.

[Kept]

I have use L-Phenylalanine which supports positive moods and L-Tyrosine for mental alertness with B-1 and b-12. I find that L-Tyrosine works really good for me.

I too have been intrested in these and have done a good bit of research. Before I go on, let me just say that I'm drug interaction paranoid and since I take a handful of different rx's I always check.

The only thing I've found with L-Tyrosine is that is not supposed to be taken with thyroid medications because L-tyrosine is used by the body to make thyroid hormones; so taking L-tyrosine with your thyroid meds could cause additive effects.

As far as Phenylalanine goes, this is what I'm currently obsessed with studying. I know there are different kinds...D and L. I have bottles of both, but I can't figure out if they interact with anything. I mean, I know they do interact and in a lot of cases I think they interact in a good way...

Anyway, I know it's a "smart drug" and maybe I'm not smart enough to figure out the right way to use it. A lot of the articles are a little over my head as far as biochemistry and all that science-y stuff.