[Valerie Gonzales]

I've been following my personal "program" for almost a month now and haven't seen any results.
It's probably too early to see anything so I'm not discouraged. In 2 days I will be going to Europe for 10 days for a wedding!
The thing is, it's going to be difficult for me to maintain my regimen of 36 pills per day while I am traveling.
Can anyone take a look at my program and give me some advice on what I may be able to cut out for a while... ?
Like which are the most important things I am taking and which are not as important? (I have no idea)
I would like to cut out some pills out while I travel to make things a little more manageable but have no clue which ones...

Folks like Isabelle and Eve M are boobie-gurus, but any and all advise from anyone would be GREATLY appreciated!!!
I'm not giving up, I have faith that things will all work out!

THANKS!!!
Val
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This is what I take daily:

Alfalfa - 500 mg
Barley - 1000 mg
Borage - 1000 mg
Fennel - 480 mg
Fenugreek - 2440 mg
Flaxseed - 1000 mg
Hops - 1860 mg
Wild Oats - 500 mg
Saw Palmeto - 2160 mg
Soy - 160 mg
Wild Yam - 1000 mg

(I also massage twice a day)

[NotSoBusty]

From what I know about herbs, as well, I would say that for those 10 days you should stick to Fennel, Fenugreek, Wild Yam, and Saw Palmetto, and perhaps Borage.

The rest I think you can fare well without for a few days. This is just my two cents from the little knowledge I have about herbal programs (most of them contain the 4 I mentioned above as the prominent herbs in the programs), but I am sure Isabelle or Eve can give more insight

[EricaB]

I don't now enough to make a suggestion on the primary pills to take, but it might be an idea if you continue with the full dose of the primary pills and take a smaller amount of the secondary ones. I'm thinking that if instead of taking 10 days x 5 pills of 200 mg for a daily total of 1000mg which would be 50 pills (this is just a made up example), you might take only 10 pills, one a day as a sort of maintenance amount. Or maybe take 20 pills and take the full dose of 5 pills every 4 days.

I am not recommending this, just suggesting it for you to think about.

Just be thankful you are not thinking of bringing along a Noogleberry or Brava breast suction system.

[Isabelle]

Hi Val,

NotSoBusty's suggestion will work. An alternative from my own experience is only hops and FG, and keep in the oats to avoid getting too depressed or tired from hops. If you do feel down, lower hops until you can go on the full program again.

[EricaB]

I guess I'm a bit addled today as I did not think of mentioning this before. When I travel by plane, domestic or overseas, I use small ziplock bags to hold my morning/noon time pills and another to hold my evening pills. I take about 40 pills a day, a couple of prescription and the rest vitamins and supplements (none for NBE, at least not yet). The size ziplock bag I use are 3 1/2 inches long and 2 inches wide and hold at least 20 pills with ease. I then put the entire morning supply of little bags in one labeled ziplock freezer bag and the evening supply in another.

I carry these packages in my carry-on tote bag along with camera, etc. so they never leave my possession. For a month long trip to Australia and another month long trip to New Zealand, I had absolutely no problems with either airport security or customs. And I did not have any identification of what any of the pills were, none of the bottles (of course I could recognize each pill by size, shape or color.) I don't know if Europe is more strict.

I got these bags at a craft store in California, and suspect they're available at any craft store and possibly even places such as Walmart. Without original bottles, a supply of 1,400 pills (40 pills times 35 days having 5 extra days just in case of delays) was no problem to carry.

One advantage of packaging this way is that I can grab one morning and one evening ziplock bag and head out of my room for breakfast, comfortable in the knowledge that I have my full supply of meds and supplements with me for the day,

Why deny yourself when it's not necessary?

[Valerie Gonzales]

EricaB - LOL!! That is exactly what I do now! I even use the same size bag you described! How coincidental. I use them everyday. Each Sunday I make my little baggie packets for the upcoming week. Then, I pop 2 baggies in my purse and I am all set for the day, no matter where I have breakfast or dinner.
The thing was, while I travel, I thought it may get annoying drinking all that water and downing 17-18 pills twice a day at breakfast and dinner while my friends watch and wait. I already have my husband worried that I'm taking too many supplements, I didn't want to have to explain it to my friends as well...

As of right now, my travel regime will be:
Borage
Fennel
Fenugreek
Hops
Saw Palmeto
Wild Oats
Wild Yam

Thanks NotSoBusty and Isabelle!!
That's only 20 pills a day! 10 in the AM and 10 in the PM -very manageable!

[EricaB]

Great minds think alike. (blushes at being called great, even if it is by myself ) At home I use a 7 day pill caddy with morning and evening compartments. My pills fill it almost to overflowing. I have 4 of them and spend about 45 minutes every 4 weeks filling them all up. Three going into rubber banded freezer bags to protect against accident spillage and then into the fridge, the current one into the pantry for use.

When preparing for a trip, I fill these up as usual then transfer to the little bags. One shortcut I take is to remove the covers from the 7 day dispensers so I can put the pills in more easily. Thankfully, the cover just slides off. Unfortunately, the manufacturer redesigned these recently and the newer ones are less convenient to use as they no longer have a full partition between AM and PM.

While we're on the topic, does anyone have any idea how strict South American countries are on pills? I'm going on a month tour to several countries soon. I'm not sure of which countries but I know the tour includes Brazil, Argentina, Chili, and Peru and possibly one or two more. Thanks in advance.

[Valerie Gonzales]

Oh! I almost forgot! My new favorite purchase:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003KJM...00_details
I bought 2 and love them, I can see when I'm running low on something at a glance.
(not exactly travel advise, but still good )

[EricaB]

Thanks for sharing that pill organizer with us, Valerie. What I do is have extra jars of pills each of which is enough for 2 to 5 months. When I start the last jar of some pill I know I have to order more. I usually order a year's supply at a time so I can save on shipping.

BTW, I love your avatar caption. Cute and so very, very appropriate for this site.

[Valerie Gonzales]

I like the avatar too, when I saw it, I knew it was for me.
I'm determined to make this work!
You are serious about your NBE!!! A years worth of supplements takes dedication, that's great! I've been on my journey for about a month and have had no changes, no tingles, no aching -nothing. But I'm going to keep at it! I've decided to give it a good try before I ever think of giving up.

This forum gives me hope!