What OTCs / supplements do you take and why?

Question

Just wondering what the community is taking in terms of supplements, over the counter stuff, and perhaps also stuff that is not over the counter but easy to get, to help with focus and to maximally support brain function and help with fatigue.This is all in addition to reasonably regular excercise and healthy food intake. Personally I walk 45 min per day or more and cook food at home as much as I can.

Spooky23 · Accepted Answer

I take the money I would have wasted on supplements and eat a nice salad every day for lunch or dinner.

mickelsen · Answer

I get regular bloodwork as my insurance gives it at zero cost, so I just refresh an old medical order that I keep adding things to after chatting with my doc on what's relevant to measure. After trying several things, some of them without much effect or probably unsafe, I've settled for these:
+ Vitamin D3 5000 IU/d, measurements now give me 50 ng/mL, an improvement from my baseline which is lower than the minimum (historically 15, suggested lowest range in lab is 20) Megadoses of 100.000 or 50.000 for a few days, as given by doctors previously, just spiked this with a subsequent fall that wouldn't recover no matter how much sun exposure I got, or lower dosages, maybe with the exception of 2000 IU/d which keeps it a bit lower than 50 yet acceptable
+ A combination multivitamin with C-500mg, B-complex & zinc 15mg
+ High quality Omega 3s, more EPA than DHA, a few months a year. It improves LDL/HDL profiles.
A few promising ones that I may rotate in a given a year:
+ A combination magnesium/zinc combination pill, taken at night
+ Melatonin, a few weeks if I'm starting to stay up late
+ Glucosamine-chondroitin, seems promising long term to prevent joint issues
+ NAC
+ Creatine in capsules, less hassle than the powder
+ Probiotics
+ Stimulant pills with different caffeine forms (guarana, anhydrous...) and all the pixie dust energy drinks have, just to save money on those or when I get bored of coffee.

thensome · Answer

I've tried a bunch throughout my life, my mom has always been a supplement hippie, but i never notice an effect.
I took vitamin D for a while when i had a blood test showing that i was at the lower end of normal, but it didn't seem to feel any different. Aside from that, i have been on a prescription snri for almost ten years, and i consume coffee and marijuana often.
I tried melatonin, but I cannot confirm that it's any different than a placebo. I also tried progesterone and felt no effect, but my mom is in menopause and swears that it helps, so maybe I'll do it again when I'm older if i get hot flashes and stuff.
But yeah basically I'm a supplement skeptic unless you have blood tests indicating a deficiency.

kratom_sandwich · Answer

> Vitamin D supplements in winter> Fish oil because it is supposed to help brain function> Multivitamins because why not? No downside afaik and better not run into a deficiency.

farseer · Answer

An occasional multivitamin (once per week) in case I don't miss out on any critical nutrient.
Omega 3 pill, again once per week.
Coffee, tea and some chocolate to keep going during the day.
Try to eat a balanced diet with less sugar and of-course exercise

What OTCs / supplements do you take and why?

I take the money I would have wasted on supplements and eat a nice salad every day for lunch or dinner.

> Vitamin D supplements in winter> Fish oil because it is supposed to help brain function> Multivitamins because why not? No downside afaik and better not run into a deficiency.

An occasional multivitamin (once per week) in case I don't miss out on any critical nutrient.Omega 3 pill, again once per week.Coffee, tea and some chocolate to keep going during the day.Try to eat a balanced diet with less sugar and of-course exercise

> Vitamin D supplements in winter
> Fish oil because it is supposed to help brain function
> Multivitamins because why not? No downside afaik and better not run into a deficiency.

An occasional multivitamin (once per week) in case I don't miss out on any critical nutrient.
Omega 3 pill, again once per week.
Coffee, tea and some chocolate to keep going during the day.
Try to eat a balanced diet with less sugar and of-course exercise