Let’s Talk Supplements

[ResearchCat]

What are you taking?
What is it for?
Do you think it works?
Best time of day?
Any issues taking with other Suppies?

I take a ton, and periodically add or remove based on perceived efficacy and/or research findings. I mostly take them all together in the morning, even though I know a few should be in the evening.

Fish Oil - heart health, gut lube
Optimen Multivitamin - probably 100% useless
Glucosamine - knees and joints; been taking for several years; anecdotally, this works for old knees.
Tongkat Ali - T support; not sure if it works, might.
Magnesium Glycinate - Good for sleep, stress, maybe heart health
Zinc - supports T production and immune function
GABA - brain health, mood improvement, reduced anxiety
Iron supplements - started recently due to low iron; probably doesn’t help, smells like beef bullion.
(Might have missed one or two)
Pterostilbene - longevity, stuff found in berries. Decent oral bioavailability.
Creatine - Just accept creatine in your life, brothers and sisters!
Mucil - cause fiber. (Sugar free)

Dead Soldiers
These are ones I tried and no longer take, typically because oral bioavailability is poor, sometimes because it just doesn’t work.

NAD+ - no practical oral bioavailability (See Randy’s signature line)
Berberine - supposedly amazing benefits but no oral bioavailability, don’t believe the lies, faux alternative to GLP-1
Turmeric - “You’re better off having a nice curry on Fridays.”
NMNH - might have some benefits, the blends often smell like rotten eggs, poor bioavailability
Bromelain - Pineapple extract, supposedly good for vision and floater dissolution. Took for 2 months, no perceived benefit

[jackiee]

I get my bloodwork done quarterly through the cancer center, so I know what my body needs and I can adjust it. I currently take:
Vit B Complex
Vit D3+K (I adjust the amount during the winter, due to living in Illinois)
GHK-cu
MOTS-c
TA-1

[PeptideEd]

@researchcat another big question is "what are you testing". For example, I test monthly:

Copper RBC - to make sure I'm not overdoing my GHKCU

Zinc RBC - to track my efforts to raise my seriously low Zinc via supplementation

CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel) - tracks kidney and liver health - its cheap, and those organs are critically important

IGF-1 - important if you are going to mess with growth hormone related peptides

Pancreative Function Test (Amylase and Lipase) - this one is super important if you are on any GLP-1 peptide - pancreatic issues on those peptides is a known side effect and if you get that side effect, it can hospitalize you and do serious serious harm. Most folks don't get it... but much better to catch early.

I get these pretty cheaply at Ulta Labs

[ResearchCat]

Great points! Thanks. I got a full panel through Function recently. I will probably get another panel in a month or so after some medical appointments to follow up on some whacky labs in Feb. (Lab: You should see a doctor immediately! Doc’s office: We can see you in 3 months if you don’t care who sees you.)

My cardiac and inflammation numbers were, let’s say not ideal. And yeah, my pancreatic numbers were high and I have titrated down to lowest Tirz dose.

[WisGal64]

My current supp stack:

Vitamin D3/K2
Omega fish oil
Milk Thistle (liver health) used to be on a high dose of methotrexate
Boswellin Serrata
R-Alpha Lipoic
NAC
NAD+ w/Reservatol
Liposomal Glutathione
Probiotic
CoQ10 w/PQQ

I was cross checking my supplements and current pep stack, looking for any overlap or conflicts using neemio. I was surprised it flagged Milk Thistle as a possible opposing action with KPV.

So I started to do some searching this morning before work, found the reason, Milk Thistle can potentially alter the effects of medications including KPV. KPV was a pep that my lab rat didn't get any positive or negative effects, and had decided this week to give it another go this week. So I'm stopping Milk thistle to see if that makes a difference.

Not sure If I'll continue the NAD+ once this bottle is done.

I get bloodwork done quarterly.

[afkar7]

What I am currently taking. I figure most are self explanatory as to why I am taking.

Red yeast rice - cholesterol
Vitamin D3/K2
Super EPA 425 mg EPA AND 270MG DHA - Omega 3 fatty acid
NAC
NAD+ w/Reservatol
Berberine
CoQ10 w/PQQ
Glutathione
Creatine
Magnesium Acetyl Taurinate - supports brain health, cardiovascular function, stress management, and metabolic wellness

[ResearchCat]

Brief update: after my Feb labs, I saw a cardiologist who put me on a max dose of rosuvastatin, and after seeing the results of that, added evolocumab(injectable statin). I tried to lifestyle my way off statins like all the routine doctors tell you, but as it turns out, that’s mostly bullshit unless your lifestyle is shit. I have all the genetic predispositions.

Anyway, I added Coq10 and collagen peptides. Coq10 is supposed to help with energy, muscle soreness and fatigue, and heart health, and is to offset common side effects of statin use. I don’t know how I got through 20 years of statins and supplement use and never heard of this.

The collagen peptides are to help with joints, connective tissue, and hair, which seems to be thinning a bit. Could be age, could be GLP-1’s. We’ll see if this helps. I have been noticing over the past few months that while I have gotten stronger, I am reaching the limits of my connective tissue’s strength. Something they never told you in lunkhead school: you can grow your muscles past the physical limits of your tendons and connective tissue.

Labs: (thx @peptideed for the reminder): My Feb labs were a hot mess of inflammation markers. My most recent doctor labs had mostly clean - much improved - markers for inflammation, but the LpA, which is genetic and a big risk factor for heart disease, has tripled. Not sure what drives this. Getting a follow up full set next week. The folks pimping Function forgot to mention that the follow up labs don’t include PSA, lipase, test, and some of the other key things, so that is a bit extra.

If PSA and lipase come back nominal, then most of my concerns are addressed and hopefully no more doctors for a while. I am thinking about enclomiphene, which i have been resisting, because my T is around 400, which is just on the edge of normal for my age. From what I have been reading lately - probably sponsored by Big Testosterone(they are in cahoots with Big Bac Water ) - T for older men has limited downside if you manage levels. Same with HRT for women now that they have debunked almost all of the cancer risk BS.

[ResearchCat]

Wow, I guess I shouldn’t post after drinking my Colombia Pink Bourbon coffee.

[PeptideEd]

@researchcat If you haven't come across Dave Feldman and his work on cholesterol, highly recommend.

WRT the rest of what you have going on, I have some similar issues I'm working around inflammation markers and joints. I have found it invaluable to feed data into Gemini and Claude (their upper level, high reasoning models) and talk through various issues with them. That together with the ability to order my own tests via Ulta Labs has been tremendous. I literally ran a lab a few weeks ago to settle a bet between Gemini and Claude. Now note: you do have to press them, you do have to ask them questions and point them to things when you think they are off base... but they are more useful than most doctors.

[ResearchCat]

Thanks. I have been using copilot a bit for this, but I really should get my own claude. I use it in VS code at work, but that isn’t really useful for optimizing lifestyle.

[PeptideEd]

@researchcat I find different models have different personalities. Gemini is pretty liberal, and insightful about peptides. Claude is a bit more traditional, but very very detailed. The two of them together in my experience provide better results than one alone.

[ResearchCat]

@peptideed Error: You can only upvote 20 times a day.

Thanks buddy!

[WisGal64]

@researchcat have you researched lycopene?

[ResearchCat]

Not sure.

[WisGal64]

This post is deleted!

[ResearchCat]

After doing more research, labs, and beating the hell out of AI, I have made or am making the following changes:

Remove:
Zinc - Multivitamin already has 15 mg, which should be enough
GABA - Unclear what benefit it provides, as GABA doesn’t breach brain/blood barrier very well (research is unclear)
Pterostilbene - Unclear benefit, plus I eat 8 oz blueberries every day
Iron (Blood Builder) - hasn’t moved the needle, may be dangerous
Tongkat Ali - Unclear if it was helping at all. Might try again later

Added:
D3/K2 supplement - because of my statins
CoQ10 - because of my statins

Not exactly a supplement, but also added low dose tadalafil.

[vpeptides]

@ResearchCat if you have low ferritin or iron, you may try Lactoferrin (as apolactoferrin). It helped my wife to bring her levels to normal. apolactoferrin is a polypeptide, has (almost) no iron in it but enhances your own iron bioavailability. It is not safe or wise to take more iron, we usually have enough, just can't utilize it.

[ResearchCat]

Thanks, I will check that out.

Both are low. Consistently so over the past two labs.

[vpeptides]

@ResearchCat Try it. Heme Iron also helped, but I would avoid it if possible. High iron intake is associated with higher all-cause mortality rate, also iron binds to a lot of nutrients making them not bioavailable.

[damic]

Very interesting, I've been going down the lab rabbithole myself. My inflammation markers are high, off charts. I just sent them to my doctor and will have to see what they come back with:

Currently taking
Basic B Complex (Thorne)
Magnesium Glycinate (Thorne)
Some blood pressure medicine which I'm still trying to figure out (Olmesartan)

Been having a pain under my right side rib cage trying to figure out what they hell is causing it. CT nothing, MRI nothing.