I am generally skeptical of the vitamin and supplement industry. However, I have taken a couple that seemed to help.
Skeptical
I try to eat a healthy, balanced diet. Most of my nutrients come from food, so my default is to skip vitamins and supplements.
The US supplement industry is very lightly regulated. Besides the unproven claims, the supplements might not contain the ingredient on the label, might not match the dose on the label, and might include extra ingredients. This Harvard Health Blog has more details: What’s in your supplements?
This episode of Frontline has hair-raising descriptions of the supplement industry: Supplements and Safety – Hidden Dangers of Vitamins & Supplements
Testing
The U.S. ME/CFS Clinician Coalition publishes testing recommendations that check for several nutrient deficiencies or overdoses. (Read more about this coalition.)
I have tried to test and monitor rather than just take random supplements off lists on the internet.
My Experience
Using the testing recommendations above, my doctor found that I was just barely below range on vitamin D, so now I take a vitamin D supplement to correct that deficiency. I don’t notice any change when taking vitamin D.
He also found that my B12 was low-ish, so I started taking a B12 supplement. I learned through this process that B12 is only available in nature from animal products (NIH Fact Sheet). I’m not vegetarian, but most of the time I choose the vegetarian option. I found when I ate more meat and took B12 supplements that my energy improved.
I also found that my blood pressure can be low and my cardiologist recommended just eating more salt. This may be why electrolytes help me feel better.
I also went to acupuncture and was given a mixture of herbs that was supposed to work on the qi in my lungs, whatever that means. It cleared the phlegm that had been in my lungs for months and after that I had a significant improvement. Read more
Experiments
I conducted little experiments to see if a supplement is helpful. To do the experiment, I could really only test one intervention every two weeks, which takes a lot of patience. Another way I have experimented is to stop taking something that seems to help and see if I notice a change.
Other Resources
The U.S. ME/CFS Clinician Coalition also publishes treatment recommendations that include non-drug interventions. One that I think is particularly interesting, but I have not tried is IV saline, which they say, “May be helpful for patients during relapse.” In my city there are IV hydration clinics that I think are mostly used for hangovers. If I experience a significant crash again, I intend to try IV fluids.
The Bateman Horne Center released a video, Long COVID and Supplements, which talks about common supplements for long COVID from a physician perspective. The short version is that knowledge about supplements in the medical community is limited. At 53:14, Dr. Yellman talks about oxaloacetate for fatigue, which sounds promising, but expensive.