A Small Fortune in Supplements Just to Find Normal

A few weeks ago, I posted about how awful I felt after starting on a methylation protocol. I’m happy to report that it’s gotten much better. Here’s why:

These are all* the supplements I’m currently taking. This is in addition to the prescription medications I’m on for insomnia, anxiety, and depression.

* I seem to have misplaced my bottle of niacin, aka nicotinic acid. But as I have not been experiencing overmethylation symptoms lately, it no longer has to be on hand.

So what’s on the menu for me each day?

• Life Extension Optimized Folate (L-Methylfolate) 1000 mcg. I’m currently taking this every other day, but I hope to switch to daily in February.
• Nature’s Bounty B-12 Methylcobalamin 1000 mcg sublingual. I’m also taking this every other day, to be increased in February.
• Melaleuca Vitality Coldwater Omega-3. This is something I should have started taking years ago anyway, since I don’t eat fish or other natural sources of Omega-3.
• Sundown Naturals Super Potency Vitamin D3 2000 IU. Pretty much anyone who lives in the Northeast has some level of Vitamin D deficiency. It’s even worse in people with CFS. This is another supplement I should have started taking long ago.
• Rite Aid Potassium Gluconate 99 mg. After some research into overmethylation symptoms, I learned that the methylation protocol can cause potassium deficiency because the body suddenly starts using more of it, and that some people find relief from their aches and pains by taking a potassium supplement. It’s worked well enough for me. My doctor gave me a script to get my potassium levels checked, just to make sure they don’t get too high. Because that can be bad, too.

It’s a small fortune in supplements, but I think they’re all working very well together. It’s too soon to say anything for certain, but I seem to be feeling better. I seem to have more energy. Waking up in the morning is difficult, but once I’m up, I don’t feel like all I want to do is go back to sleep. I’m definitely more alert. I haven’t used my cane in weeks. My body aches and pains are at a much more tolerable level, except for my right arm and hand, which I’m pretty sure I caused (and keep exacerbating) by using my smartphone excessively. But that’s an explicable pain.

I’d gotten to a point a month or so ago where I needed to take Ambien if I wanted to get decent sleep. But Ambien loses its effectiveness for me if I take it more than four nights in a row, so I had to pick and choose when I needed to feel rested, and when I would suck it up and lie awake for hours before spending the next day like a zombie. I only bothered taking Ambien this weekend because I was distressed over the passing of a friend’s mom, and I didn’t want to lie awake ruminating all night. For the most part, though, sleep is coming much easier.

I’m really getting hopeful now that I will actually feel more like “normal” healthy people feel in a few months. My body is putting itself back together, making things work properly again. I’m hoping to cut back on some of the medications I’m taking. First, I think Ativan will return to being just an “as needed” pill, instead of a nightly ritual to dampen my intrusive ruminations at bedtime. And if I can cut back on the trazodone and the Effexor XR, too? That would be fabulous.

I still think a lot of the generic recommendations for nutritional supplements are a lot of voodoo, but targeting specific deficiencies on an individual basis seems to be working out for me right now.

Read my Big Fat Medical Update for more details.

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.