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Den, Thanks for your reply. The fear is due to possible unknown interactions and the use of substances without medical supervision. Here's what Aliza's biochemist brother wrote. "As for the Internet and anecdotal information, you know that anecdotal information is just that, not science. It really requires sophisticated background to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff_ it's not easy. It also seems to me that there's a pharmacokinetics problem here that requires a real expert." "Unproved dietary supplements(with respect to safety and efficacy) can be very dangerous to take when Aliza is on powerful prescription medications. The prescription medications themselves have to be very carefully titrated against each other to avoid antagonisms or synergisms or potentiations of one or another of the medications. Introducing dietary supplements of questionable safety and efficacy can very seriously compromise Aliza's condition. Another consideration which probably has not been taken into account is the effect of diurnal cycles and "time" on the effectiveness of the prescribed medications. By this I mean that the very same dose of a medication can have markedly different pharmacodynamic effects if given in daylight or at night or at differing times of the day. It is important that Aliza's medications be carefully controlled by the prescribing doctors and that they each know exactly what the other(s) have prescribed. Second guessing the doctors can be dangerous. It's bad enough that the doctors themselves don't always know what's what." Here's what Aliza's niece(a professor of physical therapy) wrote: "In the February 1998 issue of Scientific American is an article about the problems of dietary supplements. A presidential panel called the Commission on Dietary Supplement Labels is urging the FDA to review herbal dietary supplements with an eye towards regulation. The panel wants the herbal supplement companies to show proof of safety and effectiveness. A public advocacy health group called Center for Science in the Public Interest is quoted as saying that the health claims of these various supplements are "not a good example of systematic research." Their director, Bruce Silverglade, said that the research is based on proprietary studies by manufactures and not peer-reviewed. Other criticisms include the lack of a controlled-trial database and unsubstantiated health claims. In the Fall, my boss got Lyme Disease. She was taking a dietary supplement that inactivated her antibiotic. It took a while to discover why she was not getting better. Please do not insist that Aliza take dietary supplements unless you discuss the specific supplements with her physicians and get their OK." Wev already have in place in the PD archives(John Cottingham) info on PD drug interactions with prescription drugs.It would be helpful to add those nutritional supplements being used by PWPs and get some contributions from the medical community. Gil Lieberman,CG for Aliza ------------------------------------- Date: Thu, 22 Jan 1998 23:34:23 EST From: AJCWEP <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Should a PWP take Nutritional Supplements? I think it would be great to compile lists of supplements and their negative and/or positive reactions to pd. I know for a fact that when my husband runs out of pycnogenol or cellguard or liquid deprenyl he goes downhill. Now he's taking nadh again and it is also making a big difference. He takes many supplements and it would be nice to know which ones REALLY REALLY help and which ones do nothing much. As far as fear, if they have helped what is there to be afraid of? Den