UK vs. US drug regimens

[lyndacarol]

Just to add to your information on Vitamin D receptors being on ovaries, jimmylegs. The islet cells of the pancreas also have VDRs. These cells produce insulin. (By the way, remember that I am the one who thinks hyperinsulinemia is deeply involved in MS so I see these things through "insulin-colored glasses." Does insulin even have a color???)

In the U.S. Pharmacist feature for which you gave us the link, there was, not only the list of cells having VDRs, but part 2 stated that normal insulin secretion is dependent on Vitamin D. To modify your sentence--"so might not sufficient vitamin d status improve a person's [insulin] status?" I'm hoping so; that's the reason I am working on D supplementaion.

[jimmylegs]

yep it helps out the pancreas too that's for sure. i know the insulin thing was not mentioned on that last site i linked to in this topic, but i do think that nutrition affects many organs and systems, including the pancreas, in such an interconnected way that we can't necessarily isolate one aspect as a 'cause' of ms.
by the way i couldn't click through to that us pharmacist article from your last post on this topic. is it just me?

[jimmylegs]

i think that regardless of your stage of illness, or chosen form of treatment, that it is very, very wise to know where your bloodwork lies with respect to typical ms deficits, and work to correct any issues. i have been really determined that nutrition will work for me, but now consider that i may have a physical problem in my neck that will not be altered by nutrition, therefore i am looking into a more physical solution. this does not mean i will drop the nutritional work that has helped so much to date. i know from experience that you can think you're fine with something thanks to your diet, and have your convictions disproved in the lab. i personally would be sad to see anyone ignore nutrition while pursuing other treatments, or to see them fail to be curious whether their blood is lacking anything it could use to help fight the fight.

[jimmylegs]

a question: when someone asks for feedback from the forum, is it not up to the asker to evaluate whether the info they receive is useful or relevant or not?

[lyndacarol]

I did not set the U.S. Pharmacist feature to be a link, only a reference to the link you had set in a Regimens post in June. I'll find it again and post again.

[jimmylegs]

oh okay thanks lc, never mind hunting i'll track it down

[gliberty]

My mom just had a blood test because she is going to start a clinical trial - don't know very much about it because they didn't provide much information at first, will post here soon as I know more. Also wish I knew more about what they found - they had to do a few tests, maybe just to be sure her blood was clear of some other meds. They would have known if she was very deficient in something obvous like iron though. Anyway, she should probably have her blood checked more and speciically for nutritional levels.

But she cut out red meat a long time ago - it didn't make her feel good. She eats a lot of fish (in part just because she lives in London) and she eats yogurt almost every day in her granola. She takes the b vitamins, calcium, things like that. We cut out anything that could be an immune booster in case it could make anything worse. She drinks green tea, other tea, also red wine and coffee, of course - can't lose all the fun in your life. Anyway, her diet is not bad at all, but she obviously needs something more than just a good diet at this point.

Anyway, thanks for the input. Keep it coming!!!

[jimmylegs]

sounds pretty good for diet, maybe the fish has her topped up on the vitamin d. could be worth checking out though. a lot of the research i've done has led to studies done in the elderly. their bodies are less efficient at processing vitamin d. i could send you some references if you like.

maybe the latest tests are liver monitoring... do u know if the clinical trial med is tough on the liver? they did baseline liver function tests on me when they were getting me ready to start rebif. would your mother be allowed to take nutritional supplements while on a clinical trial?