How to cut back on supplements?

Raili · March 2011

I was dx'd with breast cancer almost a year and a half ago. I went through lumpectomy and SNB surgery and 33 radiation reatments, and have been taking Tamoxifen for 9 months. I have also been receiving treatment from a naturopath at the same time. These are the daily supplements my naturopath recommends that I take:

Melatonin
Green tea extract
Turmeric
Vitamin D
Fish Oil
Digestive enzymes
Black Cohosh
Flax seeds (ground)
Mushroom blend

This gets very expensive, especially when the dosages of most are very high - sometimes literally 20x what the suggested dosage on the bottle is. If you have to cut back/prioritize supplements, what is the best way to do it? For example, should I pick the top 5 supplements and take the full dosage of those consistently, and forget the rest? Should I alternate? Should I take half the recommended dose of a supplement every day, or the full dose every other day? Should I take the full dose of a supplement for a while then take a break from it for a few weeks or months until I can afford it again? Maybe it varies depending on which supplement I'm talking about.

I'm also wondering how long to keep taking all of these supplements. Are we supposed to take them indefinitely?!? Or maybe just for 5 years, like the Tamoxifen?

Cynthia1962 · March 2011

I would stick with the ones currently with the best research results behind them which imo is vitamin D, green tea, melatonin, and tumeric. Then, find the least expensive high quality supply of each through places like Vitacost, Iherb and such. I take 250-500 mg daily of green tea, 10,000 iu of vitamin D, 6000 mg of curcumin (tumeric), 20 mg of melatonin, as well as resveratrol, glucosamine and calcium. I have metastatic disease, so you would take a lot less than these amounts, but I included them so you would have an idea of quantity.

Cynthia

dlb823 · March 2011

Hi, Raili ~ What you're taking all looks pretty beneficial, although I'm not familiar with the Black Cohosh for bc survivors. But as much as 20x the recommended amounts of any of those you've listed seems pretty high.

I'm obviously not a doctor, but from what you've shared, I would probably look at cutting back on some of the amounts, rather than eliminating any. I'm also considering switching to a supplement blend that's formulated by an integrative doctor for breast health (I'm trying out a sample of it now) that combines several of the things on your list, which I also take. PM me if you want the link to that product. It's pricey, but I think it will save money over buying each supplement individually. Deanna

How to cut back on supplements?

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