You may have considered, or are already taking supplements. But have you considered the pros and cons of taking supplements?

Often, when you go see a doctor for a specific health complaint, you walk away with a medication prescription, a pill to take to make you feel better. And as a society, we’re quite enamored with pills and supplements. So, when it comes to managing your Endometriosis symptoms naturally, should you take supplements?

Well, it depends. Let's look at the pros and cons of taking supplements.

Pros of taking supplements

Supplements can play an important, temporary, role in improving your health and reducing your Endometriosis symptoms, but the operative word there is ‘temporary’.

My philosophy is that food should be your main strategy. Changing what you eat and drink is a sustainable strategy, one that you can stick to for the long haul.

Sometimes though, you need a bit of a ‘jump start’, especially when you have nutrient deficiencies, for example for iron or B vitamins.

Nutrient deficiencies can occur when your digestive system doesn’t function optimally, and your are not absorbing nutrients as well as you should. And because of your Endometriosis, the need for certain nutrients is higher than in healthy people. Or your diet is low in certain nutrients, or at least too low for your extra needs.

Supplements are also very useful if you need help with specific symptoms, and you need a therapeutic dose.

In these cases, addressing nutrient deficiencies through food alone would mean they’d have to eat enormous amounts of certain foods and it would take a long time to tackle the deficiencies. Supplements can be a good way to boost the effects of the changes in diet.

Supplements contain high concentrations of certain nutrients, for example iron or vitamin B and by taking them regularly you give your body that extra boost, that jump start that will help you to see results much faster.

Cons of taking supplements

But supplements are not harmless. For many vitamins the body can build up an excess and this then produces unwanted side-effects and symptoms which are often the same as the deficiency symptoms for that nutrient.

Also, please don’t rush out to the chemist or supermarket or go online to buy a range of supplements!

Firstly, because not everyone needs the same supplements: your unique health situation will be underpinned by a unique set of nutrient deficiencies.

And secondly, because the supplements you buy in the supermarket, the chemist or online are not therapeutic supplements. They are produced for the masses, will contain standard amounts of the nutrients that are so low that it is difficult to ‘overdose’ but also don't really help much. And of even more concern, they often have unwanted fillers and additives.

So what's the verdict?

It is important to get trustworthy advice on which supplements will be most beneficial for you based on your unique set of symptoms, and then to take supplements that are ‘Practitioner Only’ to guarantee you get a therapeutic dose of a high-quality nutrient. The supplements should be prescribed based on a full, in-depth health analysis by someone qualified to do so. Really the same as how medicine is prescribed by doctors!

If you'd like to have a chat about your Endometriosis symptoms and what your options are to use nutrition (diet and supplements) to reduce the severity of your symptoms, book a free Endometriosis SOS Call.