I have done quite a bit of research on which vitamins, minerals or herbs may be helpful to those with MS. I thought I would pass it on to the NG as it may be of interest and help some of you here. As you can see, I’ve got quite a list here, and yes, I do take these all, everyday. The work best when taken with meals, so I split them up into 3 groups and take them with breakfast, lunch and dinner. I have exhaustively researched all of this and really have taken a very proactive approach in attempting to find some help for myself. I found it all very interesting as well, by checking out some books at the library on vitamins, minerals, herbs, searching the web, etc. I hope this helps and perhaps gets you interested as well.

Another fantastic book which I have had for years and refer to often is ‘How to Be Your Own Nutritionist” by Dr. Stuart M. Berger. It tells you the function and benefits of each vitamin and mineral in the body. A great book on herbs is “Herbs for Health and Healing” by Kathy Keville. Proanthocynadins — (sometimes seen as anthocynadins) — this is a grape seed extract which is an extremely powerful antioxidant. Several hundred times more powerful than the traditional antioxidants A, C, E. Very good for the brain Pycnogenol — important to brain function because it protects blood vessles and is one of the few dietary antioxidants that readily crosses the blood brain barrier to protect brain cells.

If you put a search on the web for this, you can read some very interesting articles. Lady’s Slipper — this is an herb which actually helps to regenerate myelin. Vitamin C — helps protect the body from free radical damage. Evening Primrose Oil — Provides essential fatty acids to the brain, linoleic, oleic, and palmitic. Iron and Folic Acid – very beneficial in warding off infections of all kind. Gotu Kola — This is an herb which feeds the nervous system with essential nutrients such as Vitamins A, B, E. CoEnzyme-Q10 — Co Q10 is an essential enzyme used to keep all of the bodies tissues vital and operating. It is especially important for the brain. Omega 3 Fish Oils — This is a very good one.

In addition to its inflammation reducing and circulation improving properties to the brain, it also improves the condition of the brains blood vessels, improves HDL, reduces LDL, reduces cholesterol, reduces platelet aggregation, reduces blood clotting, and high blood pressure. By improving the condition of the blood vessels, as evidenced by the above benefits, the blood brain barrier is far less likely to become compromised leading to the development of new lesions. B12 — Helps in the functioning of the nervous system. A deficiency to can lead myelin degeneration and MS like symptoms. If you perform a search on this, you will see many articles regarding B12 deficiency or otherwise known as pernicious anemia.

I was not sure if he was alive or not. He must have been an old guy, ’cause he did his vitamin C studies in …oh, the 60′s? 70′s? The mega-dose of C does in fact seem to bolster my immune system. Ya can’t exactly “prove” it, but lots of people around me would get nasty colds, and mild flu. I usually have luck short-circuiting most colds with vitamin C mega doses. A woman’s magazine got me thinking about the mega-dose of the other mentioned minerals. An article talked about them reducing the severity and frequency of the migraines. They didn’t say anything about direct and multiple doses to fight one off, however.

It’s just something that seems to work for me. My 7 year old daughter has Lyme. It has been a long hard road to diagnosis and I know I have posted here before. But my question now is this, Can any of you tell me about vitamins. My doctor has recommended certain vitamins through a mail order company; however, my pharmacist has said that unless a vitamin bottle has “USP” posted somewhere on it, you can’t be 100% certain what is actually in the vitamin. He has told me that the all natural and mail order companies are not regulated and therefore, may not all be honest. I’m not sure what to do.

The vitamins listed in the catalogue are expensive. I want to do what is best for my daughter. I am presently under evaluation for Lyme also so my doctor has recommended these vitamins also for myself. The vitamins are: BiPro (Acidophilus), Coenzyme Q-10, Optimum Six, and a children’s multi-vitamin for my daughter.According to some docs, vitamin therapy given to Lyme patients on Antibiotics can lessen the effect of the antibiotics. Many patients taking both who have stopped the vitamin therapies have done better. The only alternative therapy that doesn’t seem to interfer with the ABX’s is acidolphilus…which only should be taken 2 hours away from taking the antibiotics.

The thinking about vitamins is that while they can make the patient feel better…they may also be nourishing the cells in which the Lyme bacteria live. We have personal experience with this. A family member with Lyme was on vitamins such as the ones you describe and didn’t make good progress. Without the vitamins and continuing the same ABX, real progress was made. Thought I wwould just pass this along. It took docs a long time to use vitamins…now it’s taking them a long time to understand that they might not be beneficial with regards to treating Lyme.

The background is this: last week I asked my doctor’s advice about a full-blown trial of glucosamine/condroitin (after usingit occasionlly for some months beforehand). Also told her that we had a good amount of anecdotal evidence in this group that it works very well for some folks. She was cautiously supportive, saying that so far it doesn’t seem to be harmful and may actually have some degree of the benefits touted in the popular press. When I asked about a prescription, she said that it’s currently prescription OTC. Then she remarked, “just be sure that it’s made in the U.S. or Canada”.

Since I needed vitamins anyway, I stopped at one of the local drugstores on the way home. *Every one* of the first 20 labels for both glu/con and vitamins either omitted the country of origin, showed “packaged in”, or showed a non-U.S. origin. Moreover, some heat-sensitive vitamins were shipped from China, some from S.America. A nice ocean voyage doesn’t improve Vit.C, which is unstable to heat, light, and damp air. My question to our many de facto pharmcologists is, how would you, or how do you, deal with this? Does anyone have first-hand information about how vitamins are produced and handled outside the U.S.? Does anyone know if any of the big chain druggists offer more U.S.-produced materials than others?

This all sounds serious to me, because most of the world does not subscribe to precisely our stringent rules for the production of medicines. (I understand the rules and oversight for vitamins are either lax or lacking.) I’m very concerned. It’s so easy to cheat, packaging either meds or vitamins: there are many current news reports about counterfeit medicines. Any oil can be labeled “Vitamin E”. Aspirin can be labeled “Vitamin C”. I know from personal experience that this was done in the 70′s during a Vitamin-C(or E)-cures-everything crazes. Most of the bad press I’ve read has to do more with failure to manufacture to “standards”, so one is often uncertain as to what dose one pill represents. I always look for a statement similar to: “Made to U.S. Pharmacopoeia (USP) quality, purity, and potency standards”. Parenthetically, the last place I would buy vitamins or supplements is from a drug store – aside from the high price, there’s frequently only a small selection. Every major supermarket has a vitamin aisle, Wal-Mart / K-Mart always have a good selection, but the best bet is a health food store or an ‘organic’ grocery store. Either of the last two should be glad to answer any question you may have and assist you with your purchase of supplements. First hand info on foreign manufacturers is likely to be slim to non existent, but there are easy steps you can take to protect yourself from off-brand rip-offs.