Playing Doctor... and Nurse

Since I'm in nursing school and Mack's in medical school, we are learning all sorts of ways to defy death. Most of them start with not eating meat and not getting fat. From there, we have discovered vitamins/supplements.

We started taking Resveratrol last summer after watching an episode of Oprah where Dr. Oz said it was magical. And then, when I took it and managed to maintain my weight without doing the usual fretting about how much I eat, I realized it really was magical. Resveratrol is the stuff in red wine that keeps your heart in good shape, but because we're not French and don't drink red wine every meal of our lives, we don't get enough Resveratrol through our diet. Instead, we pay the $32 for the bottle of 100 capsules and feel better about living to be 100+.

We also take a fish oil capsule -- the kind specifically labeled "no fish burps" because, really, fish burps? Ick.

Since Mack is in biochemistry this block, we've added some new pills to our regime... new pills that totaled $96 on our last trip to Good Foods... which is cheaper than our co-pays to the doctor if we get heart disease, right? Now we take 2 fish oil capsules, a Resveratrol, a B-complex that includes Folic Acid, a Niacin, and a Vitamin E (which we take every other day). I wanted to add a Vitamin D-3 because every woman I know over 45 swears by that pill, but...

Here comes the science...

Vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin and with fat soluble vitamins (like Vitamin E) you can overdose on them. With water soluble vitamins, you just pee them out if you take too much... which is why my pee is neon yellow these days. So instead of taking a Vitamin D, we're just going to try to get 10 minutes of sunshine on our cheeks a day. Or buy one of those UV lights for our desks.

I've tried taking vitamins in the form of a multi-vitamin before, but I always got a gross feeling in my stomach from them. So then I started taking the gummy vitamins because they are delicious and way more mild, but they have hydrogenated fats in them. For whatever reason, this combination of pills isn't giving me a belly ache at all. In fact, there's really no side effect except the neon pee and the insanely ridiculous freaky flush that comes with the Niacin.

Yeah, about that. Have you ever scratched your neck and then someone looked at you like you've been attacked by a wild beast because of the red slashes across your skin? Well, with Niacin, it's sort of like that.

Apparently, this flush is necessary, and even though there's a flush-free version of Niacin, the ingredient that saves you from the flush actually causes you a problem down the road. I don't know the science, but let's just say the flush means it's working, and eventually you get used to it and it isn't as intense. I've only been taking it for three days, and it has gotten better but it's still so dramatic that I have to work my way up to taking it.

Which means I have to make sure I have 30 minutes of free time to have a hot flash that starts in my neck, loops around to my upper back and then takes over my entire face and chest... and an environment that won't provoke rage. Also, I shouldn't have to drive anywhere.

I'm making Niacin sound like way too much fun.

The thing is, though, it's sort of like that awful-then-amazing feeling you get when you sit in a steam room. Like you want to run out of there because you can't breathe and sweat is just pouring out of your body and oh my god you're about to die... and then when you step out, your skin feels brand new and you can feel your hair follicles and suddenly your brain works better.

And now I'm jonesing for my vitamins.