all things vitamin D

Discuss herbal therapies, vitamins and minerals, etc. here
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GeoGuy
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Post by GeoGuy »

elly,

I to have a low Vit D level. It was found by my general physican and she has been trying to deal with it by having me take 3000 IU of D3 every day. It has gone up but is still not in a normal range (if there really is such a thing). we are still doing blood test about every 8 week to check.

Jack
RRMS since 01/07.
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lyndacarol
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Impaired Absorption on Vitamin D?

Post by lyndacarol »

GeoGuy--Insulin is secreted by the pancreas and enters the small intestine in the first section called the duodenum, where most nutrients are absorbed from the food eaten. What if the insulin damages the villi and thereby impairs absorption of vitamins--even a Vit D supplement? Could you try to get more D through sunshine on your skin? Maybe more would get into your system by that path?
Last edited by lyndacarol on Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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GeoGuy
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Post by GeoGuy »

lindacarol,

Thanks for the thought. I have tried to increase my exposure to the sun but that is difficult during the summer in the south when one is sensitive to heat. Still I manage to get about 30 minutes a day, most days, on my arms and face.

Jack
RRMS since 01/07.
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jimmylegs
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Post by jimmylegs »

holy CRAP lisa. sounds like you`re on the right track to remedy this, but wow that you got so low in the first place.
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LisaE
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Post by LisaE »

Vitamin D was not really on my radar screen. I don't really spent much time directly out in the sun. I work in a home office which has large skylights in the ceiling.

I just read this week that sunlight which is filtered through windows does not encourage the same level of Vitamin D that direct light does. Ooops.

I'm lactose intolerant so avoid milk. I eat yogurt and cottage cheese and drink orange juice with extra calcium. I'm also overweight which apparently is a factor.

I'm looking forward to feeling better if this is the cause of pain, numbness, spasticity, tinnitus, brain fog, and increased depression. I'm hoping....
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Smilingface
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Wow, LisaE, you are way low!

Post by Smilingface »

Wow, I thought I was low at a baseline of 12.6 ng/ml. One year later after supplementing 2000-4000, I was still below normal (as per my doc 30ng/ml).
I stepped up to 4000-6000, in the form of some yummy cinnamon flavored tabs (2000 in one). Added calcium chews with magnesium, chocolate flavored of course. I'm now really good on compliance! My plan is to re-check my level in two months and see how I'm doing.

LisaE, I have noticed no change in my symptoms but I know I'm helping my body fight my MS better with a healthy Vit D level. I also fight with diet, exercise, stress management and good ol' sleep. Good luck to you!
Primary Progressive, Onset 10 years ago at age 42, diagnosis 6 years ago, Vit D, Chinese Herbs, Exercise, yoga. So far tried antibiotics, fumaric acid and 4AP. Currently participant in the FTY720/PPMS Trial.<br />
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Nick
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Lack of the sunshine vitamin raises risk of MS: Canadian stu

Post by Nick »

Jimmy

I know how badly you want to see more news articles about vitamin D so this one’s for you.

Although this article doesn’t mention it, the lead researcher, Dr. Banwell, also participated in research released this January that demonstrated children with probable early stage MS central nervous system (CNS) inflammatory demyelination) and children with type 1 diabetes (ugly fraternal twin to MS) has evidence of immune activity against not only self tissue but cow milk proteins.

As a reminder Direct-MS will be releasing soon the results of one of their clinical trial: Testing the Effectiveness of the Best Bet Diet for Decreasing Disease Activity in Multiple Sclerosis. I hope you and the members of this board will be suitably impressed.

Cheers
Nick

Lack of the sunshine vitamin raises risk of MS: Canadian study

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

From Saturday's Globe and Mail
September 19, 2008 at 8:43 PM EDT

MONTREAL — New Canadian research is offering hope that some day preventing multiple sclerosis will be as simple as popping a vitamin D pill each day.

A study of Canadian children suffering their first symptoms of the disease has made the surprising discovery that those with low levels of the vitamin are far more likely to develop a full-blown case of it than those who have sufficient amounts.

The finding suggests that vitamin D has a preventive effect on multiple sclerosis, raising the possibility that doctors might be able to forestall the progression of the debilitating disease by having patients take the widely available nutrient shortly after diagnosis.

The discovery, presented this week at an international conference on multiple sclerosis in Montreal, has excited researchers. They say it represents one of the most promising leads for unravelling the cause of multiple sclerosis, which is currently unknown, and treating people with the condition.

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“We are implicating vitamin D insufficiency as a risk factor,” said Brenda Banwell, director of the pediatric multiple sclerosis program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and one of the researchers conducting the study.

Medical researchers have been studying the vitamin for a possible link to MS because of the observation that Canada and other high-latitude countries lying farthest from the equator generally have the highest rates of the disease. This geographical factor implicates the vitamin because the amounts of it in people vary with the intensity of sunlight they receive, which in turn is determined by where they live.
“There is a very consistent pattern of latitude and multiple sclerosis,” observed Cedric Garland, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Diego, who is writing a paper on the worldwide incidence patterns of the disease, comparing it to sunlight levels.

For about half the year in Canada, it isn't possible to make the vitamin the natural way – through naked skin exposed to strong sunlight – leading to widespread deficiencies. The link to light is the reason the nutrient is dubbed the sunshine vitamin – although it can be taken in pill form, and small amounts are in some foods, such as salmon and fortified milk.
“People have been looking for things in the Canadian environment that might account for why Canada has such a high MS risk, and this is one of those factors,” Dr. Banwell said of vitamin D deficiency.

Since 2004, Dr. Banwell and other researchers have been compiling a national survey of children going to hospital with symptoms indicating early signs of MS. The children, whose average age was 11, were given blood tests to establish their vitamin D status.

Preliminary results indicate that 28 per cent of those with the lowest amounts at the time of initial symptoms have gone on to develop the condition by suffering a second attack, compared with only 7 per cent of those with higher levels. There are about 250 children currently enrolled in the study.

A separate study at the Hospital for Sick Children found that 66 per cent of those with the disease have outright vitamin D deficiencies or have insufficient amounts.

The vitamin D finding “screams to all parents, ‘make sure your child's vitamin D level remains adequate … if you want to protect them from MS,'” says Ashton Embry, president of Direct-MS, an Alberta charity, that has funded research into vitamin D's role in the disease.

The results suggest there is an association between vitamin D and MS, although definitive proof that it can be used as a treatment, and the optimum amounts, would require a large-scale, drug-style clinical trial.
Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the brain and spinal cord that arises when the body's immune system attacks the protective myelin cells of the central nervous system, leading to such symptoms as extreme fatigue, blurred vision, muscle stiffness and co-ordination difficulties.

Researchers suspect vitamin D works to prevent MS by short-circuiting the autoimmune attack on the myelin.
About 1,000 new cases of the disease will be diagnosed this year in Canada, and an estimated 55,000 to 75,000 people are currently living with it. Women are far more likely to be stricken than men.
Although doctors do not yet know for sure what dose of vitamin D might protect against multiple sclerosis, it is likely to be well above current Health Canada recommendations.

Dr. Banwell said it is a simple matter for people with the illness to have their blood levels of vitamin D checked, and then correct any deficiencies through supplements. But she said the level Health Canada recommends for children and adults under 50 – 200 international units a day, or the amount in two cups of milk – is too low to raise blood levels much.
Paul O'Connor, a professor of neurology at the University of Toronto, has conducted research giving adults with MS up to 40,000 IU a day, and found no adverse impacts. He said the testing showed those receiving the vitamin had fewer relapses than a control group that didn't receive the nutrient. “That was exciting,” he said of the finding.

The possibility that vitamin D may protect against MS is already being embraced by those at risk of the disease.

Vanessa Taylor, whose eight-year-old son Jordan temporarily lost sight in his right eye when he had initial symptoms in March, says she's been giving him some every day. Since the first attack, he has recovered almost all his sight and hasn't had any more signs of the ailment.
“I tell everybody, ‘Give your kids vitamin D,'” she says.

[u]http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl ... l/home[/u]

http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm?fuseact ... N=46817468
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jimmylegs
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Post by jimmylegs »

;) thx nick
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mrhodes40
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Post by mrhodes40 »

what's awesome about this is if you have kids or grands and have ms yourself, it gives you SOMETHING to do, to recommend and to follow up on. The fact I have MS is sad, but I could bear it less well if it were my little ones.... 8O
Wonderfulworld
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Post by Wonderfulworld »

This is great to see.
My little son is 7 months old.

I found some children's vitamin d drops, each administers 100 iu per drop.

If anyone can advise - should I just give him the vit d drops or do you need to balance it with cal/mag/zinc? The last thing I want to do is to give him hypervitaminosis d.........

I am pretty confused about the ratios and amounts but then I'm even more unsure about a baby's requirements. In my own case I am just taking a multi vitamin now and I am sure my own vit d has dropped even further, I know I need to address the whole supplement issue - I know I asked this before but my brain is complete porridge after my last relapse 6 weeks ago. Help :(
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gwa
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Post by gwa »

Please don't give your baby a vitamin regimen based on what people online tell you. Your pediatrician would be the best source of info for you.

If he is on a formula, there should be needed vitamins, fats, proteins already in it as well as calcium, etc.

There are a lot of opinions about topics you are questioning and no real consensuses even among medical people.

gwa
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mrhodes40
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Post by mrhodes40 »

i am totally with gwa; i meant something you can do with your doctor's guidance! it's easy enough to get a vitamin d test with a doctor's order and simple enough to supplement if needed that it should be possible to keep in a healthy range....for older children and adults at least. what a boon to have something to check and keep in range, maybe even possibly preventing development of MS.

i know my kids, 29 and 23 are very interested in how they might prevent MS, being able to check for and supplement d is pretty easy and safe with monitoring.

as for babies like my grandchildren, get a pediatrician who is interested in nutritional things and talk over how you can assure optimal healthy levels. I wouldn't give a baby anything without the express evaluation and recommend of a doctor. for mine, that means plenty of outdoor time: not supplements.
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cheerleader
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Post by cheerleader »

Hi WW....
Sorry about the recent relapse. I agree with the other gals... Don't worry about D supplements for your baby right now. Just get outdoors and get some fresh air and sun for at least 30 minutes a day. Good for both of you. Next trip to the pediatrician you can ask about formulas and D levels.

From all I've read, it seems like puberty is the really crucial time for vit. D. I give my 13 yr. old son 2000IU vit. D a day, and he's out in the California sun everyday.
AC
Husband dx RRMS 3/07
dx dual jugular vein stenosis (CCSVI) 4/09
http://ccsviinms.blogspot.com
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jimmylegs
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Post by jimmylegs »

enfalac makes a baby liquid d3 drops product with recommended daily dosages on the label. is that the one you've found?
i used to take it but it was too expensive trying to get the levels i needed, which was when i started researching on how to get my current megadose liquid product.
i don't recall the enfalac product being balanced with other minerals but i think for babies it's probably best to just go with plenty of excellent baby food sources of needed minerals.
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jimmylegs
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Post by jimmylegs »

keep in mind that D3 deficient moms give birth to deficient babies. you were recently tested at 54 nmol/L if i'm not mistaken, WW?
we know that you need to be at least 75 or 80 for musculoskeletal health, and more like 100-250 for immune system health.
i should think it would be extremely wise to have your baby's current 25(OH)D3 level tested before you decide on the best blend of sunshine, food, and supplementation for your little one.
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