PeterDisAbelard. said...
So, Tall One, I read the abstracts you linked on folates with interest. As you say they are rather all over the map for folate supplementation and prostate cancer. I was interested in the study that, as I recall, said that a folate insufficiency would retard progression but found little effect at other levels. It's tempting to wonder if the now-you-see-it / now-you-don't effect might be researchers looking at different points on a saturation curve, like testosterone.
But the bottom line for me is that the effects they are seeing are generally small and elusive and, while they do cast doubt on the advisability of taking folates to prevent or manage prostate cancer, at the same time they don't provide much reason not to take fancy-schmancy B vitamins for my neuropathy.
I'm hoping this is on topic, if not I will be happy to move it to it's own thread, Sometime I find that figuring out what is OT can be tricky:
But on the subject- sort of - folates. Certainly on the subject of fancy-schmancy B vitamins, and most assuredly on the subject of "what is in our vitamins", which I think actually is the OP. I am going to give one of many personal anecdotes now, which I will admit right up front is quite likely useless info for all the rest of you folks. Since I am a study of one, and we all know how much that is worth proof wise.
I was once reading a book about
conflicting religious beliefs(though all within Christianity) and one of the authors said something like " a man with an experience is not going to be convinced by a man with an argument( or a book(Bible) or a study, you see the analogy). The subject was people who had certain spiritual experiences that may not have agreed with the rule book.
I think that somewhat applies to me and at least some of my supplements, or even foods/diets. I have paid attention to several "quacks" over the years because even though at least some in the mainstream called them quacks(despite their solid medical degrees), because when I got my nerve up and tried some of their quackeries, I had good results. And these "quacks" were mainly called quacks because they leaned towards natural approaches 1st when possible, rather than having a 1st response of a drug or treatment which might have unpleasant SEs.
So, about
17 years ago I was about
to have surgery for a shoulder injury that happened 17 years previous to the pending surgery. It only continued to get worse, and was interfering with my work in anesthesia(intubating patients) and only continued to get worse(plus my other shoulder was starting to show some of the early signs). I could not sleep on my side due to pain. I could not lift my left arm very far due to stabbing pains. The ortho doc (who I also worked with frequently in surgery) had given me some steroid shots and sent me for physical therapy, all of which helped some and temporarily. But he warned me it was probably bone spurs which would sooner or later tear the rotator cuff and be a much worse repair and recovery than if I had the surgery soon. The only thing holding me up was finding the time(weeks) off from work. In the meantime, a newsletter from one of my "quacks" mad a bold statement: "A cure for shoulder bursitis is (EDIT)1000 mcg/day(micrograms or 1 mg) Intramuscular(IM) injection of vitamin B12". These guys usually speak in terms of helping whatever rather than cure, but there it was. He said he had been using this for years in his practice with great success. But where am I going to find a doc(since he was far away) to give me a daily B12 shot for my shoulder, since that is not a mainstream treatment? Anyway, I got some oral supplements and started taking a bunch. It actually seemed to help a little bit(placebo?), but not enough so I was still planning surgery. But maybe 6 months went by, and the same guy brings up the subject again, to mention about
how there were so many folks who never got someone to give them the shots. But, there was a new liposomal(sp?) form of B12 with folate, which unlike oral pills was absorbed almost as well as an IM shot, and they were having pretty good success with it. So I ordered some and tried it, it was very thick liquid that I would put between my gums and cheek, and it would mostly just disappear, absorbed.
Within about
a week, 17 years of shoulder pain was all gone. It is now another 17 years later and I still have full range of motion in my shoulder, no pain, and can sleep on my side. There have been one or two times in those 17 years where I felt it might be flaring up again, so I would get some more and take it for a few days until back to normal. Or last time, I just took some B12 sublingual tablets. So, several different experiences like that- with no apparent SEs- have given me a tendency to listen to some of these guys. And to believe there is at least some solid potential with a few non-prescript
ion approaches. And in my experience you are simply not going to hear about
them from main stream medicine. I did discuss the above- and other- approaches with my ortho. He said that probably none would hurt me, but none would help. And maybe he is right, maybe a wonderful placebo has helped me avoid shoulder surgery for 17 years. Who knows? My experience certainly proves nothing, my little study of 1. Although, good enough for me. You can bet that if I ever start showing similar symptoms again, I will be ordering some more of those liposomal B12/Folate drops!
Post Edited (BillyBob@388) : 6/27/2017 4:12:43 PM (GMT-6)