Selenium deficiency is considered by some naturopathic doctors the key to Fibromyalgia and CFS.
Some even relate it with animal “Nutritional muscular dystrophy” AKA “White muscle disease”.
Should we go to the vet??? 
knowing all our luck the vet may take 1 look at us put us down
Ive not heard of selenium will look it up? learning something new every day very interesting gentle hug xx
Well if it was "white muscke disease" the vet would give us selenium + vit E shots and soon we would be literally up and running... One more thing to try...can't be that bad.
I agree anything is worth a try. you dont if it works or not if you dont try
vets it is then race you
That rings a bell....I was told to take vit E by one of the ortho consultants I saw back when I had my accident - he said to buy the oil capsules, take one orally and break another open and massage the oil into the scars etc. Haven't taken them for a while, I seemed to get to the point of so many supplements i hadnt a clue which was or wasn't working. I took selenium years ago for my arthritis in my thumbs but one GP said it wasnt worth the effort as very few people are selenium deficient and it had only gained popularity because of its supposed antioxidant properties at a time when it was all the rage to find things to fight free radicals etc (sounds a bit like a protect group lol). Interesting to note its stated benefits in animal welfare - I sometimes wish I was my cat purely that he gets seen same day by his 'doctor' and gets a 20 minute full examination each time - very unlike the GP system! I may just put vit E back on the list. Dont think I'll bother with the selenium as apparently the sort of food I eat is full of it, so I'm probably getting my full daily allowance in my diet. Thanks Teresa for the interesting info.
Selenium is a major component to thyroid health, underactive thyroid can obviosuly cause a lot of syptoms that are the same as with fibro and some even say that fibro is just an untreated thyroid disorder.
There is enough selenium in 2 brazil nuts a day to keep one healthy however this varies per brazil nut.
Those looking to supplement with selenium should be very careful as there is some very serious side effects of takking to much. I have pasted them below.
P.S i took selenium for a while orginally whrn i assumed thyroid issues and saw no benefit but i didnt take for that long.
What are the risks of taking selenium?
Side effects. Taken at normal doses, selenium does not usually have side effects. An overdose of selenium may cause bad breath, fever, nausea, and liver, kidney and heartproblems. At high enough levels, selenium could cause death.
Interactions. Selenium may also interact with other medicines and supplements, such as antacids, chemotherapy drugs, corticosteroids, niacin, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, and birth control pills.
Skin cancer. Selenium supplements are associated with a risk of skin cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), so people at high risk of skin cancer should not take these supplements.
Diabetes. One study found that people who took 200 micrograms a day of selenium were 50% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. So far, it's unknown if the selenium actually caused the disease. Discuss the risk with your doctor.
Yes! Aren't our cats so lucky! Food on the table, clean sheets... loving family...
The proponents of selenium say that our soild are depleted of it so our food aren't nurient rich anymore. Anyway, i've put i on my supplements list for this month and as you said it's good for thyroid too so..
Thanks a lot Charlotte. What do you reckon would be "too much"?
As far as dicussingwith the dr: forget about it! Standard doctors know virtually nothing about nutrition and minerals...
Thank you for in the info charlottee I was thinking of buying some but before I do Im going to check with my gp 1st. Ive had enough side affects with other drugs to last me a lifetime gentle hug
The NHS website states Taking 0.35micrograms/ug or less a day of selenium supplements is unlikely to cause any harm.
The RDA seems to be 55 MICROgrams /ug per day but dont forget you are going to get some from food also. The tolerable upper limit is 400 MICROgrams /ug per day but i would never go that high.
I will attach a list of food values to another comment so you can see what you may get depending on your diet.
Here is a food list for selenium rich foods.
Ive just started taking a new multivit which unlike many others doesnt have massive amounts of certain vitamins. I dont like going to far over 100% rda as i know food provides alot of what we need and i want to just top up. It also has prebiotics included and i got mine from Sainsburys for just under £5.00 for 30 day supply and so far I have not reacted to them, alot of high does supplements ive tried to take make me feel unwell including the highly touted miracle supplement magnesium. Ive been taking seven seas multibionta, its early days so cant say i feel better at all but no bad reaction is good!
Many supplements avalable on health shops are 100ug. I believe it's a resonable dosing to start with and after some time just take it every other day. What do you think?
multibionta vitality is actually the full name. Below is the ingreedients.
Vitamin A 120 ?g RE 15
Vitamin D 5 ?g 100
Vitamin E 12 mg ?-TE 100
Vitamin K 22.5 ?g 30
Vitamin C 80 mg 100
Thiamin (Vitamin B1) 1.1 mg 100
Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) 1.4 mg 100
Niacin 16 mg NE 100
Vitamin B6 1.4 mg 100
Folic Acid 200 ?g 100
Vitamin B12 2.5 ?g 100
Biotin 50 ?g 100
Pantothenic Acid 6 mg 100
Calcium 120 mg 15
Magnesium 57 mg 15
Iron 5 mg 36
Zinc 3.33 mg 33
Manganese 0.4 mg 20
Selenium 30 ?g 55
Chromium 25 ?g 63
Iodine 100 ?g 67
Coenzyme Q10 2 mg *
TRIBION HARMONIS PROBIOTIC CULTURES 10 million *
Lactobacillus gasseri PA 16/8,
Bifidobacterium bifidum MF 20/5,
Bifidobacterium longum SP 07/3
You know that one of the things that doctors won't tell you is that Vit Bs should be taken in the morning or at least til lunch time otherwise they interfere with sleep.
Sometimes it's not the supplements that aren't working but the way we take them or combine them. Thanks a lot for the list!
very helpful list Charlotte, thank you very much for posting. Other than the meat products, I eat most of the food on that list, more of the vegetables and lentils/pulses than the rest, so I probably get sufficient selenium through my diet. I have been researching those elements that naturally decrease with age or are not easily absorbed as we get older, seems mostly the B vits and calcium. Teresa's point is very good about making sure we know 'how' to take a supplement and 'when' as some react badly with others and conversely some are essential for the absorption of others....this is mostly way too complicated for the average person and doctors are absolutely hopeless at advising on vitamins and supplements. A good dietitian would be helpful but just try getting referred to one via the GP - impossible.
I think taking a good multi vit as insurance before you start aging is a good idea but super dosing on specific vits can be as dangerous as street drugs. No supplements are FDA tested and can be contaminated and if you can get all your nutritional needs met with food then great as that is what was intended, my diet is by no means 1st class.
Eggs are brilliant in being nutrient dense and should be inlcuded in your diet often, salmon is the most potent in omega 3's and should be eaten 3 times a week. Avacado is a brilliant good fat rich food. Aside from that lost of green veg and lots of colourful veg. Eat healthy wholegrains but not loads of them and try to avoid refined carbs and sugary foods/drinks. Juices are not actually that good for you unless your juicing greens YUCK. Fibre helps slow down the rate of sugar absorbtion so eating something high in fibre with a sugary snack can stop a insulin spike and cinammon also helps control blood sugars. Meat wise turkey is good in the evening as it helps you sleep better as it has tryptophan in it, red meat thats not really fatty and not over cooked is good for B vits and iron, chicken obviously as its high in protein and low in fat. Bananas are good for lots of people for stomach settling and make a great healhty snack. Yoghurt the plain greek kind is good for you. Avoid aspartame, fizzy drinks all times and most importantly let yourself eat what you want every now and again, dont deprive yourself, as long as you eat rubbish as an occasional thing and not daily then theres no probem with some chocolate or sweets or bread etc.
There is a great website called whfoods which gives you the nutritious breakdown of food and explinations of how such foods are beneficial along with full info on what all the vits/minerals do for us.
thank you charlotte for the list most helpful gentle hug
very good advice charlotte, particularly about overdosing on vitamin supplements. Here in the UK very few people are seriously vitamin deficient and particularly those who eat a healthy diet. Overdoses of some vitamins can be seriously dangerous, others not quite so. Vitamin A and iron for example are life threatening if a severe overdose is taken. Children under 5 are particularly prone to iron overdose. We're at the mercy of advertising on the back of the worldwide craze to 'quick fix' dietary deficiencies instead of eating a balanced healthy diet. Diet products, 'health' products, you name it there's a miracle preparation for it.
Unfortunately the NHS is under siege and not many of us get sufficient time or understanding from our GP service but if asked specifically they usually will make the effort to listen to concerns about vitamin levels and hopefully give good advice.
The nhs should make a point of testing us all when we are healthy so they have a personal guideline of a persons vit levels when they are not sick, then when we get sick they can use it as a reference and have some idea if that is causing our problems. I think they should do yearly mots to try and prevent issues rather than do sod all when we get sick.
They maybe pushed and underfunded but that's because they have the most ridiculous policies, useless Drs, terrible admin staff and waste time like no ones business. They wait till problems are so severe or chronic that not even Dr house could fix them, if they jumped on things asap I think they could halt progression in a lot of cases, if they sent us to the right Drs, did the right tests from the get go they would save a lot of money and wasted time. Gps are just booking agents, consultants are just salesmen for the drug companies and I can't say I've ever met a Dr that's actually concerned with how u feel or the pain ur in. Ur a number and as long as they can sign off at the end of the day that's there job done.
Sorry for the rant but I get so angry that the people we trust with our lives can't even see us as human beings, unfortunately they are the only ones with the access to tests and meds etc. they moan constantly about resources being drained but it's the gps who send us round the block of different specialists when actually we are a whole person and if it hurts in ur legs, arms and stomach they might be connected and u don't need to see 3 different Drs.
Sorry, I'm having a very painful day and am very grumpy which I guess is apparent!!!