Supplements - mega thread, what, how much, why?

Hello All,

Let me first say, this is a great place to be. I learned a lot after visiting this place and have been reading 'a lot' since then, to educate myself and also checking up with scientific literature.

Most of us take some kind of supplements, may it be prescribed by the specialist or some otherwise. The idea of this thread is to find out,
1. Which are most common supplements?
2. Which brands do we trust / use most? (if you switched from other brand, which one you changed from and why?)
3. What dosage is used by the majority?
4. If the user knows, why they are taking it? If they do, then let others know.

I will be very glad (and thankful) if you could post your reply, as succinct as possible, exactly as I have posted the questions. (It will be easier to read later on)

A typical answer could be
1. Fish Oil
- Brand ABC
- xxxx mg
- The reason, if you know.

2 GNC mega men multi daily
2 fish oil capsules - costco bottle
2 flaxeed capsules - costco
2 calcium capsules - costco
2 vitamin c capsules -costco
1 b12 capsule -costco
1 serving at night metamucil - luckys

These are all taken to counteract the negative effects of some of my meds and vitamin needs for my body in general. I cant get a lot of those from foods since I tend to hate/avoid veggies plus I also use protein shakes as meal replacements since Im lazy. The costs are pretty low, Id say 30$ a month for all those vitamins tops.

I also take Gaspari superpump 250 and Gaspari Sizeon for weightlifting as well and these are the more expensive supplements. The cost comes out to roughly 75$ a month.

- One multivitamin daily - to help with what my broken guts do not absorb
- 3 Grapeseed extract 155mg with meals - antibacterial antifungal and intestinal inflammation blocker
- 2 Caltrate plus calcium + vitamin d with meals - to hold D in check, soaks up liquid and bile acids in intestines (plus I have bone loss)
- 1 ferrous gluconate iron supplement 300mg - holds D in check (plus I have low iron)
- -psyllium husk powder 1 tbsp twice daily with water - provides marvellous bulk, packages your waste in a tidy gelatinous package for expulsion almost at your own convenience

Off probiotics or yogurt and off all meds including Pentasa after 7+ years

There are only 3 members intersting in sharing what supplements they take? My original idea was to make it a mega thread so that it can be converted to a sticky for all new members. It will certainly help rather than repeating some information already available as our signatures.
Thanks in advance.

B12, 2,000 mcg -- for energy (I don't even know if it works...)
Slow FE - 45 mg -- I'm forever anemic it seems. (In my really bad days, I had to take three 65mg pills a day =[ )
Citrocal+D (calcium - 1,260mg -- D - 1,000 IU) -- helps my bones from the steroids. I'm in the clear so far.
A - 8,000 IU -- supposed to help your immune system and eyes
Biotin, 5,000 mcg -- for my hair
George's Aloe Vera Juice -- I drink at least one shot glass a day. It has REALLY helped my gastritis/general heartburn issues. It's impressive.

I don't have this all in my signature..

HI! I have studied the whole vitamin thing for 11 years since my diagnosis and have the 100's of bottles to show for it. My goal though was to be med-free because I could not handle all the side-effects of the medicine. So here goes: In the Breaking The Viscious Cycle (Elaine Gotschall - biochemist fonder of SCD DIET) she has very specific amounts and a list of no-no fillers that are in 98% of most brands. The basice 3 she recommends are from Freeda Vitamins out of New York. They are very coat effective if you buy them in the Large size - She also helped formulate them.
They are: SCD Multi-vitamin - 3 a day to replace everything going out of you and to cover all your basis. SCD multi B - this is crucial to rebuil your adrenals (which meds shut down) have energy, re-build cells, calm the nervous system, etc... I break them in half and take twice because they are very strong. SCD calcium with D - this of course is for us SCD'rs who only have homemade yogurt. I also take a very high quality fish-oil 3,000 mg spread out for inflammation - I tried all brands and do best on Metagenics but you have to get from a doctor or chiro. Also important is a probiotic and enzmes. Here again i've made lots of mistakes and made myself sicker because it does matter what supplements you take. You are not supposed to take anything with Bifidus because for us it feeds the critters. On pecanbread.com the mentioned some "legal" companies and I have to tell you I am so impressed with Kirkman out of Oregon I think. I love their probiotic - lactobacillus acidophilus scd of course. And I take their EnZym-complete DPP-IV ll with isogest before every meal. If I follow this regimen, I don't get the cramps etc... If it helps, I am med-free, my freind is celiac and went into remission a year ago with this and so did my other friend who has chrohns. Sorry this is so lengthy and good luck! This diesease is the worst!!!!!

I usually compare cost and ingredients when deciding what brand to buy. Plus, I have trouble swallowing pills; so I look for capsules. Brands may change depending on what is on sale.

Resveratrol - 2/day, preliminary tests show it to be anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, blood-sugar-lowering, ...
Probiotics - 2/day, to help balance my fecal flora.
Omega-3 - 2/day, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, good for the heart, good for depression and anxiety, ...
Cranberry - 2/day, good for preventing and treating bladder infections.
Collagen - 3/day, good for the connective tissue, helps offset damage to the connective tissue from prednisone.
Gindgold, Bilberry, Biloba - 2/day, good for preventing muscle degeneration of the eyes.
Calcium/Vitamin D, 1/day, for the bones.
Glucosamine, Chondroitin - 1/day, good for the joints.
B-12, 1/every once in awhile, good for anemia.
iron, in Cheerios, good for anemia.
Women's multi-vitamin, 1/every once in awhile, in case I missed getting something.
Vitamin C, a lot whenever I get a cold or the flu, which isn't often.