Meeting with integrative medicine specialist (supplements)

Hi All

I wanted to report back about my meeting with Jillian Capodice at Mt. Sinai Urology in NYC

Well.....it seems there is a little here for both camps....the pro supplement and the no supplement arguments

First off she really knows a lot about prostate cancer and especially radiation induced prostititis.
I would say she probably knows more about prostate cancer issues than most garden variety urologists. More than two I have seen last year. She described my symptoms more accurately and gave me more information.

As far as supplements go: saw palmetto in her opinion works for maybe 1/4 of those who take it. She actually said its really more like 10%.....she didn't consider it to be very effective. For some...a few men it works...but not the majority by any means. I think that's pretty much what the general consensus on this forum actually is.

She actually suggested flowmax and possibly low dose cialis for urinary symptoms and flow....much like many medical establishment doctor would.

No to most other supplements for the prostate (stinging nettle etc) also no special vitamins just a good basic diet.
Little to no dairy.....most of that we already knew.

some supplements she did recommend

Urinary function: 　6 weeks of l-glutamine for bladder/mild cystitis. 　For stream will consider discussion about restarting tamsulosin or another alpha blocker

Prostatitis/Referred pain: 　Quercetin 1500mg BID 6 weeks (Try to get Jarrow brand)

I was a bit disappointed there weren't more natural supplements that could be beneficial....and of course she is not that last word on the subject. However....she has done a lot of research and has practical experience dealing with mens issues so she not only goes by the studies but see's what works in the field.

Most of our conversation was about prostitis issues and did not really discuss what I could do to help prevent a re occurrence. I will email her about that, I speculate that is already included in her suggestions....but I want to be more specific.

Was it worth it. Overall I would say "yes". At least I'm not taking something that can cause issues with the PSA or cause more harm than good. Bottom line is there is no natural silver bullet and we just have to use what we can from nature and combine them with pharmaceuticals when needed.

If the pain from the prostitis gets bad flares up I could try acupuncture which she does suggest can help with pain.

Hope this helps!

Thank you fuzz...

Did she offer or you explore anything more specific on "a good basic diet"?

Wilderness

We talked about diet. Somewhat.... I am prone to kidney stones so we talked about that issue. Other than eating a healthy diet she really didn't suggest anything. She said keep the sugar low, nothing new. I just emailed her about how much fruit vs vegetables (hate that word veggies) and of course she said fruit is good but more vegetables are better, Less sugar. I asked her about ALA in flax and tofu..no problem. She said coconut is OK and I eat a lot of that cause of the kidney stones my diet is somewhat limited, so we talked about what I can eat. But its just basically a heart healthy low oxolate diet for me.

Honestly I should have talked to her more about nutrition, or pressed her more...but she didn't go into detail. She said ask her any question I had. She always had an answer. She said I can email her with questions I didn't ask. I've already sent about 6 which is not that smart. Should have consolidated them. I will ask her about D3 which I take and B12 which I take also about. CBD oil.

I just sent an email basically saying if there is anything I can take or eat to help prevent a re occurrence of prostate cancer let me know.(which should be implied just by my visit I would think) If there was important information about nutrition or a supplement that I didn't ask about I would hope that she would have suggested it. But sometimes you do have to ask and dig to get all the info you want.

We spent a lot of time discussing prostitis and sexual issues and how the prostitis effects and is effected by sexual activity. She knew more on this than any urologist I have seen...so I had a lot of questions about that.
Its is off topic of this thread but obviously applies to part of the reason for my visit.

Its kind of odd that the person on this forum who had seen her years ago said the visit was mostly about discussing nutrition, but with me she did not go into detail when I asked about how I should eat. But did go into detail about radiation induced prostititis, and that is one of her main issues she focuses on. So I did get a lot of good information on that.

I should have had forum members give me some specific questions to ask. I wrote down a bunch.
I will email her a few more questions....if anyone has a good one, let me know. Obviously there is a limit to how many emails she will answer, and I may end up testing that. You can't really do that with a doctor...you can up to a point.

does not believe in supplements but does believe in acupuncture lol! for bonus points do you remember what Archie Bunker called acupuncture?