Latest supplement regime

In response to Spence's recent comment, here's my current supplement regime (N.B. Not all of these have been prescribed for Candida-related conditions):

1 x Adult Multivit - breakfast & lunch
1 x P5P - breakfast & dinner (to help combat anxiety and raise mood)
1 x Mycopryl 400 - breakast & dinner
1 x MegaGLA - breakfast & dinner ('good' oils)
1 x Nutricell Caratenoid - breakfast, lunch & dinner (antioxidants)
1 x Bioacidophilus - breakfast & dinner
1 x Histazyme - breakfast & dinner (supports immune system faced with an onslaught of allergic responses!)

As always, I should assert that it is essential to get the support and advice of a nutritional therapist/naturopath before embarking on a similar supplment programme.

New supplement regime

Well, I say 'new', but I have been on it for a couple of weeks now. I'm back on the anti-fungals in a big way...

Bioacidophilus - 2 per day (breakfast and evening meal)
PT208 - 2 per day (breakfast and evening meal)
Echinacea - 1 per day (breakfast)
Mycopryl 400 - 2 per day (breakfast and evening meal)
Mag 2:1 Cal - 3 per day (breakfast, lunch and evening meal)
Multivit - 1 per day (breakfast)
Milk Thistle - 1 per day (evening meal)
Iron - 1 per day (evening meal)

Strange to be taking so many tablets again. Are they doing the trick? Well, they're doing something. Have been experiencing a flare-up - started in my mouth (though that could have been the two enormous pieces of chocolate birthday cake I ate at my friend's recent 30th birthday party!) and has since spread throughout (yuck), but that's no surprise. The Mycopryl always makes things worse to begin with. However, starting to feel like I'm getting back onto an even keel again - digestion has improved, mouth feels less sore and furry and the rest is improving daily. A little disappointing that things should have flared up again, but it's the first since July, and really wasn't that bad when I consider the pain I used to experience.

All in all, still feeling fairly positive about my recovery.

Update and latest supplement regime

Okay, so two months ago I was on top of the world (yeasty-beastie wise). I was experiencing my first few candida-free weeks for flipping ages! Sadly, that didn't last. But, while the thrush is most definitely back, it's manageable. Plenty of water seems to prevent the soreness I've always experienced and the (occasional) itching is bearable. So, I feel like I'm still moving forward in my candida recovery, though it's back to baby steps, rather than great leaps forward. However, I'm still off the anti-fungals, which makes me quite hopeful for the future. Having said that, my nutritional therapist has reintroduced a little Oxypro back into my regime just recently, but that is - apparently - to combat the nasty patch of dermatitis that has appeared on my back (I guess - for all I know - that could be fungal too - eugh):

Oxypro 6 - 8 drops (breakfast)
1 x Nutricell Caratenoid Complex (breakfast and evening meal)
1 x Mega GLA (breakfast and evening meal)
1 x Biomagnesium (breakfast)
1 x Lactobacillus (breakfast and evening meal)
1 x Iron (evening meal)

New supplement regime

A couple of weeks ago I gave my nutritional therapist a list of all the supplement left-overs I've accumulated over the last couple of years. She emailed back to say that she'd taken note. Which is a good thing. Not so good is that she hasn't seemed to grasp the concept of only prescribing me the bare minimum to fight my candida problems. Nevertheless her bill, this month, was half of what it was the previous month, which is another good thing. Here's my new regime:

One a day multivitamins and minerals - One tablet with breakfast and evening meals (I actually only take one of these - it's called 'one-a-day' for a reason IMHO).

Mycopyrl 400 - One capsule with breakfast and evening meals.

Nutricell caretenoid - One capsule with breakfast and evening meals (Again, just take one in the morning following the recommended dosage on the pot).

Bioacidophillus - One capsule with breakfast and evening meals.

Mega GLA - One capsule with breakfast and evening meals.

Floraguard - One capsule with Lunch (this is a new one - apparently a broad spectrum candida supplement to support the Mycopyrl 400, and replaces the Oxy-pro I had been using for the last couple of months. Feel that this rotation of anti-fungals is an all round positive move).

St John's Wort - One capsule with breakfast and evening meals (to help anxiety and stress levels).

BioMagnesium - One capsule with breakfast and evening meals.

Dumping my nutritional therapist

A little while ago I wrote about how I was thinking I might ditch my nutritional therapist, but I chickened out (background here). I finally go up the courage to email her this morning. Actually, I haven't dumped her, but have informed her that, due to cash-flow problems, I'm going to have to reduce the number of supplements I'm taking to the barest minimum. I've also given her a list of the supplements I have enormous quantities of already (like 200+ capsules). I've calculated that, at current doses, I've got enough of some things (like multivitamins, caprylic acid and MegaGLA) to last me six months at least! I have to make some savings over the summer (when I'll have no money coming in), and my supplement regime is the most obvious candidate for the chop. I await her reply with baited breath...

Latest Supplement Regime

Had my (roughly) monthly appointment with my nutritional therapist the other day. She's amended my supplement programme to reflect my flare-up, current hayfever and the emotional stress I've recently been under. In fact, everything on this list I've taken before, so I can use up lots of left-overs. She has seriously upped my anti-fungal intake, which I think I still need.

Biocare Bioacidophillus - 1 x 2 times a day
Biocare MegaGLA - 1 x 2 times a day
Biocare Mycopryl 400 - 1 x 3 times a day
Biocare Oxypro - 10 drops in water, twice a day
Biocare Nutricell Caretenoid - 1 x 3 times a day
Biocare Histazyme - 1 x 2 times a day
Biocare Iron EAP2 - 1 per day
Biocare Adult Multivitamin - 1 x 2 times a day

I'm expecting to experience of a bit of 'die-off' with this lot. :S

Supplements

Here's a list of the supplements I'm currently advised by my nutritional therapist to take. Over the last couple years they have changed fairly frequently though. The constants have been Mycopryl (caprylic acid) in varying doses, a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement and 'good' bacteria (bty, these are all manufactured by Biocare).

Quercetin Plus - 1 x 3 daily
Sea Plasma - 1 x 3 daily
Lycopene Plus - 1 x 2 daily
Bioacidophillus Forte - 1 x daily
One a Day Plus (vitamin) - 1 x daily
Essential Fatty Acids - 1 x 3 daily
Mycopryl 250 - 1 x 2 daily
Oxypro - 8 drops in water, twice daily

I'm currently getting on okay with this combination - though I frequently forget to take my lunchtime doses. Costs a blinking fortune though! And with the amount of 'left-overs' from previous regimens I have secreted in my wardrobe, I could open a pharmacists! ;)

The pros and cons of nutritional support cont...

Further to yesterday's post I came across this very timely response from Bix at The Fanatic Cook about the same report. I'm feeling infinitely less concerned now, but think I still need to be careful about the level of dose of each vitamin I'm taking. So, I've resolved to suggest to my nutritional therapist on Monday that I cut down my supplement intake to the barest minimum, say a probiotic, lower dose anti-fungal and broad spectrum, A-to-Z kind of vitamin and mineral supplement.

The pros and cons of nutritional support, i.e. supplements

I'm thinking about ditching my nutritional therapist. Not only is she advising me to take very high doses of several of the things highlighted as potentially damaging by the article in this post, but she keeps changing my supplements which means I've ended up with a backlog of stuff I can no longer take, which cost me a fortune to purchase in the first place. I have a suspicion that she has started to regard me as a bit of a cash-cow. My symptoms have stabilised, so she's just chucking anything at me now to keep me as a client. I want to see whether I can maintain my current state using just the anti-Candida diet. And until I come off the anti-fungals, I won't know where I'm at in my recovery. But, on the other hand, she - and my previous therapist - were really the first people after more than a decade of problems, who took my symptoms seriously without question. And it's reassuring to have that support. I'm really in two minds what to do at the moment...

Sea Plasma

My nutritional therapist has put me on Sea Plasma capsules. Apparently it's packed with beta carotene, vitamin B12, linolenic acid and all sorts of other good stuff. It smells like pond weed. I'm not sure how much longer I can tolerate it. Every time I open the bottle I want to throw up. :S

*** UPDATE: I've decided it smells more like gone-off prawns actually. Still pretty disgusting, anyway.