Timing is everything
So if you have had Covid, you probably are zinc deficient. As stated recently on this site, I have reason to believe that if you have any iron-loving infections, you should improve your zinc status before supplementing iron.
But it turns out a number of things can interfere with the absorption of zinc, so if you are on various medications or taking multiple nutritional supplements, you may need to look up every medication and supplement and see which ones shouldn't be taken together.
This seems like some good basic info on zinc: How to absorb zinc better
My main takeaway from the article: Zinc shouldn't be taken with quinalones, which means if you are using diet tonic water as recommended for some things on this site, you probably need to NOT take zinc around the same time as your diet tonic water.
Some things I know off the top of my head:
Knowing what things to take TOGETHER and what things to SEPARATE has actually been a big part of my healing journey and I have long suspected that some people don't get better because you can prescribe them ALL the right things and if they take certain things together, it's ineffective.
If you are both calcium deficient AND anemic and they put you on high doses of both calcium and iron and you take them TOGETHER, it may do very little for you because they interfere with each other.
When I and my son were both newly diagnosed with CF, they put us on different prescription digestive enzyemes, which 85 percent of people with CF are on. He hated taking his. Mine were buffered and I let him try mine and he was much more able to tolerate mine and I got his prescription changed.
But also I was prescribed zithromax and you aren't supposed to take it on an empty stomach, so I took my zithromax with food and dutifully took my digestive enzymes and it did damn near nothing for me. So I began taking my son's digestive enzymes.
The buffering was alkaline. It was some kind of antacid. Zithromax is much more effective when taken with something acidic.
Switching the digestive enzymes and drinking orange juice with whatever I was eating when I took zithromax made a dramatic difference in effectiveness.
Gee, where have I ever heard before that inability to smell was a significant symptom? (Hint: Covid pandemic, which -- as noted at the START of this post -- causes zinc deficiency.)
But it turns out a number of things can interfere with the absorption of zinc, so if you are on various medications or taking multiple nutritional supplements, you may need to look up every medication and supplement and see which ones shouldn't be taken together.
This seems like some good basic info on zinc: How to absorb zinc better
My main takeaway from the article: Zinc shouldn't be taken with quinalones, which means if you are using diet tonic water as recommended for some things on this site, you probably need to NOT take zinc around the same time as your diet tonic water.
Some things I know off the top of my head:
- You should NOT take calcium and zinc together.
- You should NOT take calcium and iron together.
- You should NOT take magnesium and zithromax together.
- You SHOULD take calcium, magnesium, vitamins D and K together.
- If you are on zithromax, have a little orange juice or other acidic drink when you take it. It works better. Do NOT take it with ANY kind of antacid or high alkaline foods.
Knowing what things to take TOGETHER and what things to SEPARATE has actually been a big part of my healing journey and I have long suspected that some people don't get better because you can prescribe them ALL the right things and if they take certain things together, it's ineffective.
If you are both calcium deficient AND anemic and they put you on high doses of both calcium and iron and you take them TOGETHER, it may do very little for you because they interfere with each other.
When I and my son were both newly diagnosed with CF, they put us on different prescription digestive enzyemes, which 85 percent of people with CF are on. He hated taking his. Mine were buffered and I let him try mine and he was much more able to tolerate mine and I got his prescription changed.
But also I was prescribed zithromax and you aren't supposed to take it on an empty stomach, so I took my zithromax with food and dutifully took my digestive enzymes and it did damn near nothing for me. So I began taking my son's digestive enzymes.
The buffering was alkaline. It was some kind of antacid. Zithromax is much more effective when taken with something acidic.
Switching the digestive enzymes and drinking orange juice with whatever I was eating when I took zithromax made a dramatic difference in effectiveness.
Footnote
I wrote this, hit "publish" and began closing out open links related to writing it and tripped across this info in a link I had not included: "Disrupted ability to smell or taste things" is a symptom of zinc deficiency.Gee, where have I ever heard before that inability to smell was a significant symptom? (Hint: Covid pandemic, which -- as noted at the START of this post -- causes zinc deficiency.)
