what supplements do you take, how much, and why?

I opted to take Femara and have been on it for two months with no noticeable side effects.  I already have osteoarthritis in both knees and some fingers.  I don't think I could tell the difference if the Femara was causing additional joint pain.

 I take:

one low dose aspirin (I'm over 60 and diabetic)

Chromium Picolinate and cinnamon combo  ( 1000 mg for diabetes)

Vitamin C (2000 mg a day)

Vitamin D soft gel (2000 iu)

Calcium/Vit D combo (1200 calcium, 800 vit D) - my "D" level is 45, want it to get up to about  80 for bone protection

At least 4 arthritis-strength Tylenol (2 in the AM, 2 in the PM) with occasional 3rd dose or 2 Aleve depending on how my knees are feeling and how much walking, climbing stairs, etc. I am doing.  I've been taking anti-inflammatories for many years.

Considering adding Omega 3 as Femara can raise cholesterol levels and I do not want to take a statin

Michelle

I take

1. Multi-Vitamin
2. Pharmaceutical grade Fish Oil Liquid
3. Liquid Vitamin D (oil based drops)
4. Magnesium
5. Calcium
6. Zinc
7. Iodine from Kelp
8. Acidophilus Liquid
9. Florastor
10. Taurine +B6
11. B-complex sublingual

If I knew then what I know now....The lament of the old.

I also use grape seed oil vegannaise. It tastes really good.

I bake with grapeseed oil all the time, it gives everything a great flavor, very subtle difference in flavor and very moist.

Vitamin D3 - 10,000 IUs/day (down from 15,000!)

Co-enzyme Q10: 200 mgs/day (for the heart)

Multivitamin from Trader Joe's

I also take plenty of "conventional" meds.

Vit D   2,000

Vit C  

Iodine (sea kelp) 4 drops

Flax seed powder I shake it on my morning and evening meal 

Aspirin 81mg-read that it helps w/ prevention and recurrence(sp?)

And I eat steamed or regular broccoli(sp?) everyday

Dr. said all were good choices

Grape seed oil vegannaise by Follow Your Heart. I get it at Natures Finest or Whole Foods.

I take:
High quality multi-vitamin (3 pills/day for one dose)

Vitamin D3 - 2000mg

Calcium (high quality formula with D3) - 6 capsules/day

Green Tea extract

Maitake Fraction (mushroom extract)

One regular 325mg aspirin 3x/week (not every day)

DIM - 2 tabs/day

CoQ10 for heart health

Fish Oil - 2 capsules day (only high quality or else it bothers my stomach) for cholesterol

Melatonin - 6mg/day (take right before bed or else it makes me fall asleep watching TV!) - I dont' take this for sleep reasons but for bc prevention. My natural doc felt very strongly this was helpful.

I think that's all.
OH yes - I take a tsp of tumeric (spice) with some black pepper every morning with my flax seed. I take abaout 1/4 c of flaxseed ground, mixed with hot water. Good for digestion/elimination. The tumeric is supposed to make your body less receptive to tumor cell growth - based on the book: AntiCancer, A New Way of Life.

It's a lot of pills and a lot of money, but I want to do everything I can to make my body as inhospitable as possible to a recurrance.

I also avoid almost all sugar, white flour and alcohol.

My onc thinks it is a total waste and none of it matters.

Oh - and I take Tamoxifen, too!  Just hit my first anniversary of taking it last week!

Hope this is helpful

Amy

Medgal,

Aspirin keeps the blood thinner so the cancer cells don't stick together as easily. There were studies on this. Also, many years ago they noticed people taking the blood thinner, Heparin, did better with cancer.

vitamin D drops 2000 a smack--my vitamin D at time of diagnosis was 13 or something equally ridiculous

liquid calcium mag supplement that tastes like booberry cereal ---blech! but better than the horse pills. . . .

multivitamins when I remember them

yogurt with flax seed when I remember

mostly I try to eat a healthy diet.  We don't do fast food except for very very rare occassions. We eat lots of fresh veg, grains and less meat.  Sugar intake is also limited--more likely to do fruit for dessert.  And we buy raw materials instead of processed stuff.  The biggest processed food exceptions would be canned tomatos [can't live without those!] and pasta. . . .

I usually try to get most of my vitamins and minerals directly from my food. This isn't always possible though, because of the time it takes to prepare meals. But I hear that a lot of the vitamins we need are already in healthy foods. Aside from that I try to take a multivitamin, fish oils, and vitamin C. 

I've used nutritional supplements for 30 years, including -- a multi, B-complex, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, CoQ10, Omega 3's, a calcium complex, alfalfa (for inflammation), and a few others here and there.  Since my bc dx, I've added several new ones, some of which were recommended by my PCP, and most of which the integrative specialist I met with at UCLA advised me to keep taking.  These include Turmeric (immune system), Green Tea Extract (immune system), Iodoral (iodine supplement), I3C (in lieu of an A/I), a mushroom extract (raved about by the UCLA integrative doc), a blend of B6, B12 & Folic Acid (to normalize high homocysteine levels post-chemo & rads), and Vitamin D (even though I've tested at 72, probably b'cuz I live in So. CA and spend a lot of time in the sun).  I also dropped the multi b'cuz I take so much else now.  Oh, and I'm not loyal to any particular brand.  I buy what's on special, although I do have favorites and always insist that they're natural & preferably organic (no synthetic drugstore vitamins; I don't think they work the same).

I've recently heard of a new breast health supplement by Dr. Isaac Eliaz, an integrative doctor, that sounds very exciting:

http://www.dreliaz.org/recommends-product#breast

I haven't bought it yet.  It's quite pricey, and I want to read up on it more.  But it looks like it could replace at least three of the things I'm using.  The initial research on it looks pretty impressive.       Deanna