i have been on a modified vitamin & supplement hiatus for the past 15 months starting in july '13, after a heart attack. now that i am "stabilized" & off plavix i want to get back to my real life & focus on my CIPN.

last week I took 100 mg RLA but it wrecked my GI tract so i want to go back to ALA. i have also stayed up to date on b12 & vit d3.

so what am i missing and when & how much should i take (with or without food)?

back a couple of years ago, the ALA seemed to help a lot. the label says "with meals" but i seem to recall that it should be taken on an empty stomach. any info on this?

thanks for any clarification, info, advice, etc.

If you take the old ALA form... the racemic mixture, the studies say up to a 30% reduction in absorption. So account for that and take extra, or accept the lower dose.

I think it is odd that the R-lipoic has so many complaints as it is such a low dose compared to the older ALA. But the posters here that complain about it..continue.

--that my 100mg R-lipoic acid dosage SOMETIMES produced a little acid sensation, but I was taking it on an empty stomach early in the mornings.

What I decided to do was split the dose into two--50mgs early in the morning and 50mg at night before dinner. That seems to mitigate the problem somewhat.

What I don't know is if different brands of R-lipoic might have different effects in this realm; I've only ordered it from Swanson for quite a while and use their house brand. Anyone have any comparative information from trying different brands?

Likewise, but on those rare occasions, a couple of tums or eating a little something helped, and hasn't seemed to negatively impact anything.

I was somehow under the impression that all the brands originated from GeroNova (and then re-labeled); no? I also recently learned that RLA is available in bulk, which could be of interest to some.

Doc