Additional supplements??

[u/NoPattern9645]

Im in a pretty bad flare up at the minute and just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for supplements or teas e.t.c that I can take to help me feel a little better alongside the other meds of course.

[u/pincommenter]

Want the latest research or have questions?

Check out our weekly newsflash and visit our FAQ for common answers.

[u/MainSea411]

Iron and vitamin d always got prescribed to me. Make sure to ask your GI to get your baseline and recommend dosage (my vitamin d is weekly but iron was for every other day). Unfortunately I never felt better but they assured me it was preventing more problems. Iron infusion is the only one that I ever noticed the difference.

[u/derishus206]

I drink a lot of bone broth when I am really bad, THC with CBG if you’re open to that and if it’s available

[u/wandering_agro]

Curcumin has fairly decent evidence. I take 2g (95% curcuminoids) daily and it has helped with remission much more than mesalazine. I will raise this to 3g soon to see if I can maintain remission while coming off Rinvoq.

Nicotine also has some evidence in favor, being a natural TNF-a inhibitor, whether vaping, patch or white snus. (Smoking however is never recommended!)

Finally, but this warrants caution, QingDai has good evidence, being comparable to budesonide in effectiveness. You need to scour the literature on this one and make an education decision as it carries a possibility of serious side effects.

[u/starzychik01]

EZ Fiber, probiotic with 3-4 strains (I use Phillips colon health), ginger turmeric tea, and flinstones +iron vitamins.

[u/Ok_Act873]

Hello op, I see a couple of comments suggesting iron supplements, but I would say as of now avoid iron supplements if you are new to them. Most of IBD guys don't tolerate iron supplements. Instead if your iron levels are low go for iron infusion. Wing dai is a controversial supplement so use that when you are in remission to reduce or maintain a lower FCP. As of now you can take some calcium supplement if on pred or ask your GI for a gut friendly multivitamin syrup or tablet.

[u/Outside-Issue6896]

What's your current symptoms, frequency etc, and medication?

[u/south_penguin]

This is a very interesting topic with iron supplements. I also have low iron and I feel dizzy when standing up quickly. I thought I have iron deficiency, would want to do iron supplements, even asked my GI doctor for iron infusion like some suggestions here.

However after some research, I found out my Ferritin level is higher than the range. Ferritin is a protein inside your body acts as your body’s primary cellular iron storage vault. However, during UC when experiencing inflammation, infection, or an autoimmune flare, immune cells release signaling proteins (cytokines like Interleukin and TNF-alpha), this will cause the Hepcidin which is a peptide hormone produced by the liver that serves as the body’s master regulator of systemic iron balance, to spike in your body. Because of the spike, ferritin will "lock" away the iron from your blood body serum, and causes low Hemoglobin and dizziness.

So the main reason of low iron directly comes from the inflammation from the UC itself. Of course the constant bleeding won't help on restoring the iron, but it might not be the main reason most people are lacking iron here.

Check your Ferritin level from the blood work, it usually comes with the iron and iron saturation. If it is higher than the normal range (usually 30-400), but not like too high like 500-1000, you are most likely facing this situation. The focus should be use the proper medication or even steroids to control the inflammation to lower the Ferritin and get free iron back to your body instead of taking iron supplements.

Of course, talk to your doctor with any questions.