(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best curcumin herbal supplements

I got recommended these supplements from my nutritionist. Supposed to help with lactic acid build-up and help with overall soreness/stiffness. I noticed im less stiff when I am taking these. THey are also anti-inflammatory. I get indegestion and i used to have problems with leaky gut so these helped with that also.

They are called Meriva-500. Also go grab a softball/baseball and roll ur muscles out afterward.

http://www.amazon.com/Thorne-Research-Meriva-500-Caps-Count/dp/B0017OP6FC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452202941&sr=8-1&keywords=thorne+meriva+500

This is what I use, looks like 500mg curcuminoids per capsule. I take three a day usually.
CuraMed Turmeric

I just bought a bottle of 750mg curcumin capsules that also contain piperine, these should work well! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0166KAW8M

https://www.amazon.com/Turmeric-Curcumin-Supplement-BioPerine-Incredipure/dp/B0166KAW8M -Curcumin

https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Answer-Organic-Alcohol-2-Fluid/dp/B0001LXPIM - Stinging nettle extract

https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/milk-thistle-extract-57-milliliter/vs-1546 - Milk thistle extract

I've got this 99% piperine extract powder, do you think taking 100mg of it ~30 mins before dosing DXM would have a noticeable effect?

Turmeric pills. I take these: https://www.amazon.com/NutriBounty-Turmeric-Curcumin-BioPerine-Pepper/dp/B017Q0YFE8/ref=pd_nav_hcs_bia_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=6AAKW46DYB2PYJCER6GQ

There are many brands these days so I'm not saying that particular one is the only one to take.

I had severe knee pain a couple years ago that I think was due to a vehicle accident I was in. It took over a year to manifest. It was so bad I was hobbling like a 70 year old construction worker. I can empathize with people walking like that so much more now. I took two of those pills a day (one morning, one before bed) for a month and the pain disappeared. I had steroid shots in that knee twice to help a little. I'm big-time anti-snake oil and I looked for alternative medicine since the shots barely helped. There are supposedly other benefits to turmeric but for now I'm happy w/ walking normally again with no pain. Still take two a day.

I thought it’d be useful to post a nicely-formatted list of everything I was taken, with links to the products as well as the evidence-based papers and studies for each.

Methodology

I won’t take anything based on someone saying “this worked for me.” It needs to have real, scientific evidence. I have read hundreds of journal articles, seeking out quality evidence for things that have been shown to help with ulcerative colitis.

Of things with evidence, I tend to focus on things that have the fewest side effects possible.

Unfortunately, some of these things are only available as “natural supplements” which means that rather than the active ingredient being perfectly isolated, they contain a bunch of other random stuff from wherever that came from. I tried to choose companies for the natural supplements that seemed reputable, so at least I’d hopefully be getting what they claimed I would.

Background

I was having a flare—including abdominal pain and blood in my stool. I continued taking my oral mesalamine, then as I had for previous flares, added a mesalamine enema, used nicotine patches, and took wheat grass tablets. I added each one every two weeks. After eight weeks, the blood had long since stopped, but the pain didn’t.

I contacted my doctor. He added prednisone at 40 mg/day. That made things worse. After a week, he upped me to 60 mg/day. After one week of that, and no improvement, I added many other things, as outlined below.

After taking all of these things for a month, the pain hadn’t stopped.

I had a colonoscopy, which showed no inflammation. None. My doctor and I agree the pain is likely from something else; I will soon have a CT scan to help figure out what.

Do any of the things below work? In theory any, all, or none of them could have contributed to my colon being perfectly normal and healthy. There is no way to know which, if any of these, did anything.

Everything I was taking, dosages, and evidence

IMPORTANT: Almost all of the studies referenced below combine these things with mesalamine. So nothing is a substitute for that! These must be taken in conjunction with mesalamine.


|Drug|Dosage|Study|Quality of Evidence|
|--|--|--|--|
|Prednisone ℞|40-60 mg/daily, then taper|Many|Excellent
|Lialda (mesalamine) ℞|2.4 g/daily|Many|Excellent
|Apriso (mesalamine) ℞|1.5 g/day|Many|Excellent
|Mesalamine Enema ℞|Nightly|Many|Excellent
|Visbiome (was called VSL#3)|225 billion CFU/day|Meta-analysis|Good
|Nicotine Patch|14 mg/day|Meta-analysis; Placebo-controlled|Good
|DHA/EPA (also sold as “fish oil”; this one is vegetarian because I am)|1080 g DHA+540 mg EPA/day|Meta-analysis|Good
|Wheat grass tablets|21 tablets/day|Placebo-controlled|Good; small study
|Sunflower lecithin|10 g/day|Meta-analysis|Good to moderate
|Curcumin (from tumeric)|2.6 g/day|Meta-analysis|Moderate
|EGCg|400 mg/day|Rat study|Good in rats; poor in humans; WARNING: Dosages over 338 mg/day cause liver toxicity
|Bupropion immediate release ℞|100 mg three times/day|Rat study; TNFα only|Poor; only shown to lower TNFα; no studies on its effect on UC; study done in rats
|Rutin|1.8 g/day|Rat study|Poor

℞ indicates a prescription drug. Mesalamine and prednisone are commonly prescribed for ulcerative colitis. Bupropion is normally prescribed as an antidepressant so your gastroenterologist may be reluctant to prescribe it for this, especially since there are no studies of its effect on ulcerative colitis in humans.