Thal minor and supplements

My husband has thal minor and his cholesterol is slightly elevated.  His cholesterol has been either high normal, or slightly high for 10 years now and it makes me worry. 

He is very active, he was a triathlete and he is still quite active - we eat well and I am careful to give him supplements.  Currently I am giving him the Swiss Total One anti oxidant, Swiss Bone Solutions (Calcium 333mg, vit D3 150 I.U, vitamin K 5mg), Vitamin D 1000 IU)  (there is also 200 IU vitamin D in the multi), and omega 3. 

I think that he would benefit from taking vitamin E and the L-carnitine, L-arginine, CoQ10 blend that Andy has previously mentioned as well.  I don't know what dose of vitamin E he should be taking  (he is 5'9'' 160 lb).  I also don't know what dose of vit E I should be on (I am 5'4", 47kg).   

Would it be a good idea for thal minors to be on vitamin C as well? 

Thanks for the help,

Sharmin

Hi Sharmin,

I was thinking to start a new thread but your question came just in time. My son's (A thal minor), recent blood work showed very low body iron levels. He is exhibiting typical symptoms of low iron levels such as behavioural problems, loss of appetite, lethargy etc. He is on a iron supplement with vitamin C. We all know vitamin C helps in absorption of iron and is recommended with desferal for increased chelation.

As for your question, giving vitamin C to a thal minor will help them in several ways (Protection against cold, flu, building the ligaments in the body etc.) along with iron absorption. However, my personal view is that too many supplements and vitamin may cause imbalance (Hypervitaminosis - please see an introduction link below).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_poisoning

Strongly, in my personal opinion, supplements are good when you are known to be deficient in few things or not eating healthy. As a matter of fact, very few of us eat a balance diet which can be supplemented as a single 'Once a Day' vitamin. For special cases an additional supplement can be taken (such as calcium with vitamin D for thal major).

My two cents.

My daughter is almost 13 and very active.  She has thal minor (so do I) and her recent bloodwork showed her hemoglobin at 10.9.  Her doctor wanted to start her on iron therapy.  I went through the spiel about thal minor not necessarily being iron deficiient so she did a ferritin test and said her iron stores were fine and therefore not to take extra iron.   She is still recommending a multivitamin with iron, but I'm not convinced on that.. Any suggestions on vitamin/supplement levels for teens???
Thanks,
CLF

You can also get multivitamins without iron and they're much easier on the stomach too when they don't contain iron. As long as her ferritin levels are normal there is no reason to use iron. A good multi like Centrum Silver is usually sufficient.

Sharmin

From a personal expieence from one of my relatives, eating 4 carrots everyday for one month will lower the cholestrol. You can try it as there is no harm and you can compare the results before and after.

Canadian Family

strongly, in my personal opinion, supplements are good when you are known to be deficient in few things or not eating healthy

I agree with you too

CLF

Did you do a full iron study or just the ferritin level?

Andy

what is your explaination when the ferritin is in the normal range and serum iron is below than the normal range?

manal

Manal,

I talked about this recently in a post at http://www.thalassemiapatientsandfriends.com/index.php?topic=2127.msg18793#msg18793

When serum iron is low and serum ferritin is low to high, anemia of chronic disease may be the cause. This is anemia caused by the body, which is holding iron in serum ferritin to keep the iron supply from being accessed by some pathogen. Viruses and bacteria thrive on iron, so the body "hides" the iron in ferritin so the infection won't multiply so easily. Iron supplements will not help anemia of chronic disease. The solution is finding the underlying cause. Because serum ferritin levels can change during any illness, it is important to confirm these levels with a second test.

Thank you Andy, i don't how i missed this important post!!!!!!!

Amazing how our bodies defend themselves

manal

Thanks everyone for your tips on the cholestrol:) 

I had thought that vitamin e may be important too - as well as the NO inducers for people with high cholesterol. 

Sharmin

Manal -
In response to your question : 
CLF
Did you do a full iron study or just the ferritin level?
manal

I'm not sure what all they ran... I have requested the office to send me a copy of all the blood work, so I will see what all the results show then.. hopefully a few days..I think the dr wasnt really happy with me that I had questioned her putting my daughter on iron supplements until after further blood work, so I'm not sure what all she ran - other than now she says "take a multi w/ iron and we will check again next year!".  The ferritin level was supposedly 26.
Thanks for asking.

CLF, good luck. It is better to do full investigation before deciding what to give. Keep us updated

manal