The importance of good nutrition and supplements
 

I have just had the worst week of sleep in a long time. Just over a week ago, I started having serious problems with insomnia and restless legs. I was taking my Neurontin and Tylenol before bed to help with the restless legs but they were twitching like a kicking donkey.

After fighting with this for a week, I started seriously trying to figure out what I may have changed in my daily habits.

Duhhhhh.... I had run out of my vitamins and other supplements about a week ago. The lousy sleep left me feeling miserable and not up to replenishing my supply. The kick in the butt of the week of lousy sleep and this realization of my vitamins got me back on track. I replenished my supply and parceled out 48 days worth of my regimen. I take 19 tablets or capsules each morning plus two tablets of Paxil. I parcel them into zip-lock bags. I had been taking the Paxil but not the others.

Wow, what a difference. Two good nights sleep in a row. I feel much better and alert.

This was by far not a scientific experiment but it quickly showed me how important my vitamin and supplement regimen is.

Those of you who have not started a vitamin and supplement regimen might want to give it serious consideration.

I should have know better. I was taught this regimen 28 years ago by a psychiatrist when I was struggling to put a coherent sentence together.

My best to you all.

If anyone has questions or needs advice on supplements/vitamins/minerals, don't hesitate to ask on our Vitamin forum. ;)

Do vitamins help?

I tried them for a while, but after I ran out haven't bought any more.

I heard vitamin B is the best, but I still have a few supplements- no idea if they help at all:

Fish oil capsules for Omega 3s
Optimal Whey (protein) shake

and Dr. Shallenberger's Super Immune Quick Start, which has-

•30,000 IU beta Carotene
•10,000 IU Vit A
•2,000 mg Vit C
•400 IU Vit E (d-alpha)
•1000 mg Hesperidin Bioflav Complex
•120 mg Ginkgo Biloba Extract
•600 mg Magnesium (citrate)
•10 mg Manganese (amino acid chelate)
•300 mg Potassium (citrate)
•200 mcgm Selenium (selenate)
•1200 mcgm Chromium (picolinate)
•16 mg Zinc (picolinate)
•2 mg Copper (amino acid chelate)
•100 mg B1
•50 mg B2
•100 mg Niacin
•300 mg Pantothenic Acid
•100 mg B6
•1000 mcgm B12
•1000 mcgm Folic Acid
•500 mcgm Biotin
•300 mg Astragalus Extract
•6 grams Spirulina Pacifica
•750 mg L-Glutamine
•100 mg n-Acetyl Cysteine
•320 mg Saw Palmetto
•5 grams psyllium husks
•5 grams stabilized rice bran
•5 grams soy protein isolate*
•5 grams whey protein (undenatured)*

Looking at that list, I guess I don't need the vitamins. If this stuff doesn't help, I'm not sure what will.

I hope that is on big gel-tab

The fiber in that tablet (and also in the food you eat) will
limit B12 passive absorption in the GI tract.

B12 in patients with intact intrinsic factor do not need restrictions on food.

But patients with intrinsic factor failure (low acid in the stomach from drugs or genetic reasons--called pernicious anemia) will not absorb B12 the regular way and then rely on passive absorption.

Studies on drugs in microgram amounts (digoxin and thyroid hormone) have shown that food and fiber present in the GI tract absorbed the drugs and prevents normal absorption. B12 falls into this category.

So I would expect the B12 in that supplement to not be 100% available to all people who take it. It is also unclear what type of B12 it is... cyano ? which is synthetic and not always metabolized to methyl form in all people, or the new active form methyl B12? (which is preferrable).

People needing B12 should therefore take it separately for best results.

Also newer studies are showing potential toxicity from high dose selenium. Today the general recommendation is 100mcg daily tops.

The first issue to understand is that nutrition is a long term fix. It needs to become a way of life. It can literally take months to see a difference. First you need to overcome years of deficiency before you start to actually give the brain an abundance that it can use to recover. The detoxification process will use up much of the early supplements before you get the benefit.

The mix you listed sounds expensive. It has reasonable amounts of many substances but is very weak on the B's. As mrsD said, B-12 can be problematic to absorb. It is available as a sub-lingual drops and as injections besides the normal tablets. A blood test for B-12 levels can be very helpful at determining how you body handles B-12.

Folic acid (folate in a blood test) is also worth a blood test. The folic acid in the mix is reasonable. You will want to be at the top of the suggested normal level for both. The range can be quite wide with a magnitude of three difference between the low normal range and high normal range.

It is completely absent of calcium. Calcium is important and needs the correct mix of magnesium and potassium and D3. You need to be sure the calcium is digestible. Many calcium tables end up flushed down the toilet whole. I take calcium citrate. Calcium carbonate is much less absorbable, especially on a full stomach.

Anybody taking Neurontin (gabapentin) needs to not take magnesium during the same period. Allow the stomach to have time to empty before taking the other.

The vitamin C is a large dose for a single ingestion. It would be much better to space out that much over a day, say 1000 mg AM then 1000 mgs PM. A simple way to tell if you are vit C sufficient is if you are expelling it in your urine. It makes urine bright yellow. Once you are expelling vit C, you should not need more. Some suggest mega C to what is called bowel tolerance (loose bowels) I believe it is more important to maintain just a decent level throughout the day.

I just looked up Dr. Shallenberger's Super Immune Quick Start. It suggests splitting up the serving between two meals. This will be good for the vit C.

As I thought, It is expensive at $2.00 per day. If you can afford it, add some more B's. A B-50 complex tablet and some B-12 (100 to 200 mcg) and B-6 (100 to 200 mgs) should be enough.

As mrsD said, the selenium sounds a bit high. I only take 80 mcg per day. Selenium and some others have a serious limit to the beneficial dosage. Be careful with the " if a little is good, more must be better. " It does not work with many supplements.

The goal is to get you body and brain into balance so it can perform and recover as it should.

Thanks for the info. My friend gave me it, and when I'm done, that's it for me. Prior to the TBI, I didn't take any vitamins or supplements- just all-natural food.

I have yogurt every morning, so hopefully my calcium is good.:)

It is very difficult to get the extra nutrition an injured brain needs with most foods that are available commercially, even if they are natural and / or organic. B-12 is especially hard to get, unless you like to eat raw clams and oysters.

Understanding how complex the chemistry of the brain is, I can easily understand how nutrition is so important. Add the constant bombardment we get from environmental toxins and other stressors and even healthy brains need help.

Once you get your brain working at optimum with good nutrition, any change or loss of such nutrition become readily apparent. My wife usually notices mood changes when I have skipped a few days of my regimen. This past week, she missed it because she has been working long hours at a new job.

My best to you.

If your D3 levels are optimal... you can absorb calcium in much higher amounts...up to 4x more!
In fact, some doctors are now suggesting those taking high dose D3 don't need extra calcium at all, above what is in food.

It is very possible that poor Vit D levels are contributing to the brain issues following concussion. So getting that tested, and taking the right amount of D3 for you, may really help.

Vit D is not a vitamin...it is only called one because historically they named it so. It is really a form of steroid the body makes from sunlight to do many many things.

http://emediahealth.com/2010/10/21/c...l-supplements/
This is just one of many new articles on fish oil and Vit D.

If you don't get tested, it is recommended to stay at 2000 IU D3 daily. Anyone with lingering head injury should get tested to see if they need higher amounts.

Hmmmm, I missed this thread when I posted about my bad sleep this week too. I've had the flu and tried to keep on my regime, but it gets hard if you don't have someone helping you make sure to take everything when you don't feel well.

My BF just got his Vit D levels checked and his Dr said he should take it with Vit K, has anyone heard of this? Does it help absorb better? I'll google it myself too.