Online research and trial and error. My above post left out an even larger number of supplements that didn't seem to do anything Then again, who knows if that course of Bee Pollen didn't help in some way? Then when I zeroed in on inflammation as the key to my problem, I chose herbs (I combined Devil's Claw and White Willow Bark) and supplements with that in mind.

I can't afford a complementary medicine professional. They are not covered under insurance. It's such a product of our times that I can fall into a combine and be put back together with a far greater expectation of expertise than I can to get help with life-threatening hormone dysfunction. Basically, medicine only recognizes when you are completely OUT or have a huge EXCESS of a hormone and then, only a few particular ones. Anything else they think is just whining.

I got a lot of procedures from Dr. Jack Kruse's protocols, but not anything about supplements. He has a battery of tests to do and then supplement, and it needs a doctor willing to both do the tests and prescribe. While my GP will do tests for me, he wants to send me to an endocrinologist for prescribing, and I know they won't do it. Once again, if I walked in as a pituitary giant, or was in the process of dying of Addison's, I might get some help. And when I did get prescribed HRT, the non-biological nature of it turned out to be part of my problem. That could be solved with bio-identicals -- which insurance won't pay for.

So I looked up people struggling with what is usually called Adrenal Fatigue, and looked up the supplements they said they were using, and if it sounded applicable to my situation, I tried it. As I learned more about what was going on with me, I sought out supplements designed to prop up the dysfunctional processes.

Pregnenolone is a dramatic addition that did me a huge amount of good, and continues to do so. It's a hormone precursor. It helps my body make whatever hormones it needs. The kind of bio-identical I can afford! (Pregnenolone production decreases with age. It's worth thinking about for anyone over 50. Likewise, our ability to make our own D diminishes with age. So supplementing makes sense.)

But even if we are in good health, there are what I think of as Universal Supplements; things we just don't get enough of, because of our poor food quality from farming & food lot practices that don't care about the final product, just that they get it out there. Vitamin D, lots of C, B complex, chelated magnesium, and sea salt for trace minerals are all good, cheap, choices for supplementation that do a lot to support that good health if we already have it.

But I don't believe in a multi-vitamin. To me, that is wasted money. It's all tiny amounts designed to stave off things like pellagra and scurvy and goiter. I'm not worried about those.