Happy New Year to everyone! I have just read about certain herbal supplements that can be a danger to the older adult, if he or she is taking prescribed medications. I, for one, take certain supplements on a daily basis, but I do not take prescribed medications. Click on the link and see what you think?


https://www.examiner.com/x-3788-Norfo...al-supplements

To be honest I don't think the author of that article knows what she is talking about. I followed the link to her blog and I take exception to her phrase "Recently, I began sitting in front a special lamp for thirty minutes in the morning. This special lamp emits is a substitution for sunlight. The best sunlight of the day is between the hours of 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. "
While bright light therapy does reset the bodyclock it is not a substitute for proper UVB exposure that creates vitamin D3.

If proper correction of Vitamin D3 deficiency was instituted and 25(OH)D status raised to the natural primitive level associated with least chronic disease incidence and at which human breast milk flows replete with D3, we would not experience Seasonal Depression. Your body would have sufficient anti inflammatory agent to deal with stress offer neuroprotection and also detoxify the brain. It's because the average person has a 25(OH)D level about half the natural level that there is so much inflammation not just in the brain but the blood as well.As UVA light does nothing but damage and you require UVB to make Vitamin D3 it's obvious short sun exposures at midday produce the most UVB exposure with least UVA exposure. Early morning sunlight, like evening sunlight are mainly UVA and thus least beneficial. In fact UVA exposure simply processes any Vitamin D3 near the surface of the skin into suprasterols the body doesn't use.
Those people who spend all day working in an office by a sunny window will have a particularly high risk of skin cancer and particularly low vitamin D status.
There is a reason why office workers have more skin cancer than outdoor workers and it's partly UVA exposure depleting vitamin D status.

If you have any doubts then there is always the online
Drug interactions checkers

However common sense tells us that overall the numbers of people suffering from conditions caused by herbal supplements compared to those suffering conditions acquired in hospitals or from medical treatments and it's fairly obvious which has the greater potential for greatest harm.

It's perfectly reasonable to argue that all the conditions arising from Vitamin D 3 deficiency are Iatrogenic, as it is doctors, dermatologists that have been advising against sun exposure without regard for the consequences.

I would worry about taking drugs of any kind; especially blood thinning drugs. I think drugs interact more with each other than with foods or herbs. Someone is already in trouble, if they are taking drugs for the long term. Before I would take a drug, I would research any contraindication which would include the genre of herbs or supplements. Today's seniors probably don't know how to do this research; and probably only listen to their doctors (and believe them). So, I guess they need to be constantly warned. My guess is that they are mostly only taking useless and therefor harmless multivitamins.

The only food that I would consider with great caution, is grapefruit, including grapefruit seed extract (GSE). It is well know that this fruit can cause pharmaceuticals to become useless. This is especially so with heart condition drugs. This is probably because grapefruit is more powerful than them.

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- Jim
"A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while he gets to know something." �Wilson Mizner

I am perfectly well aware of the role of the pineal gland and it's effect on circadian rhythm. But we have to have a basic understanding of how our bodies work.

Unless you grasp the idea that humans evolved living outdoors naked with a natural 25(OH)D level that permitted human breast milk to flow replete with vitamin D3 you are operating your body with less calcidiol than is required for optimum performance.

I think it is reasonable to regard as fools people who complain about poor car performance when their tyres have less than a third the amount of air or the engine less than a third the amount of oil. We should deal with the most important priorties first. Anyone who thinks only morning sun exposure is ideal is totally misguided and is giving out dangerously misleading information.

If there was any evidence the majority of the global population were anywhere like vitamin D replete then it may be forgivable but the fact is most populations have less than a third the amount of vitamin D required to reduce the incidence of cancer, diabetes heart disease and depression. The failure of people offering supposedly helpful health information to understand the serious consequences of vitamin D deficiency appalls me.

The fact you feel great does not impress me one bit.

You ought to feel ashamed of your ignorance and you should, if you had a conscience, be taking effective action to change your current attitude.

There is a fundamental difference between treating the symptoms of a condition and eliminating the cause.
Using SADLIGHTS to deal with the effects of Seasonal Affective Disorder is simply treating the symptoms.

Correcting Vitamin D insufficiency eliminates the cause of winter depression Only when people understand the natural vitamin D status that allows the body to function as our DNA evolved to function will people really be well.

Do you know your 25(OH)D level?

If you don't then it's more than likely you are not as healthy and well as you could and should be.

Hi greenmom! I read the article and took it for what it was worth, and I agree that certain herbs/supplements can be dangerous in combination with prescription medicines.

If someone is taking a prescription blood thinner already, of course they wouldn't want to take a supplement that also thins the blood. Someone on diabetes medicine would not want to start taking Bitter Melon, however they can work along with their doctor to possibly wean themselves off the prescription meds and begin to supplement with the Bitter Melon.

I take various vitamins/supplements/herbs everyday. I'm over fifty, and my goal is NEVER to be dependent on prescription drugs unless ABSOLUTELY necessary. If I had to take a prescription medication, I'd have to review my supplementation to be sure there was no deadly mix and matches.

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The article was a simple and harmless reminder. I agree with the point that people, with health conditions, should be aware of interactions with their drugs. Heck, it is difficult enough to figure out what herbs and vitamins can be taken together without canceling each other out; or which supplements can do more harm than good. Those to whom the article was addressed are most likely the ones that do not bother to question their doctors or do their own research. Those are the ones that need to beware.

It was not speaking to most of us on this forum. There is no misleading information in the article either. It was not a prescription; nor a cure. Just a necessary and worthy reminder.

That is your opinion and one which I don't share. The facts don't support it either.
Just look at the number of adverse events from supplement use/misuse and prescription medicine use/misuse.
If you want to reduce the amount of unnecessary human suffering you need to be working on reducing the use of prescriptions medicines.
That is why we have to emphasize the positive.

Wittering on about the third light receptor in the human eye when speaking to an audience where almost all the readers will have less than a third of the necessary amount of Vitamin d required to enable calcidiol to function as the hormone it is and every baby is currently born will less vitamin D than required for calcium absorption and maximum bone mineral density is misleading people as to what are the most important priorities.

We can cut heart disease, cancer, diabetes ms incidence by 70% if we grasp the simple idea that the amount of sunshine/vitamin D3 required to achieve the primitive natural vitamin D3 status that enables human breast milk to flow replete with vitamin d and babies are actually born vitamin D REPLETE is the minimum required to enable Calcidiol to function as a hormone, then we will be doing some good.

Anyone who suggests early morning sunlight ideal is not helping at all because it doesn't contain UVB and therefore contains only the damaging UVA rays so as no vitamin D generated that is dangerously misleading advice.

Thank you kind2creatures and jfh for reading the article on herbs.

I don't care; and yes they do. I did not go beyond that article to any other link; as I'm aware of what she is already saying. The article says That is the premise of my opinion.

What she is saying, matches my experience with elderly people. It would be very hard to proselytize in favor of alternative care; as elderly people, in general, have always regarded medical doctors as highest in the social order; especially in the rural communities where one would tend to believe they would look closer to nature for health care. These same elderly folks have likely worked for companies that provided health insurance which would not cover any alternative method of healing.

So why do they take herbs along with their prescription drugs? Perhaps they are dissatisfied with the results. Perhaps multi-level marketing. Why do they take daily vitamins? Marketing.

I too followed the link to her blog, and I don't see a whole lot of wisdom there.

I, like Ted, am a big believer in D3. Again, the benefit is in the dose, since most people are severely deficient, and all the while most "experts" are telling us to avoid the sun and wear sunblock. Some experts they are... no wonder people are so sick.

I say do whatever you have to do to get your D3 level between 60 and 80 ng/mlt, then keep it there. Take 450 mg of magnesium (from citrate) per day til the bottle is gone, then take calcium/magnesium from citrate at a 1 to 1 ratio, and take a minimum of 10 drops of iodine every day. That will prevent almost every disease.

Take a good probiotic every day. That is crucial to good health.

Take lots of C every day in divided doses, along with quercetin and several antioxidants from vegetable and berry extracts, and eat a reasonable diet. Keep excess sugar and grains out of the diet along with MSG, fluoride, pesticides, artificial sweeteners, and stay far away from mercury, xrays, and especially ct scans.. that would be a good start.

As far as herbs killing people, that is nothing compared to the amount of people who die because of prescription drugs. Just ask Heath Ledger.

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Let Food Be Your Medicine And Medicine Be Your Food.(Hippocrates)

Too bad.

Yet another hijacked thread.

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