4 replies to this topic

[kjh]

So glad to find this forum! Been obessively reading for days. Finally, a bunch of other people with significant others asking "Why do you take all those supplements?" After doing a lot of reading I came up with a tweaked regimine, and i'm posting it for feedback. Also, I can offer a little bit of value I think on one topic -- hair loss, since i've managed to keep what i've got (Norwood 1-2) for nearly 20 years by religiously sticking to this same regimine.

First: My longtime health supplements, in order of importance to me below. Since I worry about taking too much of anything, almost all these are standard basic dosage levels, like the kind listed on most supplements, using well known brands. I'd be willing to upgrade on a couple of them, but would have to really know it's worth it.

Astragalus. (I literally don't get colds as long as I take this. Wanted to upgrade to a more high powered fancy version of this because I'm convinced it works, but after reading endlessly on this site I came to the conclusion that i should just stick with the standard extract version).

Fish Oil (makes a difference in overall well being)

Drink a cup of green tea daily (ditto)

Vitamin D3 + magnesium

B-Complex

Resveratrol (been doing the concentrated liquid, but will probably switch to powder after reading this site)

ALCAR

CQ10

Biotin

Adding due to research on this site:

Curcumin

R-Lipoic Acid

Considering Vitamin K2

Removed Ginko Biloba (cancer scare research, and it's never really had much of a noticable impact for me)

Hair loss routine. Nothing hugely shocking, but it works:

Propecia
Rogaine 5% foam
Nizoral
Tricomin (use dropper, not the spray, once daily)
Nizoral shampoo 3x a week

Also, and I don't know if this makes a difference, but I suspect it does: I've been on a pescatarian diet for about 15 years.

Any thoughts appreciated and if you have any questions feel free to ask....

[Luddist]

I'm sure you've researched the nuances but post the details such as forms, dosages, and even brands of supplements where applicable.

If you're eating fish daily, figure out if you're already getting a good balance of fatty acids from diet alone. Also always be sure with each bottle that the fish oil is not rancid by piercing a softgel and checking for a spoiled fishy smell/taste.

Another cup or two of green tea a day wouldn't hurt as long as the caffeine isn't an issue.

With magnesium forms there are conflicting studies and the thread here on it is a long mess. One thing for sure is that there are some forms, such as glycinate and malate, that are less laxative at same elemental doses of oxide or citrate.

Depending on your diet, consider supplementing a proper vitamin E. I'm not on top of vitamin E research but the consensus I've gathered is taking alpha tocopherol alone is not a good idea. However it can be worth taking a gamma-heavy (with minimal alpha-) tocopherol blend. I take an expensive tocopherol/tocotrienol blend for now but for all I know I'm throwing my money away with the broad spectrum E supplement.

Some doubts have been raised about ALCAR use long term, and I have my own doubts regarding it possibly reducing thyroid hormones. I also remember recommendations to avoid Chinese-made ALCAR and go for Biosint/Sigma Tau stuff when I was researching it.

A question for you: I've seen high dose biotin being advertised for fast or maybe fuller hair growth. Are you taking it for hair related reasons, and if so does it help stop hair loss or merely increase growth speed?

[kjh]

Thanks for the detailed response.

Love the fish oil tip.

I didnt realize magnesium was one of the controversial ones. Also read elsewhere that if you're taking D3 you must also take magnesium since it depletes it or something.

E/tocopherol was one I was on the fence about. in general when studies conflict I tend to shy away.

Will definitely look at where my ALCAR and magnesium are coming from.

Sort of feel like my taking of Resveratrol is almost voodoo at this point given the absorbtion issues, but lean toward continuing ... just in case...

Biotin, to be clear, is not part of my long-term hair loss regimen, so I'm not suggesting that it's necessary. I only take it because you always read it's good for hair and, best I can tell, it is, as they say, mostly harmless. It does seem to help with hair growth speed if nothing else.

I actually forgot another item on my hair regimine -- Spectral DNC (the original, not DNC-N. So basically: In the morning after shower I take just a few drops of DNC at the temples. Wait 15 minutes. Then Rogaine foam (again, just in trouble areas). Then afternoon night do foam again, and then do a quarter dropper or so of the Tricomin in trouble spots right before bed (the small amounts of DNC and Tric are partly for cost savings -- I can usually stretch out a 60ml bottle for 5 months). Plus of course the propecia pill (get off-label Proscar and cut into fourths -- much cheaper), and nizoral few times a week.

This sounds like a lot of work but it's such an automatic part of my routine that i don't even notice it anymore. I check in on a hair loss forum site --much like this one, only for hair -- about once a month. But it's rather remarkable that there really hasn't been any new developments that really work in many years. It's like there was this surge of new products in the 1990s, and now ... nothing but rumors and studies and bogus news reports for a decade or so.

The one other thing I have a suspicion might make a difference is vitamin d ... there's been some studies that it's really key to hair loss, but the stories don't suggest you can just pop a pill for it ... also i've noticed that for me personally my right temple has receeded faster than my left, and i've read this on boards for others as well -- could it be due to sunlight from the driver's side window helping growth? It's the old 'homeless people with full heads of hair" suspicion. Who knows. But given that some studies have suggested laser light therapy can help promote hair growth ... I suspect there's a sunlight/D factor to hair loss, as well as major diet factors, that we don't properly understand yet.

Edited by kjh, 05 July 2013 - 11:29 PM.

[Turnbuckle]

Have you seen this thread?

[1kgcoffee]

If you're going to take r-lipoic acid, make sure you do it right by taking it several times a day every day for at least a couple months, otherwise you could have some issues with mercury. Also note that it could chelate minerals needed for healthy hair.