Hellooo!

I'm pretty new to the forum but not very new to health troubles. I'm 24 years old and have had massive amounts of iv meds in the past three years, more specifically speaking massive amounts of iv steroids (and by massive I mean about 50 grams in total within about 12-16 months) and a full cycle of cyclophosphamide (about 7-8 months of monthly infusions followed by four infusions done every three months). I've also taken oral immunosupressants, oral steroids, blood thinners etc etc.

Even though I've always been pretty thin I used to eat incredibly badly, a couple of bags of crisps a day along with a big bottle of diet coke and 6-7 coffees and that was it most days and I used to be pretty sedentary. I'm trying to change all that now and for the past three months I've switched over to a mostly organic vegan diet (I cheat and eat a little parmesan once in a while!) and I exercise every day. As for supplements I take evening primrose oil, artichoke extract, milk thistle, n-acetyl cysteine and lipoic acid daily and I add a very generous amount of flaxseeds to nearly all my meals . Once a week I take copper and zinc tablets instead of the lipoic acid and NAC. So my question is the following: I have hashimoto's thyroiditis, detected about three years ago, but am euthyroid, and I have an autoimmune disorder that increases the viscosity of my blood thus making it more prone to clot; I really think however that the incredibly poor diet I had for years and the sedentary lifestyle I led probably contributed to my poor health in some ways (if nothing else, my body probably had very little nutrients to heal or repair itself with for a long time). I've been reading the threads on the forum for a few days now and everyone here seems to have an incredible amount of knowledge about vitamins and supplements and their role in health and so I was wondering if off the top of your heads there's something else I should be doing, eating, taking, or someone I should be consulting with to maximize my chances of getting better and to help my body get all the nutrients it has lost either because of the meds I've taken, the ilnesses I have or because of the lifestyle I've had.

Thank you!

Ziggy

I think you should start with B12 and Vit D tests.

These two nutrients can become very low in people with chronic illness. (and especially in vegetarians)
Vegetarians can also become low in certain amino acids like methionine, which is a precursor to SAMe in the body.

Long term use of steroids also disrupt electrolytes...
potassium and magnesium. If you don't eat whole foods commonly you could be low in both of these too.

People who autoimmune disease may also have Gluten intolerance, so I'd get some tests for that too. If you have this, there can be significant malabsorption of any nutrients you do get in your food. It is like a vicious circle.
You can read more about this and testing here:
http://jccglutenfree.googlepages.com/

A friend has a collection of supplements (a good brand) that was stored properly and still sealed. I'm guessing that at least some of them would still be good a year or so after the expire date.

Any thoughts? C, calcium, Q sorb, ....

rose

Vitamin C is not stable. It will discolor as it oxidizes and may give you that warning. Of all the vitamins, it is less stable than many others.

The calcium is an inert mineral. It may still be good.

The CoQ-10...? not sure.

signs of decay are:

an odd odor (which differs from fresh)

strange discolorations

tablets falling apart (moisture)

Capsules getting really hard --powder solidifying. (take one apart).

Some minerals like magnesium attract moisture and sweat.

oil based supplements may become rancid--react with oxygen and be harmful when consumed.. they usually darken when this happens.

supplements packed in glass can stay fresher longer than plastic.

The enemies of drugs or supplements are
Heat
light
moisture

Unless packed under nitrogen, a sealed bottle can still degrade.

Thank you!

I had already discarded the vitamin E and assumed the calcium would be good, so I guess I'm on the right track. Thank you so much for the tips. I will relay them.

rose

HI Mrs D. and thank you for your reply!

I've had GI biopsies and auto-antibody tests done for coeliac disease and I'm negative for it although I did have iron malabsorption requiring iv iron infusions three years ago. We never did figure out why...

I have blood tests pretty frequently actually and so I can safely say that at the moment I'm mildy neutropenic with a normal vitamin d3 (25) level and a b12 level of 240. The lab range for the b12 is 250-1000 so I'm not sure whether it's a level deserving supplementation or not... All other vitamins are normal and electrolytes are also normal (with the exception of an ever-present slightly low potassium).

I had no idea about the methionine! It sounds very interesting indeed! I will definitely look into this!

Thanks again!

Ziggy