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Barb - I am so sorry you experienced the potentially dangerous anomoly and I'm going to try to clarify a potential misunderstanding. BUT what was said about the supplements --- requires more of an explanation. I think it is REAL IMPORTANT to understand this and that PD folks need these supplements. With everything else you do in life you exercise balance. >The reason my doctor told be to stop taking the vitamins and >supplements, including vitamin E, Gingko Biloba, Coenzyme CQ10, >and the Centrum Silver multivitamins was because it's definitely >known that vitamin E, and Gingko-related supplements cause blood >to slow down in coagulating, thus potentially causing excessive >blood loss during surgery. Gingko Biloba helps bring oxygen to the brain and the cells. It can help speed up the circulation of the blood. Vitamin E and certain fats --- well, it's not necessarily that they slow down coagulating, I would not put it that way. What this does is get rid of Free Radicals, thus protecting our enzymes, DNA, etc. from free radical damage, stabilizing cell membranes and protecting the tissues of the skin, eyes, liver, breasts and testes. Simply, it function is to stabilize blood fats so the blood vessels, heart and entire body are protected. In doing so, FAT in blood does NOT BUILD UP and it kind of makes the blood a bit more "slippy". You do NOT want to take A LOT of Vitamin E if you have low blood pressure or if you have trouble with clotting or if you are pregnant (because you run the danger of hemorrhage when birthing) or about to undergo surgery. If you have trouble clotting, its not that you should eliminate VItamin E, it is that you should ingest Vitamin K which is probably depleted (made in the large intestine and generally depleted due to drugs). Doctors look at things differently. They are used to looking at things in isolation, i.e., cause and effect. Their education has not included understanding about nutritional cascades, i.e., where something starts and all the things that happen down the line. This is why they say Vitamin E slows coagulation. That's not exactly what is happening. What it is doing is making the blood less fatty, less clogged up. Therefore, they are very good for people with clogged arteries Few people understand the importance of Vitamin K --- or even its existence. This is also one of the components of bone and used for osteoporesis supplements. Like anything else, you need to be careful. You wouldn't eat gobs of spinach every day either, would you? That's because we are used to spinach and understand what it does. Should we have prescriptions for spinach? All it is -- is --- a lack of education. If you feel these supplements are not good, you may want to cut back a little bit or eliminate for a month and then take smaller amounts later on. These are excellent supplements for PD folk. Supplements should NOT be available by prescription. Who would prescribe them? Why should I have to pay for a doctor and then pay 10 times more for something just so someone can write a paper when all I have to do is educate myself a little bit and exercise common sense? Good luck. - Marilyn - Marilyn Gang [log in to unmask] Toronto, Ontario, Canada