I've Cut My Supplements Way Down

In February, I wrote that I wanted to cut my supplements way down.  It was partly because my doctor suggested it and partly because I'd wanted to do it for a long time anyway.  Too many supplements is expensive and risks overtaxing the liver.  Not to mention they are a hassle.  So I listed my supplements in order from those that I was most sure were helping, to those that I was least sure were helping.  Then I started eliminating supplements from the bottom of the list.

In April I took a big step back in my baseline health.  I didn't think it was because of the reduced supplements, but just to be safe, I went back on all of them.  Things returned to normal a couple months later, and so I started eliminating supplements again.

Of the 18 supplements on the list, I'm now only taking half of them.  (It's funny, I thought I'd eliminated more than that before I counted just now).  But for many of the suplements that I'm still taking, I've either reduced the doses, or I take the weekends off from them.  The only supplements/Rx's that I take on weekends now are T3 Thyroid and D-Ribose.  Everything else is eliminated on the weekend.

So far, I don't think I feel a difference.  As long as that continues, I will continue to cut down on supplements until either I eliminate all but a few obvious ones (like multivitamin and fish oil), or until I experience a setback.  

For those who might wonder, the supps and Rx's I'm still taking are: T3, Vit. D3, Probiotics, Equilibrant, DHA/EPA, D-Ribose, and only occasionally potassium and magnesium.

Others might wonder: given that I haven't missed the supplements I eliminated, does that mean that they were a waste of time and money?  That's hard to say.  The list I prepared in February was only a fraction of the supplements I've experimented with since getting ME/CFS.  Over the last four years, I've probably tried 4 times that many (so about 70 - which is not unusual for a PWME).  Given the large number of supps I've tried, it would be absurd to say that they all helped, and I specifically recall some that made me worse.  But I think for the most part, I needed the supplements that I took when I took them.  I have certainly improved over the last 4 years, although I'm nowhere near where I'd hoped to be by now in terms of improvements.  I think most of the supplements that I tried and stuck with for any length of time were the right supplements for me at that time.  I don't regret anything.

4 Year Anniversary

My 4 year anniversary came and went last month without me realizing it. I originally came down with the mega-flu that started "all of this" during the first week of June, 2011. In the 3 subsequnt Junes, I have been very aware of my anniversary on the day it came. The fact that I forgot about it this year is probably a sign that I've learned to live with my illness a little more - which can be both good and bad. I definitely think about it less, but I don't want acceptance to prevent me from continuing to aggressively seek answers.