(Part 2) Best curcumin herbal supplements according to redditors

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.

It may sound odd, but chicken soup from my "Help/Needed" list would greatly improve my life right now. My beloved became disabled about ten years ago. I threw everything I had, body, mind, and soul, into getting her health stable and possibly reversing some of the disability. I am over-the-moon happy to report that her health is almost completely stable, and she has regained enough movement capacity to live a fairly "normal" life, one that includes a hobby or two and even getting out to visit friends on occasion. My health, on the other hand... I got a wake up call that I need to take care of myself, too. (Duh, of course!) I knew that. But she was more important and immediate. So now, prepared chicken soup that I could just heat up, to deliver delicious nutrients to us... Heaven. Perfection.

Still, every and any item on my lists will make me smile for one reason or another.

Edited to add: You might be interested in the health and (apparently) pain relieving benefits of turmeric.

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

I think you do have to pay for quality. This one is expensive but got very good reviews:

https://www.amazon.com/Pure-Encapsulations-CurcumaSorb-Bioavailable-Phytosome/product-reviews/B004I981VE/ref=cm_cr_getr_d_paging_btm_3?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews&pageNumber=3

The other one recommended is the Thorne brand, same price range.

Is this what you're talking about? So the benefit over their regular is the bio availability?

Here is some good priced options (and good quality):

Curcumin C3 Complex with Black Pepper: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00C0UKA62/ref=mp_s_a_1_10_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1468164239&sr=8-10&keywords=Viva+Labs

Meriva Curcumin: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003C59JES/ref=mp_s_a_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1468164317&sr=8-3&keywords=meriva&pi=SY200_QL40&dpPl=1&dpID=41NYc0RWxVL&ref=plSrch