What Do Milk Thistle and Zinc have in Common?

I think we’ve all experienced a certain reluctance when it comes to seeing doctors.  It’s either fear of doctors (it’s a thing, really – latrophobia), or it’s the frustration of finding a good one, or maybe it’s a question of time, or insurance and healthcare costs…   There is also the issue of having a doctor that might not take all of your concerns as seriously as you do.  Or maybe she leans West and you lean East but you like her otherwise.  Or maybe there’s just never enough time to explore all of the questions, and issues and thoughts you might want to dive into…

I feel like I’ve experienced almost all of this.  As I’ve gotten older and perhaps a little more jaded when it comes to seeing doctors, and either getting prescriptions shoved down my throat, or vague shrugs on how to treat certain conditions, I decided that I wanted to empower myself with both information as well as self-help.  I also wanted to treat myself naturally, with herbs and supplements and vitamins that might be overlooked by a traditional doctor.  There were times that I went to doctors and I knew if I complained loudly enough I’d get whatever the latest prescription the young reps might be touting, but if I didn’t cry out with enough passion, my condition or concerns would be brushed aside.  There wasn’t an alternative.  Drugs or nothing.  At least that’s how it felt at times.

So gradually, I started weighing out issues and for those that seemed less critical, but that I felt needed to be addressed on some level, I hit the internet.

Of course what I found were wildly different web sites, and wildly different answers on how to go about treating these conditions and issues.  It became clear that there were a million possible answers and though some of them were the same, there were very few places with a consolidation of those answers and the research was a bit overwhelming…

It became clear to me that if I wanted to take all that information and truly absorb it, I would need to consolidate it, boil it down and distill it.  And the seeds of this blog germinated…

The Method:

• Search the internet for your ailment and issue in as many ways as you can think
• Find key words and then change those key words and search again
• For each time you see something suggested or recommended, write it down and then start tallying each occurrence.
  • Eg. Milk Thistle ////
  • Zinc ///
  • Chastberry //
  • Vitamin C
• After exhausting your search engines, web pages and key words, look at your results.
• Poof – a picture emerged.  I might have lots of suggestions written down, but only a few had a decent number of tallies beside them, while some had an overwhelming number of tallies.  Sometimes I stopped counting.
• Then I created a final list – what were the most overwhelmingly, popular recommendations?
• Then I put them into a spreadsheet (I know, how type A of me).
• The spreadsheet was a way to create a chart where I could list out each of the recommendations I wanted to research further,  add a note for anything specific, concerning, bad side effects, etc, as well as the range of recommended dosage for safe levels of intake.  (I did this for fun! Really! Without being asked I did it for friends and co-workers.  I’m pretty sure they thought it was strange that I was kinda excited about it).
• I’m giving away my secrets here.  But here’s the thing.  It’s a lot of work.  So if you want to go do it, be my guest and may I give you my blessing.   If you’d rather not, I’ve done the work for you…

 

Today’s topic goes back to what Milk Thistle and Zinc have in common…  and for that matter, considering that the photo at the beginning of  this blog is one I took of my own vitamin collection, how are these supplements also connected to Chasteberry (Vitex), probiotics or krill oil…

Honestly, if I were you and I hadn’t done the research I’d be clueless.  I might assume it was an auto-immune condition, or something to do with immune function…   and it does but not in the way that you might think.

All of these things are connected to……………drum roll…………

HORMONAL ACNE

And guys, before you sign off right here, let me tell you that unfortunately you too could be a possible victim of this frustrating condition since the most potent stimulators of sebaceous glands (oil glands) are the male hormones known as androgens including testosterone.  Since men naturally have more testosterone related hormones in their bodies, it may be more likely that they you’ll have an increased risk of acne.

So, you want a miracle cure right here and now?  No Problem!!  Well, sort of…  I think I’ve got half of this covered.  It feels miraculous but it’s not immediate.  In fact, not much is…  You can certainly use a topical cream or even a pill that might seem to work some miracles, but consider the side effects.  There’s a pill out there you can take that causes birth defects…   I said No Thanks to that!  But what if I told you that after a few weeks you’ll notice the difference – and you might just reap a few more beneficial effects on top of it.  If you’ve dealt with this for a significant amount of time already, what’s a few more weeks?

So here’s your regimen and dosage – follow for at least a month (longer is preferable) – and let me know how it goes!! 

• Omega 3 Fatty Acids – (Krill oil is ideal or fermented cod liver oil) – Follow product dosage.
• Chastberry (Vitex is a brand name for it) – this is specifically for women (also good for PMS as a whole) –  Follow product dosage.
• Zinc (picolinate) – 10-15mg/day. 
• Probiotics – Follow product dosage.
• Magnesium/Calcium Supplement – 100 – 300 mg doses incrementally.   A nice bonus for magnesium is that it helps diminish stress and may help you sleep so taking it before bed can be a good idea.
• Milk Thistle (for women) – 100 – 300 mg daily
• DIM Complex/Estroblock (for women) – 50 mg/day (DIM)
• Vitamin D –  Dosage is between 1000 and 4000 IU/day.

 

Please make sure you pay attention to your body and how you react to these things.  Starting out with a smaller dosage and increasing slowly is always the safer way to go!  Also, I urge you to research these on your own.  You might find that these have other really amazing side effects that you should be looking for and conscious of…    And lastly, if you have a sever reaction to anything or suspect it’s from one of these supplements, stop taking these immediately seek out immediate help as needed.  But I sincerely hope you’ll see both a topical benefit and maybe an internal one too…