I have Multiple sclerosis (MS) and I started taking reliv products 3 months ago. I have not noticed anything positive or negative. I am extremely disappointed as I met 3 people who have had phenomenal results with MS, fibromylgia, and I wonder how much longer I should try taking this reliv product.

Your doctor should be answering any questions of this nature. Some drugs take time to show their effect. Discuss your concerns with your doctor and s/he will be the best one to tell you whether you should continue or if there is a different drug you might want to try.

Reliv is not a drug it is a nutritional powder that you buy online, packed with vitamins, minerals, etc. that many people say have helped them tremendously. I personally met someone who said they were disabled from fibromyalgia and a host of other problems and now they are working and feel great (she works in the same office as me). I have expressed my frustrations with her, but I wanted to see if this newsgroup had any experience with this nutritional supplement powder - Reliv

I don't know if it is a scam. That is why I am asking if anyone else has tried this product. The girl I am buying from truly knows that it has helped her, but I think her symptoms went into remission and it would have happened whether she was drinking this nutritional product or not.

quote:

Originally posted by cmiller:
Reliv is not a drug it is a nutritional powder that you buy online...

In that case, I would definitely discuss it with your doctor. I hope that it helps you, but if you are using other medications, they may interact.

I see from DG's site that the product is sold 'multi-level ' -- like Amway or any other pyramid scheme.

Amway marketed a product in the 1930's called Nutrilite. The idea is, I sell it to you and if you can sell it to someone else, you made a small profit and also pay me a commission. So there is a 'pyramid' of people out there selling the product with money passing all the way from the latest customer right up to the top.

"In 1947, the FDA began a 4-year struggle to force Mytinger, Casselberry, Rehnborg, their respective companies, and some 15,000 door-to-door agents to stop making wild claims about their products. Potential customers were being given a booklet, "How to Get Well and Stay Well," which represented Nutrilite as effective against almost every case" of allergies, asthma, mental depression, irregular heartbeat, tonsillitis, and some 20 other common ailments. The booklet, which contained testimonial letters, also implied that cancer, heart trouble, tuberculosis, arthritis and many other serious illnesses would respond to Nutrilite treatment."
Source
"In 1951, the Court issued a permanent injunction forbidding anyone who sold Nutrilite products from referring to any edition of "How to Get Well and Stay Well" and more than 50 other publications that exaggerated the importance of food supplements. The court decree also contains a long list of forbidden and permissible claims about nutrition and Nutrilite products."

And there is a long list of similar products, sold as cure-alls. Ask yourself this: Doctors make a living curing people, right? Doctors have access to all sorts of research that reports what is effective and what is not. So if there was a simple nutritional answer to the auto-immune diseases such as fibromyalgia, don't you think they would be prescribing them?

So since Riliv is not a prescribed drug, and since it's not helping, why not quit taking it?

Your friend who feels great may be very suggestible. That means that if she feels that someone is caring for her and giving her meds, she must feel better -- and she does, psychologically. It's called 'the placebo effect'.

Or she might be involved in the sales pyramid. Or her health may have improved co-incidentally.

These non-drug 'nutritional supplements' that claim to be wonderful for chronic illness (for which the medical profession has not yet found totally effective treatments) are mostly scams.

They can hurt you two ways:
1. they can cause you to abandon proper medical treatments that have disappointed you in the past
2. they can hurt your wallet! They're mostly way over-priced for what's in them.

Thank you for your insightful post regarding Reliv type of products. You are right about hurting the pocket book. It is very expensive. I do not believe the product can hurt because it is no different than my one a day multivitamin. I don't do things that I think will be harmful. It is just very discouraging to talk with someone who I can see is doing better and you wonder why not me? I wuld be thrilled with a placebo effect, but I don't seem to be that suggestible. I also follow all the research on MS and am very aware of what they are doing. You are right about all that research and a vitamin product helping is ludicrous.

quote:

Originally posted by cmiller: I do not believe the product can hurt because it is no different than my one a day multivitamin.

If it is no different than your multivitamin, why take it at all? Why not just take the vitamin?

quote:

I don't do things that I think will be harmful.

I’m sure that is true, but without all of the information on a subject or product it may be impossible to be certain that what you are taking will not harm you. That is why it is important to discuss all supplements and medicines, mail-order or not, with your doctor so s/he can help you decide which items are best for you.

It may work for your friend and not for you because you are different people who react differently to different medications. Not everything works for everyone the same way. We can only suggest what we think is best based on what we know from personal experience and our own research.

Please stop mentioning talking with you doctor. My neurologist is an MD. Whenever I ask about anything he says try it if it helps take it. I happen to have a degenerative disease that there is no treatment. My family dr. says the same thing. This is real life, not like some TV show like "House" where the doctors go to your home and through your garbage to find the cause. You have to count on yourself, or dr's can screw you up bad because they will not talk about and are not trained in alternative medicine, like acupuncture, chiropractic, nutrition, etc. yet. Expand your mind and stop thinking your dr has all the answers.

It must wear you out trying to deal with a painful and (presently) incurable condition. My heart does go out to you. I have one friend with fibromyalgia and another with lupus.

I think if it were me, I would do all the things that well people do to overcome depression, to the best of my ability.

- do get as much light exercise out of doors as possible, and preferably in a 'green' space like a park or a garden

- if there is a task you want to do but the prospect seems overwhelming, and beyond your strength and endurance, break it into smaller tasks and do one at a time. The sense of satisfaction as you complete each unit will give you a lift. And the project will help you keep your mind off your problems.

(I have just suffered the loss of a loved one. I have kept very busy, and I have made a list of tasks I have wanted to do for a long time but had not the heart for it. Now I'm doing them - one manageable unit at a time. )

- don't be afraid to 'ventilate' your frustration to sympathetic friends; but try to avoid doing so for long stretches of time, it will only bring you down.

If you like, you can ventilate here. There are some great people on Answerpool, and all of those have had some really bad patches in their lives.

I am not depressed. I have a job I love. 5 days a week I get to go to work and do a job that is rewarding and in a wonderful environment. My classroom is a serene. The people I work for and the people I come into contact with are intelligent and moving forward.
I swim three times a week and do yoga most everyday. I also enjoy breathing exercises and use sounds for variety.
I travel all over the world because my hobby is scuba diving. I recently went on a unique whale expedition - just like a on a segment of the Planet Earth TV series. My latest land travel was to Japan - a life changing eyeopening experience for me although the walking was painful and I had to use a wheelchair at times.
I have terrific friends and two wonderful grown children. My husband has difficulty watching me in so much pain. It lessens the quality of our life, but we make the best of it.
My frustration was with this Reliv nutritional product that makes claims and doesn't work for me. I just wondered if it worked for anyone else or if they had an experience with it that I should be aware of.
Thank you for your thoughtful, caring response. ~Cindy

You're splendid! You're very gutsy. I wish it had worked, too.

I am very sorry that this product did not work for you, and also sorry that your doctor appears indifferent to “unconventional” treatments. If you had said that earlier, I wouldn’t have pressed the issue.
I never meant to imply that this was a TV show or that your condition was not real and serious. I am very sorry for your troubles, I was only trying to make suggestions so that you could have more information available to you. Many doctors do welcome alternative therapies in combination with more traditional methods, I am sorry that yours does not.
Many products make miraculous claims, but they nearly always say “results not typical” in the fine print. It’s too bad no one else seems to have had any experience with this product and can give you feedback. Have you tried Googling it? Does the product have anything on the label about how long you should wait before expecting results? If the product is not working for you, then it would probably be best to try something else.

Yes! I will always keep trying to improve my health. I feel passionate about living the best I can physically, mentally and spiritually. I am doing OK mentally and spiritually but I need help physically. I listen to everyone including doctors. I am interested in things that work for others. That is another reason why I posted to this site.

My sister in law has been using Tunguskafor about a year - she suffered multiple health problems, and since using it has gone from a dozen different meds to just a couple - She's also seen some astounding improvements in her teenager's ability to study, fewer colds, etc.

I don't generally tout any kind of "miracle tonic", but have seen first hand what it's done for her.

Thank you for this information. It is something that I never heard of before. It sounds different than all the antioxidant beverages too. I will look into it further.

I used to be a Reliv distributor - went to the weekly meetings and took it regularly. I have heard all the testimonies and quite honestly they start becoming ludicrous. Does Reliv work? For some, yes. Is it bad for you? Hardly - it's nothing more than minerals, vitamins, and amino acids. Is it doctor approved? Well, the scientists who created it claim to be doctors and I have taken it to a neurologist and a general practitioner to get their opinions of it. They agree there is nothing harmful in it and that it certainly can be helpful.

I was diagnosed with Guillain Barre (basically MS of the peripheral nervous system) 3 years ago. I thought if I took it I would heal much quicker. It did nothing for me either. It boosts the immune system, helps you get over colds. But with regards to "curing" neurological disorders...well from what I have learned from the weekly testimonies, these people are taking 5, 6, 10 times the normal dosage. If you want to try that much, go ahead. But I really don't think it will help you that much. Sorry to say...

Wow! Thank you so much for your honesty.

I want to support Georia's post in a general sort of way. At one time I would have scoffed at ALL stories of supplements helping a condition quickly, but...

then a few weeks ago I began to have frequent painful cramps in my hands. Also som muscle weakness in my hands. I'd just been through a lot of stress, and I wondered if it was psychosomatic. But they didn't go away.

So I googled 'hand cramps' and found that a deficiency of calcium, potassium and magnesium can cause this! I knew it couldn't be potassium because I practically live on fruits and vegetables, (and beer, which is a grain, I believe ) so I got a combined calcium and magnesium over-the-counter med, and the results were dramatic. A week later - no more cramps.

But overpriced products abound. So if you do try one, and it helps, use it. But you might want to keep looking and researching for the 'active ingredient(s)', and switch to a cheaper solution!