Here’s my latest advise on starting vitamin doses. Vitamins cause side effects. It’s not easy to get the maximum effect without causing some temporary discomfort. If you’re worried about vitamin safety, please don’t hesitate to ask for help. For that matter, don’t hesitate to ask for help with doses for any reason.

1) Lie flat in the sun in a bathing suit near noontime on most sunny days. Try to avoid substantial darkening of the skin. Use sunblock on your face and never burn yourself.

2) Take 2000 mg/day of vitamin C. This is the level recognized by the Food and Nutrition Board to cause no adverse effects for 95% of the population and only very mild adverse effects for the rest. It is as close to a risk-free dose as is possible. Keep in mind, eating anything every day carries risks. A small fraction of the population is intolerant of daily doses of all but the most benign food items.

3) Take 10,000 IU of vitamin A once per week. One 10,000 IU dose of vitamin A every week, not every day. Vitamin A is frequently toxic. It’s OK to take more, and it’s necessary to be getting more from your diet (the RDA is 5000 IU). Just be really really careful. I’m not going to recommend higher doses of vitamin A supplements until I understand it better.

4) Take a 250 mg time-release niacin tablet once per week. One 250 mg time-release niacin tablet once per week. If the single dose is bothersome, break it in half and take the half tablets once every four days or so. There’s really no need for a digital routine. It’s fine to take the niacin and vitamin A tablets on some of the days when you’re worried about your health and to not take any when you’re feeling fine. Regularly drink 2 cups of dark roast coffee to enrich your dietary intake of niacin.

5) Take 50 mg tablet of enteric coated TTFD (a thiamine precursor) once per day. There are no known side effects. You’ll never know you are taking this supplement. Taking it won’t make you obviously better.

The vitamins alone typically don’t provide big, obvious benefits. Taking antibiotics along with the vitamins increases the odds of experiencing an obvious cure that is complete within days or weeks. You need to get the antibiotic from a physician. Ask for an antibiotic that is broad spectrum and effective against bacteria without cell walls (mycobacteria).