This list of supplements is noted in the thread “Treatment Steps ‘08” and provides some details on each supplement (more information is also available on these nutrients throughout this thread and specifically in post #23 on page 3 of this thread). Based on all my research and my own experience, I think this is a very good basic regimen for general health purposes for most anyone, and I believe it will help Morgellons sufferers rebuild their bodies at a molecular level (DNA uses these nutrients to construct the physical body).
This regimen contains the ingredients needed for the body to produce keratins and collagens (the 2 major structural proteins that construct the physical body) and also boost the performance of the immune system (particularly vitamins A, C, E and K, the B vitamins along with zinc, magnesium and essential fatty acids). The individual supplements listed (those that are in addition to what is contained in the multivitamin) are generally those that aren’t included in what I believe to be sufficient amounts in most multivitamins (or not included at all) and things that aren’t particularly easy to get from food (things such as essential fatty acids, CoQ10 and vitamin E).
Given the fact that nutrients generally interact with each other in one way or another, I believe this regimen provides an adequate supplemental amount of pretty much everything the human body needs. The amounts listed for each supplement per day should be based on body mass (weight) and dietary habits (for instance, I weigh about 215 pounds, so I generally take the higher amounts shown - someone with less body mass may not need as much of some nutrients). Your own regimen should take your normal diet and body mass into consideration. This regimen is intended for adults only:
• A high quality multivitamin – taken according to label recommendations: Better quality multivitamins almost always require you to take more than one tablet a day because they have more nutrients in them, both in quantity (potency) and variety of nutrients. A good multivitamin should provide well over the RDAs for most vitamins including most of the B vitamins (spending a little more on a good quality multivitamin makes some additional supplements unnecessary – for instance you won’t need a separate B complex supplement or additional beta carotene). They should also contain vitamin K and other ingredients such as lycopene, selenium, copper and many other nutrients needed in trace amounts as well as additional ingredients that are beneficial (for instance some herbal ingredients like pumpkin seed, grape seed extract, etc.). Men and post-menopausal women generally need a formulation without iron added – pre-menopausal women may want to take formulations with iron. The US RDA for iron is 8 mg for men and post-menopausal women (which can usually be obtained through diet) and 18 mg for pre-menopausal women. Many formulations (particularly women’s) seem to be very short on biotin (vitamin B7), so individual biotin supplements may be needed for women in addition to the multivitamin (prolonged antibiotic usage is known to cause biotin deficiencies as well as some other medications and frequent use of alcohol). I would recommend 300 to 600 mcg daily of additional biotin if the multivitamin contains less than 300 mcg.
• Vitamin C – 1,000 to 1,500 mg twice a day: I use a vitamin C “complex” that has other natural substances like rose hips and acerola along with citrus bioflavonoids including rutin and hesperidin – some research has shown that vitamin C is much better utilized in the body when taken in conjunction with good quantities of natural bioflavonoids.
• CoQ10 – 30 mg twice a day: I’m in my mid forties with no known heart / circulatory problems so as I “mature” I’ll likely increase my dosage at some point to 30 mg 3 times a day as a “maintenance” dosage – medical conditions for some people might dictate a slightly higher dosage. The body can only absorb limited amounts of CoQ10 over a given amount of time so you should take smaller doses (30 mg) at different times during the day (this principle applies to all supplements really – it is better to split the dosages).
• Alpha Lipoic Acid – 100 mg twice a day: alpha lipoic acid is a very good “universal” antioxidant that occurs naturally in the body and works in both fat and water-based cells – it also helps extend the antioxidant benefits of vitamins C and E and also helps the body utilize some amino acids more effectively (such as L-carnitine).
• Calcium / Magnesium / Vitamin D – 250 mg calcium / 125 mg magnesium twice a day: I recommend a “combined” supplement that has a variety of forms of both calcium and magnesium (including “citrates”) along with a little vitamin D to help with the absorption of the calcium. I take about half the RDA for the calcium and magnesium (the RDA for calcium is 1,000 mg and for magnesium it is 500 mg) as individual supplements based on my diet which includes a fair amount of dairy products which contain both calcium and magnesium in fair amounts, and my multivitamin has about a fourth of the RDA in it. Magnesium and calcium work together so I think it is a good idea to take them together – the ratio in supplements should be about 2 to 1 (calcium to magnesium). High quality women’s multivitamins will often contain significantly more calcium and magnesium than men’s formulations so women may not need as much (if any) individual supplements of calcium and magnesium, depending on the amounts in their multivitamin as well as their individual diets and body mass – many women’s multivitamins contain around half the RDA for calcium and magnesium.
• Omega 3 and 6 (essential fatty acids) – 1,000 mg twice a day: I use organic, cold-pressed, high lignan flaxseed oil, but fish oil is also good if you can stand the aftertaste – a lot of fish oil also has EPA and DHA along with omega 9, however the body can produce these other substances from omega 3 and 6 (flaxseed oil) if the B vitamins are available in sufficient quantities such as from a good multivitamin.
• Zinc – 25 mg twice a day: I use the gluconate form of zinc which my own experience indicates is absorbed quite well – most good multivitamins contain about 15 mg of zinc as well, so someone of 150 pounds or less may only want to take only 25 mg extra once daily.
• Garlic – 100 to 500 mg twice a day: – Garlic is an important supplement for Morgellons for a couple of reasons. Garlic has anti-parasitic and antibacterial properties and is also a very rich source of sulfur (33 different compounds of sulfur – sulfur is a key ingredient in collagens and keratins which are the main proteins the skin is made of). I would not recommend taking more than 500 mg a day over long periods of time (no more than 2 years). The body can get too much sulfur because when it is combined with the other nutrients that produce collagens and keratins, an excess of these proteins can result (and several amino acids are sulfurous as well which provides the basic sulfur needs for the body).
• Vitamin E – 400 IU once a day (or 200 IU twice a day): I try to keep my total supplemental intake including the amount from a multivitamin to around 500 IU per day or so. As an individual supplement, I use a natural, mixed tocopherol supplement (tocopherol is the chemical name for vitamin E and the natural forms are denoted by the letter “d” in front of the type – if it has a “dl” in front of the type of vitamin it is a synthetic form made from coal tar or petroleum products). Although d-alpha tocopherol is the most common natural form and the most used form in the body, foods contain other types including beta, gamma and delta forms. Also the vitamin E “family” in foods contain tocotrienols which are believed to be less important and are not commonly sold in supplemental form.
• Vitamin D – 400 IU once daily depending on sunlight exposure: cholecalciferol or vitamin D3 is the preferred form as it is the most “absorbable” and effective form (some inferior products use ergocalciferol or D2 which is far less effective in the body) – since the body makes vitamin D from sunshine as long as you don’t “overuse” sunscreen and it is “summer” sun in the northern latitudes (north of a line running from Los Angeles to Charlotte, NC in the US (see the earlier information on vitamin D). A good multivitamin should contain about 200 to 400 IU of vitamin D and recent information indicates that 800 to 1,000 IU is a more sufficient supplemental amount. I personally don’t take the supplemental vitamin D separately on days that I know I will be out in the sun for long periods. Recent studies indicate that Vitamin D can help prevent the spread of cancer cells by its action of mediating cell proliferation (which may slow the spread of cancer thereby allowing the immune system more time to eliminate the cancerous cells).
• Amino Acid Complex – taken according to label directions: Amino acids are the molecular building blocks for proteins. Meats are by far the richest source of amino acids in the diet, so if you eat a fair amount of meat (beef, poultry and / or fish) daily, you probably don’t need an amino acid supplement. If you are a vegetarian (or only eat meat occasionally) it is difficult to get all the amino acids you need from diet alone (the best sources for amino acids in a vegetarian diet are generally legumes (beans) and nuts and you have to eat quite a lot of them to come close to getting the amino acids your body needs). For amino acid supplements you want those with the letter “L” as a prefix for each amino acid (for instance “L - Lysine” – if they have the prefix “DL” they generally aren’t “natural for the human body won’t be fully utilized by the body).  |