Over the years people have asked for a peek inside our complete supplement lineup 👀
So today, we’re answering!
This post is a list of all supplements we take or have close at hand.
Update 2026: We’ve been paring down this list. As we discontinue, I’m moving to them to either paused or “no longer using” categories.
The reason in most cases is simply because peptides have helped so much, we don’t need them anymore.
I’ve also removed all softgels in an effort to remove all free glutamate that I can. I pierce them with a syringe and insert the liquid into a vegan capsule 🙂
I’ll show you which make the cut as tried and true, which are in the testing phase, and some that will never return!
Categories: (links take you there)
- Staple Supplements
- Paused or intermittent Supplements
- Sleep
- Menopause specific (me only)
- Acute needs
- Peptides and Bioregulators (last not least!)
- No longer using
- I know we’re in good company with our many baskets of rejects – saved ‘just in case’ that need to be purged!
In our supplement choices, we avoid:
Gelatin, citric acid (all citrate forms), ascorbic acid, fermented ingredients, maltodextrin and pullulan – due to various concern such as free glutamate, mold & histamine exposure
Disclaimers – Of course, these represent our unique needs and we are not suggesting them to others.
All links are provided for convenience only – I am NOT an Amazon afilliate ☺️
Let’s get to it!
Staple Supplements
These rarely change and when I have time, capsules are in pill boxes in advance!
We both take the lowest recommended amount except where indicated.
- Multi vitamin: Junior Nutrients Pure Encapsulations – it doesn’t contain ultra high B vitamins, copper or iron, and does include the most bioavailable forms of vitamins.
- Other Positives: Capsules are small. Easier than using each vitamin individually – we may go back to that though because there are NO other multi choices that meet our needs 😬
- Potential Issues for us: Some citrate forms, calcium, methylated vitamins, ascorbyl palmitate. I’ve been experimenting with removing it.
- Minerals – important when we don’t use a multivitamin: Trace Minerals – Pure Encapsulations
Alternate: True Minerals
Both above mineral choices contain some citrate forms but of the two, True Minerals is superior and at least designated corn free
Why use a mineral blend?
- Zinc – Lowers toxic copper levels and stops histamine flares
- Selenium – Builds antioxidants to shield her brain from inflammation
- Molybdenum – Clears toxic sulfites (sulfur) to prevent behavioral agitation
- Chromium – Balance blood sugar to prevent mood swings
- Boron – Lowers neuroinflammation and supports gut health
- Iodine – Supports a calm and stable thyroid metabolism
- Manganese – Assists brain enzymes without triggering hyperactivity
- Lithium Orotate – Calms brain excitability, anxiety, and sensory overwhelm (we use separately too, see below)
- Potassium – Maintains basic cell fluid and nerve signaling
- Vanadium – Works with chromium to support steady cellular energy
Additional Staples, given separately
- Vitamin D3 – Life Extension liquid 2,000 IU – 1 drop in AM
- Vitamin K2 as MK4 (not MK7)
- Pro Resolving Mediators – SPM Metagenics – Marine lipid concentrate – costly but I find them worth it, 1-2 caps / day
- Derived from and more potent than omega-3 fatty acids
- Directly modulate inflammatory pathways and promote tissue repair. Excellent for immunity and joints
- We pierce the softgel and put it in a vegan empty capsule
- Lithium orotate – a trace mineral, 5mg for calm and many brain benefits (mylein sheath) Klaire Brand
- Saw palmetto: androgen (DHT) detox – teen: 2x per day – see my blog post and video here (pierce the softgel like the SPM’s)
- Magnesium – many forms
- Acetyl L-Carnitine (brain and heart health) – me, 1 cap, AM
- Adenosyl/Hydroxy B12 – Pure Encapsulations – powder from caps used sublingually to avoid additives
- Boosts energy & brain health – Essential for cellular metabolism, muscular energy, and overall cognitive function.
- Supports nerve & muscle recovery – Aids in nerve repair and helps stop muscle cramping and Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS).
- Cardiovascular & blood support – Helps lower homocysteine levels and supports healthy red blood cell production.
- My post for how important B12 supplements are and options is here: Your Body is Ghosting Vitamin B12 — Win back cognition & stamina, for good!
- NAD+ We use it as a Sublingual Spray – my NAD+ blog post is here. Current dose is 1 drop every few days for maintenance
- A note about Fatty15, C15:0 fatty acid – I’ve taken for 4 years – but don’t recommend. It’s not worth the cost. Someday I’ll cancel the subscription 🙂
- Iron Spatone liquid iron – best absorbed iron I’ve found that doesn’t cause any side effects – 1 packet per day
•••
Peptides, Acute needs, Sleep and Hormonal supplements – all very essential to our health – are below the next section – keep reading!
Intermittent or Currently paused
- L-theanine: Liquid 0.25ml before as needed daytime meals to reduce excitability from glutamate exposure. We don’t use it at night. … we don’t use it anymore because I removed all sources of free glutamate
- Calcium D Glucarate – detox support including estrogen / hormones (teen: 2-3 caps / day) I removed all sources of calcium because is suspect they caused behavior issues
- DiCalcium Malate – If dealing with PANS or glutamate sensitivity, watch for any rage with calcium and stop or consider adding L-theanine alongside small doses.
- Huperzine A – a nootropic for cognition, we love it.. just don’t need it anymore with all the peptides 🙂 My blog post is here. (1/8 capsule, Life Extension brand )
- DMG – methylation support & adaptogen works to overcome negative effects of stress and degenerative diseases. Great for mood, energy, well-being, and more! — removed because I’m doing a trial of removing all methylated supplements
- A vintage era post I wrote is here, we switched brands but used consistently for 14 years! DMG: An All-Natural Wellness Builder
- Fisetin – senolytic to help usher dead cells out of the body – especially brain. It’s not ideal for people with slow COMT (which is why we removed Neuroprotek a decade ago.)
- “Like your body’s own Marie Kondo” autophagy is all the rage for longevity – we like peptides more and they deliver more notable changes.
- We take it on and off – 1 cap, AM
- Glutathione – Pure Glutathione Gold (teen: 200mg for detox, liver support)
- Enzymes: Pancreatin 2000, not often – selected because it’s not derived from mold, but don’t need enzymes anymore
- BCAA – Branched chain amino acids – regulate blood sugar, protect liver, building blocks of muscles.. Removed 2026,
- PQQ – mitochondria support – we do like it! Read my blog post here (we don’t take it every day but do use it).
Sleep – not used anymore
Removing free glutamate and calcium helped so much we don’t need sleep aids anymore, not even DSIP
•••
Tip! Did you know that if you need to reset circadian rhythm, you can use very low-dose melatonin (.1-.5mg) about four hours before you want to fall asleep, it helped my daughter.
Menopause related (me only!)
All are covered in this post: https://diaryofrecovery.com/over40
- DHEA / Pregnenalone – from LifeForce or Douglas labs, 1/4th of a cap per day
- Bioregulators: Adrenal plus, VitaWoman blend which contains all 5: Ovary, Placenta,
Thyroid, Hypothalumis, and Collacell (a skin elasticity bioregulator – can’t say enough about how effective this is at reversing the effects of gravity!) - 5 Amino 1 MQ – energy & fat cell metabolism support (love this!)
Acute needs
- Magnesium oxide (laxative) – works as well as mag citrate used to
- Digestive: Bioregulator Peptides — Stomach, Pancreas, gastric mucin, and also Larazotide Acetate
- Lysine – antiviral that I found to be miraculously effective for my daughter’s finger warts (gone in a week after months of other attempts)
- Electrolytes – Quinton hypertonic water or Salt stick capsules, as needed only
- Organic CBD – we love Harmony brand (organic is so important) only as needed – infrequent, use topically for acute body pain.
- Organic activated charcoal – binder, for other detox aids see my post here
Peptides and Bioregulators
If you’ve been following us, you know that peptides have been life-changing for us.
They’ve allowed us to remove many supplements we no longer need!
If you’re peptide curious, my blog post here is a review of all of the peptides and bioregulators we’ve tried.
(All are capsules unless noted)
What we use regularly
- KPV – mast Cells / anti microbial
- TB4 Frag 1-4 and TB4 Frag 17-23 spray (inflammation & healing)
- Thymogen Alpha 1 – Immune regulation
- Various bioregulators: thyroid (ThyroPep), pineal gland (epitalon) collagen (Collacell), vessels (Ventfort), Lungs – cured asthma! (lunguard), stomach, liver, adrenal, pituitary, hypothalamus – see our bioregulator guide for all of these ☺️
- 5 Amino 1 MQ – energy & fat cell metabolism support
- ARA 290 – nerve repair (injection)
- CogniPep – cognition and brain health (pulse dosing not daily)
- Not currently using because we don’t need them anymore:
How I store Peptides & bioregulator capsules:
This perfectly sized compartment box from target sits on my counter with the ones I’m testing it rotating out. It keeps them from spreading!
The push button pill box (Amazon) holds ones that I know I’ll be using daily.
This post is our How-to guide for Bioregulator Peptides!
No longer using
• Optimal PC (Choline / Phospholipid Complex) – Seeking Health – important for brain health but I don’t like the algae oil or softgel
• Mucuna Puriens – excellent for nerve health & tremors (1/2 tablet) see blog post here – we just don’t need it anymore.
- Aloe vera capsules for acid reflux (teen) – no longer needed with Gastric Mucin Bioregulator Peptide
- Beef Liver Capsules – Grass Fed (1-3 caps per day) — A concentrated source of vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients
- NovaFerrum / ProFerrin Clear
- Elite IgG – immune, gut and inflammation – retired Feb 2025, not needed after we began peptides. Noticed no issues without it.
• Prodrome Glia – Such a waste of money. Omega 9 Plasamlogens are said to restore brain white matter, myelin sheath, and heart membranes (1-2 caps per day) – took for 6 months, can’t say I noticed anything. Stopped in June 2025 (after 1 year) I notice no difference without it (5 mos later)
• NR / Tru niagen for NAD+ enhancement taken (300 mg / day) with DMG – note this is not NAD+ and hardly effective. I don’t recommend it for the price and canceled my subscription.
• Oil of oregano capsules (during viral illness) among other immune supports! We use Thymogen peptide now instead
• Berberine or Goldenseal – for bacteria and reducing PANS flares (excellent for tics & OCD), We now use KPV instead — see my PANS post >>> here!
• Vinpocetine – Increases blood flow to the brain 1/2 tablet per day. – not needed anymore – TB 500 replaced it, see this post https://recoveringkids.com/3gen
• St. John’s Wort: mood regulation (teen 3x a day) – it was helpful for years, no longer needed. For anyone with mood issues who isn’t on an SSRI (eg. Fluoxetine) and needs more help, I highly recommend St, John’s Wort.
• GABA – it recently caused me extreme dizziness when taken at night for sleep (lowers BP). I haven’t given it to my daughter in many years.
• Vitex, DIM – tried for months to help with PMS symptoms however she seems better without them
• Alpha GPC Choline – brain health – I read it can cause slight depression for some, I replaced it with optimal PC. We didn’t have issues but also wanted to switch it up.
• Apigenin for hot flashes was needed and VERY helpful during perimenopause (my post here) I just don’t need it anymore – highly recommend!
Removed over the years:
• Countless, too many to list!
• The most notable one is – ALL Probiotics (they caused autoimmunity, anxiety and tics) — See my important post about them here.
•••
To keep this post positive, I won’t list all the other ones we tried and removed over the years.
If something didn’t make this list, there is most likely a reason.
The reason could be specific to us / our needs, or could be more general.
•••
I’ll boldly say we have tried OR considered almost all supplements, treatments and diets floating around the health stratosphere!
We love that everyone has a unique path and we may very well not be using something that helped you greatly.
Our oath is just one of many.
Thank you for being here 🤍
If you’d like help considering supplements, our Digital Mind tool is perfect for that!
Throwback to 2012!
FAQ: What brand of empty capsules do we buy?
We like these vegan capsules ~
Regular: https://a.co/d/07rFtt4m
Delayed release: https://a.co/d/059dVZeY
You may want a smaller size, 00 is the largest.
