can you take evening primrose oil with fish oil?? and with plaquenil?

[valene2009]

i was curious if you can take evening primrose oil with fish oil and or/ plaquenil (which i currently take-both plaquenil and fish oil)..

My hormones are all out of whack .. I have been getting pms symtpoms but no period for over 4 years and i am 36-have had my hormones tested-am told they are 'normal'.. anyway,  lately i have been getting the swollen tenderness in the breast area that i haven't gotten for over 4 years but i still dont bleed.. I was reading that evening primrose oil could help but was concerned since i take omega 3 in a dose of 3000 mg.. i know evening primrose oil has GLA and is an omega 6--i dont want it to affect the omega 3 in the fish oil..

Is there anyone on here taking both omega 3 and the omega 6 in primrose oil?  is there anyone taking it for breast pain/swolleness/tenderness?  if so, does it help???thanks!!

[Hypermobius]

well from the journal article I read on the ratio of omega 6 to omega 3, it seems like the optimal ratio to treat inflammation was 2-3 to 1. This is a little tricky though because you have to consider the omega 6's you ingest from your diet, which in western cuisine can sometimes be quite high. Ideally with a supplement of 3000mg of omega 3's via fish oil you would have to ingest 6000-9000 mg of the primrose oil's omega 6 for that ratio to be at the optimal level. Again you have to be very careful, and I wouldn't recommend taking that amount as it does not factor in the omega 6's from diet. In fact if you take too much omega 6's with a ratio near 10 to 1 it can cause medical problems.

I can't comment on effectiveness of primrose oil as I haven't tried it myself....since I don't suffer from that particular problem.....for obvious reasons   but I hope that helps you out some.


edit: Found some other info for you....the University of Maryland Medical Center recommends "for breast tenderness (mastalgia) or PMS: Evening primrose oil, 3,000 - 4,000 mg daily, divided into several smaller doses throughout the day." Maybe that will give you a good starting point to try.

[Prairie Gal]

Valene, I was menopausal for six years before my SjS Dx, so don't know if my rheumy factored in my lower hormones, but about a year after I first saw him he recommended I take Black Currant seed oil capsules-- it's rich in GLA.  I still take it, along with 4g of fish oil every day.  Does your gyn think GLA will help you?

I've been on Plaquenil for 9 years now; both supplements, which I take at his recommendation, were added after I was on Plaquenil for a while.

[genko_b]

For a long time I was taking both Evening Primrose oil and fish along with the plaquenil for my Sjogren's/RA, at the suggesiton of my doctor at that time. I don't remember now how much I was taking, though.

Genko