Posted by blueberry on February 17, 2006, at 18:07:00
In reply to How Much Is Too Much?, posted by honeybee on February 17, 2006, at 12:59:11
Good questions. I'm no expert, but I can share my thoughts.
As for dosing times, I think the more it is spread out the better. But if side effects such as insomnia interfere, then whatever one is doing that would have to be taken earlier in the day. Basically, a steady stream I think is best. The vitamins and minerals are best taken with food.
Figuring out when to stop something depends on whether it is helping noticeably or not. Figuring out when to start a new one is, for me, a result of my doctor's suggestion or my own research. Even though I don't live in a big city, there are several naturopath doctors. You might consider that. They are well schooled in conventional medicine, licensed, medical board exams just like doctors, as well as natural medicine and in healing the entire body versus just suppressing symptoms. If they are in my sparse area, they must be somewhere near you too.
It's hard to take too much, with a few exceptions such as licorice root. A few to be careful with such as valerian or kava kava. Even though many herbs behave sort of like drugs, they are also eaten as food in other parts of the world. In addition to whatever mechanism they offer, they are packed with all kinds of good stuff. Unlike drugs, most herbs are more harmonious with the body. Some very basic herbs you might consider adding would be the ginsengs, both siberian and panax. Another good base staple herb is ginkgo. Pycnogenol is like 50 times more powerful than vitamin C at mopping up messes, but also boosts mood and replaces ritalin for some people. The periwinkle extract vinpocetine is like viagra for the brain. Ashwaganda. Schizandra. Many more. So many good choices, safe, and can be mixed however you want. Just study each one to know what any dangers of excessive doses are, and go from there. In Chinese medicine they mix unlimited amounts of herbs.
The tricky part is sampling them one at a time so you know which is doing what.
> Every morning I gulp down a passel of pills: Fish Oil; Vit-B Complex; SAM-e; Rhodiola; MCMH Calcium/Mag/VitD/other minerals formula; my eight pellets of Sheng Mai San. Mostly, I've figured out the dosing on my own, through researching on the internet and in various databases that I can get my hands on. Then, I repeat the process (with variations) at lunch. And then, again, when I go to dinner.
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> Three questions.
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> One: How does one figure out what the appropriate dosing time is for your vitamins and supplements?
>
> Two: How do you figure out when you can take another herb and/or drop it? Having inhabited the world of prescription medication for so long, I'm wary of just stopping and starting medicines on a whim, but my pdoc and my regular doc don't seem very helpful.
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> Three: How much is too much? I had phased out Evening Primrose Oil (which I'd taken for years because of PMS fibrocystic stuff) but I apparently need to fold it back into my routine again. I'm worried about all these different meds interfering with one another, but I wonder if I'm being too paranoid, and I need to think of them as more like food and less like drugs. Or vice versa???
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> I know that everything we put in our bodies is important.
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> Thanks to whomever might have something to add--even if it's not related.
>
> Thanks, everyone.
>
> hb
poster:blueberry
thread:610599
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20060130/msgs/610687.html