Vitamin D

[Guest guest]

I appreciate the great sun info. and also vitamin D--interesting about

the pH--is that from calcium neutralizing acids? Any idea why the oral

pH should be taken at 2pm? I am wondering what times of the day to take

vitamin D for optimal utilization? We have a dark house, and there is

something like 10 times more light in the shade outside than in the

house as a general rule. J.

[Guest guest]

Taking the pH at 2 pm each time gives you a standard, because the

pH can vary throughout the day.

Take vitamin D with food to ensure better assorption.

It will be poor if your gallbladder has been removed.

jp

I appreciate the great sun info. and also vitamin D--interesting about

the pH--is that from calcium neutralizing acids? Any idea why the oral

pH should be taken at 2pm? I am wondering what times of the day to take

vitamin D for optimal utilization? We have a dark house, and there is

something like 10 times more light in the shade outside than in the

house as a general rule. J.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I was wondering how many times a day to spread out vitamin D

supplementation? Wonder if time-release would be best? I know things

like that are dependent on body cycles and stuff. J.

[Guest guest]

I think calcium is best given continually throughout the day (broken up

into smaller increments) rather than all at once.. Maybe the same thing

with vitamin D since it regulates calcium? J.

[Guest guest]

Since your vitamin D is probably in a multiple,

take it as you would your multiple. I wouldn't

recommend taking extra vitamin D unless you

know you are deficient in it.

If you are taking extra vit. D, spread it out over

the 3 meals you eat daily.

jp

I was wondering how many times a day to spread out vitamin D

supplementation? Wonder if time-release would be best? I know things

like that are dependent on body cycles and stuff. J.

[Guest guest]

I think calcium is best given continually throughout the day (broken up

into smaller increments) rather than all at once.. Maybe the same thing

with vitamin D since it regulates calcium? J.

---We tell our folks to take 250 -300 mg of calcium

each meal, preferable 250 chelated calcium with

50 mg calcium gluconate, mixing high energy calcium

with low energy calcium. The multiple we use has

250 mg chelated calcium in it. The chelates more

efficiently go to target organs. Some vitamin D will

be found in any mulitple, 400 iu.

This dose will help people to recover if taken with each

meal. A strictly maintenance schedule for someone

in perfect health would be one a day.

jp

[Guest guest]

There is a test for vitamin D deficiency--a 25-OHD. I don't know the

general price yet or what kind of lab would do it. I checked GSDL and

they just have a Comprehensive Vitamin Profile. I have used vitamin D3

and calcium citrate from Trader Joe's--it's under $4. I would certainly

do the pH testing if I didn't get a test. I have some pH test strips

from Pike Laboratories (agricultural) and will check myself and my

daughter as soon as I remember when not to eat, etc.

J.

[Guest guest]

I've never seen a multivitamin with more than 200 or 400 IU, based on

" Adequate Intake " levels suggested.

http://www.cc.nih.gov/ccc/supplements/vitd.html

----- Original Message -----

From: <garygromet@...>

If taken as a daily vitamin regimen, it would have amount to 822iu per day,

which is about what

one 65+ person would get from his multivamin and calcium supplement.

[Guest guest]

Why, thank you Jo. This is a wonderful piece of information for me.

I was reading the ad at my local LA Tan center and it mentions

tanning machines as being a great source of vit. D., without the

sunscreen. I am trying it (and using lots of moisturizer) and going

3 times a week for 10 minutes. I'll see if this helps my labs within

the next two months. My levels were just detectable last month, and

that was a great improvement according to the doc. Hopefully, this

will make it even better. Then in the summer I will just sit go to

water aerobics and that should be sufficient. I do love Chicago, but

this winter is really taking a lot out of me. I am freezing and

craving sunshine!

Ellen

[Guest guest]

Ellen I'm glad you were able to get some info out of what I

wrote....one thing I wanted to include but didn't....Vitamin D can

be given in the form of an injection if needed. Just more FYI.

Jo

[Guest guest]

Thank you for sharing the information about Vitamin D. I am going to

look into this further.

> Vitamin D has recently came up and wouldn't you know it was the

lead article in Beyond Change (a newsletter regarding obesity and

obesity surgery)

>

> > Immunity:

>

> There is evidence that vitamin D may be able to inhibit cancer cell

> proliferation ond induce more normal cell synthesis. The strongest

> scientific evidence correlating low vitamin D status with cancer is

> with breast, prostate and colon and ther is research looking at the

> potential for Vitamin D's therapeutic potential in this area.

>

> There is emerging animal research that indicates that vitamin D

> status may play a role in some autoimmune diseases such as multiple

> sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

[Guest guest]

My name is Margo and I am mainly a lurker here. I am waiting as we speak

for my vitamin D tests to come back and will get a copy of them. Someone

mentioned they had more aching muscles since taking D and I started taking

it with my calcium pill about one and half years ago, and yes I have been

in more pain but would not have related the two if not for reading it

here. I had read that there was some kind of relationship between low D

and aching muscles, although that does not explain why I seem worse unless

another factor is involved and not the D. I also heard on our news today

that multiple sclerosis is being helped with the antibiotic Minocycline,

apparently the patients have fewer relapses on it.

margo

[Guest guest]

Hi, Margo.

I think this is really interesting. Not long ago there was a report

from Australia, I think, in which an autopsy was done on I think it

was a child or even a baby, and in which it was concluded that the

attack on myelin does not happen initially in multiple sclerosis,

but that cells die before this. This would be consistent with the

first cause being something else, for example an infection with a

pathogen. If minocycline is helping, that means a bacterium must be

involved, and I think that would be consistent with this recent

report. Multiple sclerosis is a Th1-dominant disease, and if

minocycline helps, I wonder if Dr. Marshall's protocol, including

Benicar, would help even more.

Rich

I also heard on our news today

> that multiple sclerosis is being helped with the antibiotic

Minocycline,

> apparently the patients have fewer relapses on it.

>

> margo

[Guest guest]

This is all interesting.

But I am getting really confused since there are others who are

following the Marshall's protocol, and they are avoiding all Vitamin

D, and taking the RX Benicar and are feeling much better!

Lea

[Guest guest]

Interesting article on Vitamin D on immunesupport

http://www.immunesupport.com/library/showarticle.cfm/id/6276

Marcia

[Guest guest]

,

We check 25(OH) D after the first visit with the surgeon (along with B12, MMA, rbc folate, homocysteine, thiamin, CBC, Chm panel, AIC) There was a paper in Obesity Surgery by Buffington that found that 62% of patients in one series had low levels pre-operatively. There are other reports of low vitamin D in the obese population. If you are doing a presurgical nutrition assessment, you need to be able to assess vitamin status -- there is ample literature to support requesting these labs..baseline values are also helpful since low post-operative levels are often blamed on the surgery when they were low pre-operatively.

For vitamin D we worked with our endocrine team to establish a treatment protocol. We use 50,000 units of ergocalciferol 5 days per week for 5-6 weeks. The lab should then be remeasured. We treat at the lower end of the range, not just overt deficiency.

Ergocalciferol will bring the values up faster than D3 which is the common form in supplements. You will need an Rx.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Jeanne Blankenship, MS RD

UC Medical Center

Sacramento, CA

Vitamin D

Does anyone do routine screening for vitamin D? Our NP has checked vitamin D on 2 patients and both have come back low. I know that preop and sometimes postop vitamin D can be low and sometimes it normalizes itself. I was just wondering what therapies for low vitamin D people are using.Thanks. Letendre, MS,RD,LDBariatric Surgery ProgramSection of General SurgeryDartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center(603)650-8810

[Guest guest]

I agree Jeanne--our practice also checks a routine PTH. PTH can be elevated before you see a drop in vit D 25(OH) in early vit D deficiency.

Kristyn Lassek

Omaha, NEJeanne Blankenship <jbship@...> wrote:

,

We check 25(OH) D after the first visit with the surgeon (along with B12, MMA, rbc folate, homocysteine, thiamin, CBC, Chm panel, AIC) There was a paper in Obesity Surgery by Buffington that found that 62% of patients in one series had low levels pre-operatively. There are other reports of low vitamin D in the obese population. If you are doing a presurgical nutrition assessment, you need to be able to assess vitamin status -- there is ample literature to support requesting these labs..baseline values are also helpful since low post-operative levels are often blamed on the surgery when they were low pre-operatively.

For vitamin D we worked with our endocrine team to establish a treatment protocol. We use 50,000 units of ergocalciferol 5 days per week for 5-6 weeks. The lab should then be remeasured. We treat at the lower end of the range, not just overt deficiency.

Ergocalciferol will bring the values up faster than D3 which is the common form in supplements. You will need an Rx.

Let me know if you have other questions.

Jeanne Blankenship, MS RD

UC Medical Center

Sacramento, CA

Vitamin D

Does anyone do routine screening for vitamin D? Our NP has checked vitamin D on 2 patients and both have come back low. I know that preop and sometimes postop vitamin D can be low and sometimes it normalizes itself. I was just wondering what therapies for low vitamin D people are using.Thanks. Letendre, MS,RD,LDBariatric Surgery ProgramSection of General SurgeryDartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center(603)650-8810__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

We do get PTH too, thanks -- I was rattling off the top of my head!

JB

Vitamin D

Does anyone do routine screening for vitamin D? Our NP has checked vitamin D on 2 patients and both have come back low. I know that preop and sometimes postop vitamin D can be low and sometimes it normalizes itself. I was just wondering what therapies for low vitamin D people are using.Thanks. Letendre, MS,RD,LDBariatric Surgery ProgramSection of General SurgeryDartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center(603)650-8810

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

This is from on's -- but you should be able to look this up in an

Internal Medicine text:

" If the pathway required for activation of vitamin D is intact, severe

vitamin D deficiency can be treated with pharmacologic repletion initially

(50,000 IU weekly for 3 to 12 weeks), followed by maintenance therapy (800

IU daily). "

I would contact your pharmacy and ask how they want the script written, we

usually give it 5 days per week for 6 weeks and then re-check. I would also

talk with your endo team. You should have a treatment algorhythm that

either defines how you will treat/monitor the situation based on mutual

consensus from both departments or a protocol that defines the referral

process so that endo can treat and communicate with you.

Hope this helps!

Jeanne

vitamin D

> Jeanne:

>

> I am writing to get a little more information on your response to a

> listserv

> question about Vitamin D (see your message below from several weeks ago).

> Our nurse practitioner is interested in providing Vitamin D supplements to

> some patients and she is wondering about what is written on prescription

> pad. Also curious if you have any articles relating to the use of the

> 50,000 units of ergocalciferol or if that decision was made on expertise

> of

> your endocrinologists. Thanks for any information you can provide.

>

> Best Regards,

>

> Laschkewitsch RD

> Legacy Good Samaritan Obesity Institute

> Portland OR

>

>

>

> We check 25(OH) D after the first visit with the surgeon (along with B12,

> MMA, rbc folate, homocysteine, thiamin, CBC, Chm panel, AIC) There was a

> paper in Obesity Surgery by Buffington that found that 62% of patients in

> one series had low levels pre-operatively. There are other reports of low

> vitamin D in the obese population. If you are doing a presurgical

> nutrition

> assessment, you need to be able to assess vitamin status -- there is ample

> literature to support requesting these labs..baseline values are also

> helpful since low post-operative levels are often blamed on the surgery

> when

> they were low pre-operatively.

>

> For vitamin D we worked with our endocrine team to establish a treatment

> protocol. We use 50,000 units of ergocalciferol 5 days per week for 5-6

> weeks. The lab should then be remeasured. We treat at the lower end of

> the

> range, not just overt deficiency.

>

> Ergocalciferol will bring the values up faster than D3 which is the common

> form in supplements. You will need an Rx.

>

> Let me know if you have other questions.

>

> Jeanne Blankenship, MS RD

> UC Medical Center

> Sacramento, CA

>

>

>

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> intended recipient, you should contact the sender and delete the message.

> Any unauthorized disclosure, copying, or distribution of this message is

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> intended to be a legally binding signature.

[Guest guest]

Marcia,

Do you happen to know; does the benefit of D in diabetes come from improved

production of insulin or from better utilization of it?

Thanks,

Adrienne

Adrienne,

Here is part of a post from Ken to the CFSprotocol list titled 'from the

Townsend letter' which does address some of what you are asking about. I have

read so many others on D and Diabetes (and other condidtions) but I dont have

time today to try and find them again. Hopefully this will help answer this

question tho.

Marcia

****Vitamin D has direct impact on:

* Heart Attack Risk

* Risk of Cancer (Breast, Colon and Prostate are well documented)

* Risk of Multiple Sclerosis

* Risk of Diabetes

* Risk of Depression

* Risk of Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis

* Risk of nephrotic syndrome, schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder.

* Risk of Crohn Disease and Sjogren's syndrome

* Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis

* Risk of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

" Standard textbooks state that the principal function of vitamin D is to

promote calcium absorption in the gut and calcium transfer across cell

membranes, thus contributing to strong bones and a calm, contented nervous

system. It is also well recognized that vitamin D aids in the absorption of

magnesium, iron and zinc, as well as calcium. "

" During the last ten years, researchers have made a number of exciting

discoveries about vitamin D. They have ascertained, for example, that

vitamin D is an antioxidant that is a more effective antioxidant than

vitamin E in reducing lipid peroxidation and increasing enzymes that protect

against oxidation.19;20

Vitamin D deficiency decreases biosynthesis and release of insulin.21

Glucose intolerance has been inversely associated with the concentration of

vitamin D in the blood. Thus, vitamin D may protect against both Type I and

Type II diabetes.22

The risk of senile cataract is reduced in persons with optimal levels of D

and carotenoids.23

PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome) has been corrected by supplementation of

D and calcium.24

Vitamin D plays a role in regulation of both the " infectious " immune system

and the " inflammatory " immune system.25

Low vitamin D is associated with several autoimmune diseases including

multiple sclerosis, Sjogren's Syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroiditis

and Crohn's disease.26;27

Osteoporosis is strongly associated with low vitamin D. Postmenopausal women

with osteoporosis respond favorably (and rapidly) to higher levels of D plus

calcium and magnesium.28

D deficiency has been mistaken for fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue or

peripheral neuropathy.1;28-30

Infertility is associated with low vitamin D.31 Vitamin D supports

production of estrogen in men and women.32 PMS has been completely reversed

by addition of calcium, magnesium and vitamin D.33 Menstrual migraine is

associated with low levels of vitamin D and calcium.81

Breast, prostate, skin and colon cancer have a strong association with low

levels of D and lack of sunlight.34-38

Activated vitamin D in the adrenal gland regulates tyrosine hydroxylase, the

rate limiting enzyme necessary for the production of dopamine, epinephrine

and norepinephrine. Low D may contribute to chronic fatigue and

depression.39

Seasonal Affective Disorder has been treated successfully with vitamin D. In

a recent study covering 30 days of treatment comparing vitamin D

supplementation with two-hour daily use of light boxes, depression

completely resolved in the D group but not in the light box group.40

High stress may increase the need for vitamin D or UV-B sunlight and

calcium.41

People with Parkinsons and Alzheimers have been found to have lower levels

of vitamin D.42;43

Low levels of D, and perhaps calcium, in a pregnant mother and later in the

child may be the contributing cause of " crooked teeth " and myopia. When

these conditions are found in succeeding generations it means the genetics

require higher levels of one or both nutrients to optimize health.44-47

Behavior and learning disorders respond well to D and/or calcium combined

with an adequate diet and trace minerals.48;49'

http://www.westonaprice.org/basicnutrition/vitamindmiracle.html

[Guest guest]

Make sure its D3 of some sort. I do best on D3 from fish oil but there are

others you can try. Any form of D2 is just not going to do what you need.

Marcia

Vitamin D

Hi,

We've discussed Vitamin D in the past and my 25HYDR Vit D results came

back on the low side at 4(25-200), my doc wants to get my levels up

to 100.

He rec'd 1000-2000iu/day until June and I'm wondering which supplement

is the best.

thanks,

Nat

This list is intended for patients to share personal experiences with each

other, not to give medical advice. If you are interested in any treatment

discussed here, please consult your doctor.

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Marcia. I do take fish oils almost daily but it doesn't

seem to be enough.

Do the supplements you take specifically say D3 on the label?

Nat

[Guest guest]

I use a brand Dr. Mercola recommends for people who can't tolerate fish oil,

Bio-D-mulsion by Biotics Research ( see

http://www.mercola.com/forms/vitamind.htm). I had very low levels and was able

to bring them up to optimal in about 5 months taking 3200 IU a day. No side

effects whatsoever.

Ellen

Vitamin D

Hi,

We've discussed Vitamin D in the past and my 25HYDR Vit D results came

back on the low side at 4(25-200), my doc wants to get my levels up

to 100.

He rec'd 1000-2000iu/day until June and I'm wondering which supplement

is the best.

thanks,

Nat

This list is intended for patients to share personal experiences with each

other, not to give medical advice. If you are interested in any treatment

discussed here, please consult your doctor.

[Guest guest]

Thanks Ellen, but unfortuneately they don't ship to Canada.

Did your doctor rec'd that you take this dose?

Nat

[Guest guest]

Ellen, I would be most interested to hear if you have had any change

in symptoms of your disease since increasing your 25 D level.

Thanks,

a Carnes

>

> I use a brand Dr. Mercola recommends for people who can't tolerate

fish oil, Bio-D-mulsion by Biotics Research ( see

http://www.mercola.com/forms/vitamind.htm). I had very low levels and

was able to bring them up to optimal in about 5 months taking 3200 IU

a day. No side effects whatsoever.

>

> Ellen