Hello,
I am about to start IP in a couple of weeks and I am getting prepared for the hair loss side effect. I have been searching my CVS website and it has a couple of options for Biotin.

I plan on taking a multi vitamin which already contains a 100% Daily Value of Biotin. Is this enough to ward off hair loss?

There are a couple of other options if that is not sufficent: taking a Vitamin B super complex which contains another 100% of my B Vitamins which includes Biotin, or

Taking a supplement which only contains Biotin.

Should I be concerned with a toxicity from my B vitamins if I take the super complex in addition to the multi vitamin?

B vitamins are water soluble, which means you pee out whatever your body doesn't use. No risk of toxicity, but you will have very expensive pee.

You don't need a multivitamin, part of the IP program includes 3 very excellent supplements that you need to take every day. I get a Biotin supplement from WalMart that is just the biotin, and I take an Omega 3,6,9 from WalMart as well.

I am not on IP but I do take a multi vitamin plus Biotin I take 5000 mcg daily.

Thanks for the information. I already have several bottles of the multi vitamin from a previous diet, so I might as well take it. But just knowing that it will be unlikely for toxicitiy makes me feel better!

You may want to compare the ingredients - IP's vitamins are balanced out to match the nutritional needs of THAT diet, while the vitamins you have may be formulated for a completely different set of needs. And as I mentioned, the FORMS of the nutrients matter - IP's vitamins use particular forms of nutrients that are easy to absorb (for example, IP uses potassium bicarbonate, while many supplements use potassium gluconate. The gluconate is harder on the body). Different forms also have different dosing (100mg of potassium bicarbonate is NOT equal to 100mg of potassium gluconate). IP by nature is a little hard on your liver and kidneys so the ease of absorption actually matters.

And just so that you know I am not just waving the IP banner here - I used IP products for the first 8 weeks of my weight loss then switched to alternative products - but I continued to purchase and use the IP supplements. I did a LOT of research into it before I made a decision, and have a much better understanding of why IP chose the forms and dosing than I did before.

I guess all pills are not created equal! Thanks for the detailed information regarding bicarbonate vs gluconate. I am going to take a look at the multi vitamins I have already purchased to see if they are bicarbonate or gluconate.

You can do a little advanced research here too:

www.plainprotein.com

This is a site that sells IP products (and where I still buy the supplements). The three supplements you have to take on IP are the Multivitamin, the Cal-Mag and the Potassium-Calcium. You can click on the products and see the back of the bottles, which will tell you the forms of the different nutrients used. Make sure you are comparing across the board - potassium is just one example of the difference between most multivites and IP's.

Good luck on starting IP!

I told my Dermatologist about losing hair on my eye brows and she told me to take Biotin. She said it was water soluble too. I've been taking it over a year and the results are amazing my hair is so much thicker and in better shape than ever and my finger nails grow so fast now. my eyebrow filled in a little but not as much as I hoped. I keep taking it because I love my hair now.

I take 5 to 10 mg of biotin a day, Country Life brand from my local health food store. Not to alarm you, but I've lost a lot of hair. Some people on IP do, some don't. My hair stylist and I can tell it's much thinner but it still looks ok, especially if I let it be curly (stopped using the flat iron on it!) I added bangs since it thinned a lot at my temples. New hair is coming in and I think the biotin has helped speed up the process.

It's scary when you wash your hair and see all the hair on your hands. You just have to ignore it as your hair will recover, and the priority is to get to a healthy weight. There are some references that explain the hormonal changes that trigger the hair loss. I'll see if I can find them. Maybe someone else has the link?

I AM very nervous about hair loss, which is why I am researching Biotin now! CVS has a BOGO sale this week so I might stock up.

I'm nervous about it too - and just bought some biotin today. My sister has taken it for years and swears by it's ability to produce beautiful hair and fingernails! I'm working in biotin and vitamin C to my regular IP supplements. I'd be sad if I lost my hair!

I'm starting IP also in a few weeks, and didn't know anything about the hair loss! AH! Now I'm freaked out!

I take Biotin and a multivitamin...I already have thinning hair and want to hold on to every strand I have left on my head. I haven't noticed any additional loss in the last 4 weeks, in fact the shedding seems to have slowed. And someone commented a week ago that she didn't know what I was doing differently but my hair looked better so...the healthy eating combined with the biotin must have been the missing key for me.

Don't freak out - if you experience any hair loss it will grow back once you are in maintenance. The hair loss is a side effect of ANY fast weight loss program - not everyone will experience it but it is very common and completely reversible.

The way I look at it - if it got that bad I can wear a hat. But I'll be wearing a hat on a much healthier body

how many of each are you taking? how long does each bottle last you roughly?