UCPPS - Prostatitis, Interstitial Cystitis Forum

From what I have been reading, Omega 3's are absolutely critical to a person's well being, and the vast majority of people don't get near enough of them. Plus they have a role in reducing infammation, which is good for IC/CPPS, and they are supposed to benefit and prevent a wide variety of conditions that have nothing to do with IC/CPPS.

I was going to take Flax Oil for Omegas, but have heard that Fish Oil is the way to go.

Dr. Mercola suggests this stuff.....and also reccomends not eating *any* fish due to the mercury levels in almost all fish these days

http://www.mercola.com/forms/carlsons.htm

he discusses the why Fish Oil is better than Flax here

http://www.mercola.com/2002/apr/3/evolution.htm

but supposedly , this Omegarx is the ultimate(and a lot more expensive too)

http://www.omega3zone.biz/

the Doctor who wrote it has bestselling books out about Omegas 3s and other things. He's been on many major news programs, here is an interview he did recently.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/communit ... 50802.html

We should all probably be taking this, the issue though is which one to take.

I eat Omega 3 + which is made here in Sweden. I do eat fish though and I will continue to do so. I think going over the limit and not eat anything will just make my life miserable. I notice less spasms with Omega 3 so they might work.

/Paso

Taking Omega 3 supplements has unquestionably helped me.

Mechanism of action: if there is such a thing as the typical "western" diet, it includes a disproportionate amount of Omega 6 oils, which are found in many meats and dairy products etc.

Omega 6 oils are fuel for inflammation. They breakdown to form arachinoic acid, the precursor to many other "players" in the inflammatory process.

By adding sources to Omega 3 to the diet, less of the Omega 6 intake is available for the production of arachinoic acid.

While Fish Oil (and Particularly Salmon Oil) may be the best source of Omega 3, some nutritionists warn that Carcinogenic Pollutants are concentrated in the fatty layers of the fish.

So while it may not hurt anyone to eat Salmon several times a week, we might want to consider the cumulative effect of taking Fish Oil Capsules every day for a period of years.

Flax Oil, however, has almost the same proportion of Omega 6 / Omega 3, and there are no concerns about carcinogens.

I have recently learned that Gamma Linolenic Acid (GLA) -- One of the "baddies" to the extent that it is an Omega 6 Oil -- is nevertheless important in helping the body metaboize the Omega 3 components in Flax Oil.

Therefore, the most effective product may be a Combination of Flax and Borage Oils. (The Borage Oil contributes the GLA component)

Omega 3 Oils -- from whatever source -- are best taken just prior to meals. This allows
them to "compete" with the Dietary Omega 6 and block the production of substances that fuel inflammation.

Most fish oils are polluted with mercury, dioxin, PCBs and other contaminants (large, predatory fish especially are full of pollutants from the food chain). I recommend oils that are produced with molecular distillation. See http://www.iherb.com/mercury.html

[Taking Omega 3 supplements has unquestionably helped me]

TK, how many grams per day did you take and how long did you take it until you felt improvement? Dr. Barry Sears states that > 10g per day are needed for inflammatory conditions but I found a study showing substantial benefit in Crohns disease wth only 2.7 g per day (Belluzzi A, Brignola et al. Effect of an enteric-coated fish-oil preparation on relapses in Crohn's disease. N Engl J Med 1996;334(24):1557-60).

I couldn't find any articles on omega-3 and CP or IC. Does anyone know if it has been tried in IC?

From what I have recently read, Omega 3 supplements seem worth pursuing. I recently started taking 3g per day in fish oil capsule form.

JD, thanks for your earlier post that encouraged me to read about Omega 3s.

Hi Bill, if you are seriously curious about Omega 3s, I suggest picking up Dr. Barry Sears' book "The Omega RX Zone"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... I'm/cp58-20

He has wrote some bestsellers before , but this one is mostly related to pharmaceutical grade Omega 3s, which are much more potent than any you can purchase in health food stores.

It's very easy reading, but filled with tons of scientific references.

Anyhow he believes(and references scientific studies) that almost *all* chronic inflammation in the body is due to an imbalance of powerful hormones called eicosanoids. This imbalance can be controlled by taking high levels pharmaceutical grade fish oil.

Thats basically the premise of the book(also a lot of the book has to do with his insulin controlling diet), its very convincing stuff, especially since fish oil has been shown to help a wide variety of inflammatory and autoimmune conditions throughout the body, including many that are seen as directly related to IC such as Crohn's and Fibromyalgia.

There are also some blood tests you can do that will help suggest the amount of fish oil you should be taking.

Dr. Sears own brand of fish oil is not cheap, about 78 bucks for a 45 day supply(thats 2.5 mg a day, the suggested dose for inflammatory conditions is 10mg a day), however I am going to give it a try, I have ordered 2 bottles.

Go to a major bookstore when you get a chance and check out his book, particularly the chapter dealing with inflammation. Very interesting stuff.

[I suggest picking up Dr. Barry Sears' book "The Omega RX Zone" ]

Thanks again JD. The paperback just came into our local bookstore today! I'll pick it up tonight and read it when I fly to CA on Sunday to see Dr. Wise.

Bill in NH wrote:[Taking Omega 3 supplements has unquestionably helped me]

TK, how many grams per day did you take and how long did you take it until you felt improvement?

Bill,

I took two grams of a Flaxseed Oil/Borage Oil combination just prior to meals.

As to the question of "how long did it take" until I felt improvement, that's difficult to quantify because at the time, the Omega 3's were just one front in the anti-inflammator regimine that included a number of other supplements.

But I was certain that the Omega-3's were helping because, at that point in time, I often experienced increased inflammation after meals and adding the Flax Oil eliminated this.

Good luck!