[Idiopathic PN]

Does taking R-Lipoic cause stomach acidity? Lately, I have been feeling this nagging queasiness in my stomach.

I know that it should be taken on an empty stomach and that is what I have been doing together with VitB12, SAM-e (with Synthroid one before). Can I get some benefits from R-Lipoic and SAM-e if I take it with food?

Thank you.

[mrsD]

Some people report nausea with SAMe. If you are getting this try stopping the SAMe again for 3 days, and see if that is better.
the nausea from SAMe is because it is raising serotonin levels and serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the GI tract.

You may need to take it only every other day to control your dosing.

You can try the lipoic with a light amount of food... since it is water soluble (unlike the old version) it may be okay for absorption. The old ALA is reduced 30% by presence of food according to one study that measured blood levels in volunteers.

[glenntaj]

--that the old Alpha-lipoic forms, when taken in doses high enough to be therapeutic (300-600mg and up), did seem to result in an increase in acidic feelings/reflux in a number of people; certainly people on these boards reported it. Not really surprising--it is an acid.

The R-lipoic seems to do this to a lesser extent; more people can tolerate it as it seems to overall result in less acidity. This may have to do with the fact it can be taken in smaller doses for a roughly equivalent therapeutic effect.

I also know that a lot of the lipoic manufactures did say to take it with food if that effect was prominent. I'm not sure how much that would interfere with absorption; as Mrs. D notes, R-lipoic is water-soluble, so food may not interfere with absorption in quite the way it does a lot of other supplements. I'd take it with a big glass of water, though.

[Dr. Smith]

RLA (100 mg - either form) gives me heartburn/acid stomach occasionally, but not always. I generally put up with it long enough for absorption of it & whatever I take with it to occur (1-2 hrs.) and then I eat a small amt. of protein, which seems to work for me.

Doc

[Idiopathic PN]

I am posting in behalf of my husband who has been on Nexium for many years now. After having been on this forum for a while now, I put him on Vit.B12. After reading some of the serious side effects of long term use of Nexium, we shifted to Ranitidine, hoping that it would have fewer side effects than Nexium. At first, he was taking 2 tabs 2x a day, but was not working as good as Nexium. So, what we did, we split the 2 tablets into 4 and take it 4x spaced evenly during the day. Surprisingly, it seems to be working!

[pinehurstcharlie]

Just wondering what you found for long term effects of nexium as I've been on for a good while now . Thanks