Anybody Here Take Supplements?

[BKP]

http://www.eatingfabulous.com/take-your-vitamins-before-scuba-diving/

Interesting...

*Very* interesting article. I wonder if that explains cardiac events being the number one cause of diving fatalities (endothelial function reduction).

I've taken a statin for years (high cholesterol in the family... can't escape genetics), and while my numbers are great, one of the side effects can be muscle cramping (which can be aggravated by diving). I found out statins naturally reduce CoQ10 (necessary for normal heart function -- I don't understand why it's not co-prescribed with any statin). Long story short, I take CoQ10, and the cramping vanished... voila... go figure...

I eat lots of fish, but supplement with Omega-3.

I've heard more times then not, that C and E supplements are iffy at best, and dangerous at worst... However, after reading that article, I'm on board for a couple hundred mg. prior to each dive-day...

 

[mdmbike to scuba]

I wonder if there is a "personality Type" for people who "supplement?" I am guessing yes.

Does Creatine show up on the doping tests?

Not that I know of. I've take it many time in bodybuilding and never got a poss test. Mark

 

[Cacia]

B3 (Niacin) is sure getting a lot of press lately for cardiac health.

 

[Contrast]

Oh Yeah!

Creatine Ethyl Ester
Glutamine
Whey Protein
R-ALA
Multi-Vitamin
N.O. Xplode (pre workout)
L Taurine

 

[Psychicanimal]

I have decided to go back to diving after 20+ years of not doing it because of a recent & nasty foot surgery plus an already busted rotator cuff. Pretty much, the only heavy physical activity that I can do is swimming with fins. The podiatric surgeon gave me the OK to start exercising about 8 weeks ago, so I started walking on sand.

I've worked out *seriously* on and off for several years, mainly martial arts ( shoulder injury punching a 125 lb bag, anyone? ) running and swimming. The last year and a half I've ben working sitting down on a high stress job and commuting two hours...:shakehead

For supplementation I went to an AKG based supplement, NO2 Platinum, along with Acai & grapeseed extract juice. The rest is Glucosamine, vitamin E and Coral Calcium ( recommended by chiropractor ) plus multivitamin. After eight weeks I am walking 42 mins on a public beach's service road ( compacted sand ), resting for 10-12 then swimming to the buoy rope and straight legged kicking for 16 mins. I am 44, 5'9-250 lbs and am amazed at the progress I am making! My basal pulse is in the upper 60's, resting pulse around 75, after walking the 42 mins is 125 & the rope @ 140. My foot still hurts but I keep at it ( prudently after snapping a bone out of its socket ). Being unemployed at the time allows me to take 2 hr naps. A friend of mine is a marine bio and raised as an artisanal fisherman in a Caribbean fishing village and he's really surprised at the rate I'm improving. He doesn't know about the NO2 stuff & the Acai, though...:no

Once I reach 20 mins on the rope I plan to use Zoomers fins (red) & then move on to soft SCUBA/snorkeling fins ( Poseidon Forza ). A very stiff, NOS pair of Nemrod Venturi jet fins will follow.

I can't tout highly enough slow release AKG as a means to improve shape. I have used powdered arginine complexes before, taking 12-15 g before sleep and putting up w/ the side effects. Weight lifting and Arginine was intense, but slow release AKG is fantastic! I've lost 10+ pounds and increased leg muscle mass. Once my workouts become more grueling I will take a glutamine based post workout shake, Cytosport Recovery.

I buy distilled water by the case and my urine profile is, in my doctor's words, impeccable. I figure distilled water has a lot to do with this--my diet sucks.

***

 

[sgad]

Multi vitamin, extra vitamin C, some calcium with D, Ginseng and Ginko Bilobo.

Eating right is good too. veggies and berries. Blue Berries good for the circulatory system, so I've read.

 

[Beach_Bunny]

Multi-vit
glutiamine
CLA
Flax Oil
Whey Protein on days I do weight training

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Sam's Club multivitamin with minerals. Many years as a bachelor with bad habits who could eat anything and not gain weight - taken these or their equivalent since I was a kid, but never a chewable variety.

Melatonin - a wonder supplement for me - nightly, 3mg, for over 10 years now. Don't care what else it might do to me personally, the upside is too significant for quality of life in my case any downside is likely to pose for me.

Supplements are just part of my pharmacopia for quality of life though. I'm a big fan of modern medicine as well (allergies, migraine / cluster headaches, etc.). This has and will only increase with age I'm certain for me, for both meds and supplements.

Genetic lotto . . .

Tried the magnesium for potential migraine / cluster frequency reduction - no good for me, works for some others. Same with the anti-epilepsy-stuff, topirimate - no good for me. I'm kind of in a class all by myself on some of this, but modern relief after an onset meds like Zomig & Imitrex work around 70% of the time.


The wife however is healthy as a horse, takes only the multivitamins with minerals. She takes maybe 1 sick day off from work every 4 years, and it's got to be really bad for that to happen.

 

[Cacia]

What do you find it does for you?

Do you use the drops?

I use it for sleep but I know some people take it daily.

Melatonin - a wonder supplement for me - nightly, 3mg, for over 10 years now. Don't care what else it might do to me personally, the upside is too significant for quality of life in my case any downside is likely to pose for me.

I wonder if that explains cardiac events being the number one cause of diving fatalities

well, it's the number one cause of death a few times over even if you are not in the water right?

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

Sleep- melatonin - absolutely! Quality and quantity. There are other things that help me get to sleep, but once in that state, the melatonin is far, far more effective than anything else for staying in a restful sleep state until the alarm goes off - most times, and leaves me far more alert ater the alarm clock goes off. Just like the headache stuff, I was in my 30's before I got on this stuff.

I do know my father would have had a completely different quality of life on the headache stuff. The sleep disorder stuff was not an issue for either of my parents, my siblings, or my siblings' offspring. What's interesting is I have a friend who has also had sleep disorder issues I reconnected with last year after about a 10 year break - who has had zero benefit from melatonin, but we share a common scrip for effectiveness in getting to sleep. Just more evidence we each need to do what works for us each as individuals and just how poorly brain chemistry and sleep are understood even now by science. Nothing is 100%, there are still nights like tonight, but the frequency is so reduced, and the ability to genuinely focus during the day was a dramatic change - like not being narced to some degree most of the time I suppose is the best way to put it. I used to have to sit back down on the edge of the bed between putting each leg in my jeans or Nomex each morning before I tried melatonin - my wife (fiancee at the time) was a good independant source of info on the 'before' vs. 'after' change magnitude. I honestly don't think I could have kicked cigarettes a few years later without it.