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UNDER CONSTRUCTION !!

• Why do we need a "disclaimer" - aren't vitamins safe ?

Yes, vitamins are eminently more safe than prescribed or FDA approved drugs and over-the-counter drugs in general but it is still very important to use them with precautions in mind.  Nothing is safe all the time for every person.

Although most vitamins & nutrients are naturally occurring in foods we eat and/or in our bodies, taking them in higher dosages is unnaturally natural.  I use dosages that are therapeutic or almost medicinal.

• If this is the case, shouldn't they be prescribed by a doctor ?

Nutritional doctors have the knowledge and experience they need to be able to prescribe them.   But they don't feel they should be by prescription only.

However, traditionally trained doctors have a few hours of training at best, in the use of nutritional supplements.   They are literally brainwashed against them.  Their training is predominantly in the use of drugs rather than nutrients.  In fact, the general lack of knowledge in the ordinary doctor is, to me, harmful.

When an uneducated doctor with no training in the field of nutritional medicine tells me that "supplements don't work" - isn't that fraud, isn't that malpractice ?

I know more about using nutritional supplements than my HMO doctor does.

Most doctors just don't have enough education in nutritional medicine to even render an opinion.  So, in my opinion, they shouldn't !   They need to just admit that they are not qualified to answer any more than the plumber knows about electricity.

• Does this mean we don't have to go to the doctor ?

No !  We still need our regular, non-nutritionally trained insurance doctors !  Why ?

If I get in a car accident, I will depend on what my doctor DOES know (which is a lot !) to save my life !

Also, I go to my regular doctor regularly, for annual check-ups, blood tests for cholesterol, liver function and lots of other tests and screenings for my age and gender that he/she can help me with. I believe in preventive maintenance.

• So why go to the doctor just so we can take vitamins ?

Because you need to get a check-up and blood tests every year with the doctor to make sure you are "healthy" overall.

Even though vitamins are generally good for you, they can be a stress to an unhealthy organ like your liver or kidneys.

And the doctor needs to diagnose the kind of depression you have.  I have "Unipolar" depression and don't know much about "Bipolar" - and some supplements have to be taken with extra caution for Bipolar or Manic Depression.

If  you are pregnant and breastfeeding, you need to look everything up individually just to be sure.

If you are a depressive type I would take lots of vitamins and build up myself up before getting pregnant.

I am sure I would have had terrible postpartum depression.   That's one reason I am still glad I had no children and had myself sterilized at age 23 - yikes !   Actually that isn't why I did it - I just didn't want kids.  It was right for me - certainly not suggesting it for anyone else !

• Shouldn't vitamins have to go through the FDA approval process ?

In my opinion, no.  In the opinion of most nutritional doctors, no.  Why ?

Drugs go through this process because they are usually lethal and toxic chemicals which if approved and used carefully can treat an illness and save lives.

They are usually poison or foreign to the body.  They are usually very harmful or even deadly if misused or overdosed.

Even over the counter drugs where the patent has run out are potentially harmful or dangerous far more so than nutritional supplements in general.

And as far as I know, the FDA is not comprised of doctors, and especially not nutritionally educated doctors.  They "don't believe" in vitamins and are generally against them.  The drug companies and politics seem to run the show.   And there have been a lot of deadly mistakes made lately.

Whereas we already know that vitamins are familiar to the body.  The body needs and uses vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other nutrients all day, every day, to build and operate our bodies.  It searches through a tummy full of food for these nutrients.

Most nutritional doctors feel that they are generally safe even in rather higher than MDR amounts.  But there are always exceptions and we should learn as we go and not be careless.

Just think of all the over the counter drugs we have access to. We are supposed to be reading the labels on the prescribed drugs we take and over-the-counter drugs we buy !  Some children have died from parental mistakes - poor child - poor parent.  The point is we need to be careful about what medicines or pills we swallow !

Herbs are another story.  They are not as natural to the body and are more medicinal, yet do contain phytochemicals.    Again, knowledge and experience are needed.  There are lots of doctors who know about herbs.