How do I know the correct dosage?

A friend had a bad allergic reaction and was put on drugs. And of course there were some side effects. She thought that it would be better to take a natural substance to deal with the inflammation. However, with all the different vitamins being promoted, she did not know what to take, or how to take it.

That was a different viewpoint. It seemed that it is much easier to just tell the doctor what is wrong and he would give you a drug to help you manage the problem and will tell you exactly how to take it.

Now, I’m on the side of fixing the problem, not just managing the symptoms The McVitamin’s website always looks to educate people about their health; what they can do to improve their condition and to build health.

But, one thing seems to be missing. If you buy a supplement, how do you know how much to take?

Drugs

I know that often someone who is used to taking drugs is afraid of taking too much. This is the right thing to do with drugs and you talk to your pharmacist or medical doctor about much and how to take it.

However, what about the Supplements?

Supplements

Now a good brand of food based vitamins will also have a contact page so you can ask about the dosage if there is any question. They will also usually give you that information when you purchase the product.

What about when you find a vitamin or herb that you buy off the shelf? How much can you take?

Herbs

Herbs you need to be more careful as you can take too much and you can have a bad reaction to an herb. That is why it is much smarter to take one herb at a time, not a number of herbs taken together in one formula. If you have a bad reaction to what you were taking, you won’t know which herb was creating the problem. When you take one at a time, you know which not to take. An herb bottle or company should tell you how much to take. This is especially important with herbs as there are so many qualities of herbal extracts, etc. Make sure you ask.

Herbs & Medications

If you ever have a question about taking an herb with a medication or another supplement, you should talk to your pharmacist; they have a database where they can check. People have more than one doctor and each can prescribe a different drug or drugs for their specialized field, so pharmacists need to have a database to make sure that you aren’t taking things together that you shouldn’t.

Vitamins (whole food vitamins)

We are talking here about vitamins made from food, not made artificially in the laboratory trying to mimic food.

Whole food vitamins are really food, so it isn’t going to hurt you. There are forty nutrients that cannot be made in the body. They are essential fatty acids, 15 vitamins, 14 minerals, and 10 amino acids. You take these to handle any deficiency so the body can be healthy or is able to build health.

So what do you do if you know that you should be taking a specific vitamin but don’t know how much to take and there are no instructions?

At a reputable healthy food store, you can ask someone who works there.

Or look at the label, the company has to give you a dosage and often it is a very low dose. But it is a baseline. Take that for 3 days if you don’t get a positive change, you might increase it slightly and take it for another 3 days. When you get a positive change you know that is what your body needs.

Once you are doing well, you may not have to take as much, but you want to improve your health by taking what you need. You should take a supplement that is addressing a condition for approximately 1 month for every year you’ve had the health situation.

If you have questions and aren’t sure what your body needs, you can always find a nutritionist (not a dietician) who is able to test you and even test to see which supplement will work best for you.

You can find a Nutritionist in your area here.

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