Well I take medicine to suppress my immune system, but I am deficient in vitamin d for example, so I am prescribed a vitamine d pill; when my iron dropped too low I had to have iron infusions; basically you need to speak with your rheumatologist to map out a plan that meets your needs. 💜

My rheumatologist told me to stay away from things that boost your immune system since Lupus has our immune system so boosted it attacks itself. When she put it that way to me, it made sense. Especially stay away from echinacea supplements and extra vitamin c.

Lady, we must avoid echinacea, which stimulates the immune system, but we do need vitamins as they are "cofactors" in the biochemical processes in our body. If we eat a very healthy, balanced diet, we get most of these, but a vitamin D supplement is essential for us. Low and even low normal vitamin D levels cause increased autoimmunity. If we don't eat well, a daily multivitamin is okay, but it doesn't take the place of healthy foods. Hope this helps!

@A MyLupusTeam Member can answer this better than me, but I'll give it a shot.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies always need to be addressed. So if you are deficient, chances are your doctors will want to fix that.

As far as suppression vs supporting your immune system this is much more complicated to answer.

Most pharmaceutical drugs and many Western Medicine treatments will suppress the immune system or at least regulate it. In this case many doctors will suggest staying away from things that "boost" immune activity.

Since this depends on your current medications, long term treatment plan, personal health, type and severity of disease, etc. There is no way I could say anything more specific.

Tldr; It depends on the person and how the disease affects them.

Hope this helped a little.

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A MyLupus...

Only thing I can tell you it’s trial and error because everyone’s body is different.