What vitamins does a Pharmacist take?

Covid recently celebrated its 1 birthday and the world changed because of it. I don’t want to brag but I still have a job, regular income, and strong health and I’m incredibly humbled by such blessings.

Working in a pharmacy these days is not easy though.

Face masks are no issue, we’ve been wearing them 12 hours a day since march so I literally don’t even register it anymore. What’s draining is the constant new covid cases among pharmacists and a anticipation of being next. I had more covid positive colleagues than I ever imagined and the protocol for health care workers became a new strange routine.

You get in contact with a positive person, get tested yourself, and continue working like nothing happened. It’s just so absurd to be worried sick about colleagues in a hospital with covid and still have patients with facemask under their noses complaining about the economy and protesting pandemics in the streets.

No one is immune, not even pharmacists but I’ve been trying to tilt the luck my way since march by taking several of the supplements.

It’s not like vitamins gonna protect you from covid, trust me I’m well aware of that, I get paid for knowing stuff.

It’s all about having the calmest, most manageable course of the virus outbreak and the mildest symptoms possible but even that’s not a 100% guarantee.

But what’s the worst that could happen by taking vitamins?

(speaking about regular adult with no diseases or pre-existing conditions)

You can argue that you get plenty of vitamins from food and that you don’t need supplements and if that’s the case that that’s truly awesome.

But let’s speak from experiences. I know myself pretty well and I know for a fact that my eating habits are terrible. Irregular eating, processed food, fast food because who has time to cook every day and apple a day is much harder than it sounds. I’m terrible at even taking the supplements but it’s still better than nothing and it works for me.

At the covid beginnings when there were no studies available and pharmacists were filled with people demanding vitamin C. It was the first time in my career I saw our pharmacist so out of stock and distribution unable to keep up with the enormous demand.

Again please keep in mind that I am a professional and I know what I’m talking about.

I take at least 700mg of vitamin C with prolonged-release per day (from time to time I add 1000mg in effervescent tablets to the mix).

The human body is a fascinating little thing and it takes what it needs from your food or supplements. The dosage written on the box is not the whole amount your body’s gonna take.

For example, it’s better to take small dosages of supplements per day to ensure your body takes as much as possible than taking one enormous dosage at once and expecting a miracle.

But working with people taught me that people believe “the more the merrier” and are deaf to reasoning so in those cases I save my energy with explanations of facts to people unwilling to listen.

So it’s either a liposomal vitamin C or time-release vitamin C once a day or a smaller dosage of vitamin C up to 4 times a day that works the best.

Just a reminder that vitamin C is dissolved in water- meaning you’re gonna pee out what your body doesn’t need. It sounds simple and safe enough but ask yourself if your kidneys need extra work.

There were studies about the positive effect of vitamin D in fighting covid back in march but the population’s focus was on vitamin C and it was so hard to recommend vitamin D to patients.

Now with the second wave of covid, everyone wants vitamin D and of course, it’s out of stock in most of the pharmacies.

I’ve been taking a dosage of 2000 UI od vitamin D per day. The usual daily dosage is around 1000UI but as most of the population is underdosed I take more of it. This vitamin is stored and dissolved in fat and that’s why the whole dosage and overdose is a bit more complicated.

Vitamin D comes in a form of drops and tablets and you’re supposed to take it with some fatty food for better absorption. You have an option of taking it once a day in drops or tablets or a stronger dosage like just once a week.

The first study of vitamin D and covid was a bit controversial, cuz it basically said that what people who died of covid had it common was the low levels of vitamin D.

But as I mentioned most of Europe has low levels of vitamin D so it’s like saying that everyone who died of covid had two eyes, so is two eyes a reason people died of covid? Of course not…

Later studies show better immunity reaction in those infected with covid and proved to have an easier case of the disease than the ones with the low levels of vitamin D so that’s in my option more relevant study.

The fact reminds that you should level up your intake of vitamin D no matter the virus.

Another pill I take is a combination of zink and selenium.

Another supplement to boost your immunity and besides it’s gonna make your skin, hair and nails look better so call it a win-win.

Selenium and zink were part of another research paper send to our pharmacy as study material back in march but till this day people are not much up to it, maybe because it’s just a fact of science and it wasn’t yet announced on TV. (both vitamin C and vitamin D were broadcasted as a recommended supplements by the mainstream news)

Take it separately as a selenium and zink or in a product that combines those two like I do.

Probiotics- not really for fighting covid but I think it’s important to realize that all of the vitamins from either food or supplements are resorbing in your digestive system and if that’s not working correctly you might as well pour all of the pills down the toilet cuz that’s gonna be the same effect.

Vitamin B in a complex form, as there is more than just one type of vitamin B.

Besides boosting immunity it helps your nervous system keep it together in these hectic times.

I myself take a stronger version and it’s so freaking interesting to actually notice your body’s intake of this vitamin.

Site note: this vitamin is also dissolving in water and if your body has enough of vitamin B you simply pee it out but your pee is super yellow almost neon color. It’s completely natural so no need to freak out.

One of the vitamins B I take in separate form is vitamin B12. I’ve been vegetarian for years and I still have a complicated relationship with meat. I’m not a fan so I’m missing 2 things a meat is good for- B12 and iron. This resulted in me fainting a lot and being fatigue most of the time but it’s still easier for me to swallow 2 small pills a day than to force myself to eat an animal.

iHerb offers B12 in drops and tablets. The same goes for iron -drops and tablets. I’m taking tablets and just the daily dosage of 14mg.

Both of those vitamins are highly individual and it’s important to consult a professional before taking them.

I believe magnesium is a pretty common supplement but let me sum up basic info for you.

Most of the population don’t have enough of it and it causes plenty of troubles. It’s responsible for crappy stress responses, cramps, tingling feelings, or headaches.

There are so many magnesium supplements so how do you choose the best for you?

The same thing with the dosage as I mentioned with vitamin c goes with magnesium. The smallest dosage the better for absorption.

But it’s not that easy and it comes in with a twist in a form of different molecules and different resorption.

To compare the absorption it goes chelat>citrat>lactate> oxide form of magnesium.

So obviously the best resorption has a chelated form but from my experience, it also has the biggest tablets.

Even though I take so many pills I hate swallowing big tablets and I try to avoid it as much as possible.

My magnesium of choice is citrate form dissolving in water.

Ideally, I swallow all of the pills I take with a glass of magnesium and I’m good for the day, even though it’s better to take magnesium in the evening.

Another popular supplement I take is omega 3 fatty acids in a capsule form. Cholesterol, heart, brain, skin, eyes, hair… you name it and omega 3 is good for it.

I’m not a fan of omega 3 in liquid form even though most of the brands add flavor to it to cover the fishy smell and taste but I’m still grossed out by it.

The last pill I’m taking is L-tryptophan. I was feeling not quite myself when all of the bad news kept piling up and I just needed a little boost.

To put it into the simplest terms, L-tryptophan is that thing that makes your body create happiness.

Again, all of the pills I’m taking are supplements, not medication and the basic difference is that whilst medication has to have all these clinical tests done to ensure its effectiveness, supplements are not supposed to do harm.

All of these I’m taking doesn’t guarantee I’m not gonna catch corona tomorrow, but I’ve been doing pretty good so far.

Hope you’re staying healthy as well.