"Wellness Formula" - good or bad idea?

[Sasha]

Following acute viral-onset ME that put me in bed for a number of years, I gradually made a recovery that seemed complete except that, about every couple of weeks or so, I'd start feeling fluish again and would usually have to go back to bed for a day or two before improving again. Usually my nose wouldn't run; an immunologist later told me that this was the sign that these were not new infections but an old virus reactivating over and over again (and promptly referred me for CBT and GET, thanks :headache. Looking back, this was a period of remission, not recovery.

Some years into this, I was getting more and more of these episodes and went to the local health shop to see what they had for people who got loads of colds (which is what I thought I had). Their advisor recommended taking Source Natural's Wellness Formula (containing immune-whatsit herbs, among other stuff) at the earliest signs of an episode, at about 3 tablets/day.

I started using them. Magic tablets! Amazing! They knocked each new thing on the head within about 36 hours and I felt as though my job was safe again and that I could book a holiday and be sure of being able to take it. I didn't have to spend so much time being ill.

But... after about a year of using them (and being on them almost constantly, because I was almost constantly coming down with the latest attack), they had stopped being effective and my episodes of being ill had become more frequent, longer lasting, and had started joining up so instead of 3 days off work it was now 3 weeks at a stretch. Then I had a major relapse and have now been mainly housebound for the last several years.

My question (finally!): did I do myself damage with this stuff? Or did I just do myself some good initially that wore off? I'm frankly too scared to use it again but I'd like to know - and am curious about others' experiences.

Here's the (long) list of ingredients:

Vitamin A: 5000IU - 100%
Vitamin C: 1350mg - 2250%
Calcium: 29mg - 2%
Zinc: 23mg - 150%
Selenium: 60mcg - 90%
Copper: 300mcg - 15%
Garlic Clove: 360mg - %
Echinacea Purpurea Root Extract: 309mg - %
Polygonatum Odoratum Rhizome: 270mg - %
Elderberry Extract: 246mg - %
Propolis Extract: 216mg - %
Propolis: 153mg - %
Olive Leaf Extract: 129mg - %
Elecampane Root Extract: 114mg - %
Andrographis Aerial Parts Extract: 100mg - %
Boneset Aerial Parts Extract: 90mg - %
Bioflavonoids: 84mg - %
Eleuthero Root Extract: 75mg - %
Horehound Aerial Parts Extract: 54mg - %
Goldenseal Root Extract: 48mg - %
Mullein Leaf Extract: 47mg - %
Cayenne Fruit: 40mg - %
Isatis Root Extract: 36mg - %
Pau D'Arco Bark Extract: 33mg - %
Angelica Root Extract: 30mg - %
Grape Seed Extract: 30mg - %
Ginger Root Extract: 30mg - %
Astragalus Root Extract: 20mg - %
Isatis Leaf Extract: 18mg - %
Echinacea Angustifolia Root Extract: 15mg - %

 

[ixchelkali]

I think the answer is unknowable. How can we know when we don't even know what causes the disease in general? And we don't know what particular infections you may have (or have had). We also don't know the mechanisms by which the supplements may work in the body. So it's all guesswork. But my guess would be that the supplements helped to support your failing immune system, until eventually it was overwhelmed and/or wore out.

I think my disease had a progression similar to yours.

 

[Sasha]

Hi ix (I like your lion!) - I suppose I was wondering whether there's any research into what some of that stuff actually does (ups, downs, or modulates this, that or the other bit of the immune system) and how that maps onto research that suggests certain consistencies in immune findings in PWC (like the NK/RNLase stuff). But as you say, we maybe don't know enough about either.

I'd really like to believe I didn't crock myself up by my own actions with this stuff! I had read somewhere that you shouldn't be on echinacea (one of the ingredients) for too long.

It really was amazing to have something that had some impact - so quick, so certain - on my illness for a while. Maybe it's an indication of what we might all hope for if the research finally comes up with something that works!

 

[ukxmrv]

I can't take echinacea as it increases my viral symptoms. Also on that list I can't take OLE and garlic. However these have an immediate bad effect on me and it didn't take a year for them to develop.

Must be so frustrating to find something that actually did work and then wore off.