Who takes vitamins every day? I go through phases. For about 10 years, I took a daily birth control pill. That was easy. It was small and I could take it without water. It kept my periods predictable and, well, kept me from getting pregnant! For 6 years I took a daily breast cancer preventative pill. That was easy because it was small but the impact was BIG. It was saving my life. But vitamins and supplements…not so easy for me to take. The pills are big, which I hate, and I just don’t feel committed to them. There’s no instant gratification. That’s a big culprit in my lack of motivation. I don’t have the patience to wait for results so I give up. But I dusted off an old pill box and I’m making an effort to fill it every week with the following:
Women’s One-A-Day: I figure this is a general, all-in-one daily vitamin.
Caltrate with vitamin D: I’ve historically been low in vitamin D, as is a lot of the US population. But for some reason my oncologist was really concerned with this and at one point put me on high dose vitamin D. Caltrate was something she suggested as a maintenance vitamin. So I figure I’ll try to keep up with it so my vitamin D levels don’t drop again. Plus I need the calcium so I don’t get osteoporosis, right?
Vitamin C: I did go through one winter taking vitamin C pretty regularly, and I felt like it really kept up my immunity and I didn’t get sick much that winter. So I’ll continue to take that daily so I don’t get sick. I ain’t got time for that.
Fish Oil: I’ve been reading many, many benefits of adding a fish oil supplement and my husband just so happened to have some, so I’ve added that to my daily pill organizer. It seems to help with everything from cancer prevention to joint pain to skin care and stress.
Hair, Skin and Nails: This is something new I purchased recently, definitely for my peeling nails, but more for my skin. Some background…when I came off Tamoxifen, an estrogen blocker because I had estrogen positive breast cancer, my hormones went haywire. I put on about 20 pounds (I used that excuse for about a year then decided it was probably time I faced the truth), my periods became extremely heavy and long, and I developed melasma (dark skin pigmentation) which I didn’t realize at the time was hormonal. I was treating the melasma as a giant freckle on both sides of my face and purchased prescription skin bleachers. I used this stuff religiously and used sunscreen like I’ve never used sunscreen before. But through the long, cold winter, I noticed minimal difference in the discoloration. Not to mention I’m trying to reduce chemicals in my life, not add to them. The more I researched melasma, the more I learned that it was more hormonal and many had success treating from the inside out. So, introduce the Hair, Skin and Nails supplement. No clue if this will do the trick, but I figure it can’t hurt, plus it’s a gummy vitamin! Talk about EASY to take. 🙂
So that’s what’s in my pill box. What’s in yours?
