If anyone cares I'm on page 153. Sometime I'm going to have to ask again about the BB's stance on supplements because I'm utterly confused. All I know is my endocronologist told me I have to take B-vitamins and that I'm to take 400 IU (what's an IU anyway?) of vitamin E twice a day.

Yeah, it always amazes me how you have pill-phobic people who don't trust their doctor and go on about the FDA not regulating, e.g., parabens in cosmetics tightly enough, and yet will take anything--orally--they're told to by a health food store clerk because it's "natural."  No regulation, and you do hear with some regularity about adverse events and unforeseen drug interactions.  I'm also amazed when people take multiple supplements--things like colloidal silver--because their chiropractor told them to (chiropractors, don't get me started, they can be incredible supplement pushers).  But like I said, don't get me started...Colloidal silver, BTW, is the thing that turns you gray.  We have no nutritional need for silver supplementation but chiropractors often recommend it.

Sorry for my rant--definitely not a reference to your situation.  I'm generally all about following the advice of your doctor (with rare exceptions where the doctor turns out to be a quack--and I do think it's very important to choose doctors carefully).  It's just that too many people seem to think the internet or their health food store clerk is a better source of guidance.  Ironic, here I am on the internet spouting advice...Yeah, I can't remember how the soy story turned out--I seem to remember that it keeps changing as far as whether it's good or bad, but I eat it because I like tofu and soy in general.  And I take Vitamin D, as lindygirl says, because I don't get enough sunlight (and my doctor recommends this). My understanding is that it's very hard to OD on vitamin D and easy not to get enough in northern lattitudes.  IMHO, even though herbals aren't regulated by the FDA as though they were drugs (unless they make drug-like claims on the product label), they should be treated as though they are.  As long as you take that attitude (that if the are intended to alter your physiology in some way, they are drugs, not foods), you'll use appropriate care selecting products and being watchful for any side effects.  Again, though, sorry for the tangent and rant!  Congrats on getting the book in, and being in it:)

I'm not in the book - just managed to convince the librarian where I work to buy it! He's a guy and would never think of getting things like this. Because he only likes scientific non-fiction, guitar music, and skateboarding he tends to only buy that stuff. I remind him that we're across the street from two churches so we have to have religious stuff no matter what his feelings are. When several patrons yelled at me because they felt we didn't get enough new fiction I begged him to up the fiction purchases, especially romance novels as most of our homebound patrons like them. I'm trying to get him to get Beyond Heaving Bosums by the ladies of SBTB next.
And I don't mind the rant. I completely understand it. I don't trust what health food people tell me. I have way too many food and other types of allergies to believe some stranger with no medical degree.  But it seems to me if more then one doctor who specializes in a certain area recommends certain herbal supplements then there must be something to them.
Doesn't stop me from feeling torn on the subject too.
I buy my supplements from Mother's, Trader Joe's, or Henry's - sometimes in a pinch WalMart or CostCo. Don't know if that makes any difference. I've never seen the silver stuff sold in any of those places though. Plus a lot of times it's from big companies like Nature Made. I got the Estroven from CostCo recently because it has both the black kohash and soy in it. I'm taking half the recommended dosage since I'm not menopausal. I've actually done this once before. Several years ago I wasn't having regular periods. I'd go three or more months without a cycle. So I started taking half doses of Estroven and after a month I started to have a period once a month again. Now I know it was probably the PCOS that caused that - but my doctor kept telling me "Oh, it's just because you're so fat. Lose weight and you'll have regular cycles again."
Kind of ticks me off thinking of that. I had ALL the symptoms - high blood sugar, facial hair, excess body hair, acne, plus very irregular periods, bright purple stretch marks, and the classic PCOS belly - and he never once thought to test me for it. Maybe if I had known about it when I was 23 and going through all this I'd have a better handle on it at 34.
Edit: I forgot to mention, my mom has been studying anything she can get her hands on about bioidentical hormones. I know there's controversy but I asked my GYN because I wondered if anyone studied if they had any effect on PCOS as well as menopause and she said, "Estrogene is estrogene no matter if you get it from plants or animals" (refering to Premarine which is what my mom takes). So since wild yams are part of BIH I thought I'd try that too. I'm just so desperate, you know.
And I'll say again, I don't take silver supplements. LOL But I do occastionally use a 1% silver sulfadize(sp?) cream my dermotologist prescribed me. She had me use it when she removed some suspicious moles and I still use it when I have a really bad cut or scrape or a zit that just won't respond to acne treatments. (After, admittedly, I pop it. Because you know I am a Pimple Popper. I think a twisted part of me enjoys it. Besides, when they hurt really bad or are in places where they interfer with my vision or my sleep I have to do something.) Since it's a cream, prescribed by a doctor, and I only use it rarely, I'm sure it can't be bad.

Yeah, like I said, I don't listen to health food store people either. Most I ever ask is where something is.

ohhhh.  Duh.  I just got it.  You meant you were up to page 153 in terms of your progress reading the book, not the you were "on page 153," as in, "they wrote about me on page 153."  Took me a while...

If your doctors have told you to take these supplements and are aware of everything you take, prescriptions as well as supplements, then I would think you will be fine. Also it may not hurt to ask a pharmacist to take a look at the list of things you are taking and ask if he/she sees any possible harmful interactions.

Interesting what you said about the typos in the book a few posts back. That sort of thing drives me nuts too! :-)