Read in the thread "just saw top lyme neurologist" about this doc saying d3 suppresses the immune system.
Since its not the first time i read this i would like to know if its true?
I asked one of my llmds about it (he wanted me to take it) and he just said it modulates the immune system - which could mean anything.
I got worse on d3, but my wbc was higher. I do get better with sunlight.
Posted by Ellen101 (Member # 35432) on :
I was just put on high amounts of D3 as my vitimin D level was alarmingly low. So now I'm concerned should I be taking it?
Posted by Hoops123 (Member # 18333) on :
I have heard that Dr. H believes it is better to supplement with D3 if you are low (Marshall Protocol would suggest otherwise)
Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :
The above is one of the best explanations of vitamin d and the immune system that I have read....
Posted by poppy (Member # 5355) on :
I did get the impression from that original thread that the neurologist had prescribed vitamin D to suppress the immune system. But if I understand the article posted by Bugg, pretty technical so maybe I don't get it.....then it is more a matter of supplementing a low level which is correlated with these autoimmune diseases. Please correct me if I am wrong.
But it did seem like the dose prescribed by that neurologist was very high.
I have been tested for vitamin D status and am supplementing, at a lower level than that neurologist suggested.
Posted by momintexas (Member # 23391) on :
I'm curious about this too.....although I want to mention that when my Vit D level finally came back up is when I really started to see improvement.
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
MODULATE means it will help raise the immune system if it needs to be raised, lower it if it needs to be lowered.
I for one AM TAKING IT.
Marshall Protocol is extreme.
Posted by hammer (Member # 17201) on :
I hesitate to answer because I may not be able to answer additional question, but this is my understanding of it based on my experience.
If your vitamin D3 receptors sites have bacteria, metals, anything attached to them, you can take all the D3 you want and it will not bind.
It is at that time that it becomes immune suppressive because it is not absorbing. Same for calcium. If you supplement but it can't bind because of toxins it begins to store in other places in your body if you are not a good detoxifier.
Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :
Since I'm the one that posted the thread about the neurologist, I think I need to clarify.....apparently if you believe Lyme can cause autoimmune issues like this neurologist does, then you'll want to get your levels between 70-100 to help stop your body from attacking itself. This strategy would want to calm down the immune system.
Some Lyme patients will recover with treatment. In this category I would just make sure my levels were in the normal range. I don't think keeping your d levels in the normal range would suppress your immune system.
Posted by lymetwister (Member # 19590) on :
D3 makes me Herx or something... Not sure why.
Modulate can mean anything FYI..
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
quote:Originally posted by Bugg: I don't think keeping your d levels in the normal range would suppress your immune system.
- Exactly
Posted by Razzle (Member # 30398) on :
What I know about Vitamin D:
1. Autoimmune diseases correlate strongly with low Vitamin D status. Nobody has been able to explain this sufficiently to satisfy my curiosity as to why this is the case, and the only thing that makes sense to me is if autoimmunity is caused by chronic infections (see point #2, next).
2. Macrophages (cells that digest infectious organisms (including bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungus)) cannot do their job effectively without sufficient Vitamin D. Therefore, a deficiency of Vitamin D causes immune suppression.
3. Vitamin D assists in the absorption of Calcium from the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, Vitamin D deficiency can lead to osteoporosis.
In my opinion, Marshall Protocol ONLY works if one's 1,25 Vitamin D level is HIGH (doesn't matter whether the 25 OH Vitamin D level is low, normal, or high).
This is because the Marshall Protocol assumes Vitamin D Receptor problems are causing over-conversion of 25 OH Vitamin D to the 1,25 (active) Vitamin D.
If one does not have Vitamin D receptor problems, and does not over-convert Vitamin D (25 OH) to the active form (1,25), then I do not see any benefit to following the Marshall Protocol.
My $.02....
Posted by hammer (Member # 17201) on :
That's a good summary Razzle. I supplement D3 and my levels are finally coming up, but a year ago I was getting sick from D3. I went to a detoxification practitioner who said I had bacteria attached to my D3 receptor sites (my daughter had mercury attached to hers).
After doing her protocol for quite a few weeks, we both quit reacting to the D3 and our levels began to go up. I can't really explain her system, but she believed in "provoke and release".
We quit going because she was 3 hours from our home and it was financially not sustainable. She utilized nutritional cocktails, IV nutrition, foot and hand baths(hours at a time), HBOT, tapping, cold lasers, sauna.
I truly don't believe we were "herxing" from the D3 a year ago. It just had no where to go in our body so it became what I am callling "immune suppressant" -- I guess what Marshall proposes.
Thank goodness we are both now absorbing and slowly getting our levels up with supplementation.
Posted by Bugg (Member # 8095) on :
Vitamin D and immune function: an overview.
Hewison M.
Source
UCLA and Orthopaedic Hospital Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and the Orthopaedic Hospital Research Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, 615 Charles E. Young, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. [email protected]
Abstract
Immunomodulatory actions of vitamin D have been recognised for over a quarter of a century, but it is only in the last few years that the significance of this to normal human physiology has become apparent.
Two key factors have underpinned this revised perspective. Firstly, there are increasing data linking vitamin insufficiency with prevalent immune disorders. Improved awareness of low circulating levels of precursor 25-hydroxyvitamin D in populations across the globe has prompted epidemiological investigations of health problems associated with vitamin D insufficiency.
Prominent among these are autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes and Crohn's disease, but more recent studies indicate that infections such as tuberculosis may also be linked to low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. The second factor expanding the link between vitamin D and the immune system is our improved knowledge of the mechanisms that facilitate this association.
It is now clear that cells from the immune system contain all the machinery needed to convert 25-hydroxyvitamin D to active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and for subsequent responses to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. Mechanisms such as this are important for promoting antimicrobial responses to pathogens in macrophages, and for regulating the maturation of antigen-presenting dendritic cells. The latter may be a key pathway by which vitamin D controls T-lymphocyte (T-cell) function.
However, T-cells also exhibit direct responses to 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, notably the development of suppressor regulatory T-cells. Collectively these observations suggest that vitamin D is a key factor linking innate and adaptive immunity, and both of these functions may be compromised under conditions of vitamin D insufficiency.
Posted by AuntyLynn (Member # 35938) on :
In other words, TAKE YOUR COD LIVER OIL, children! Get natural Vit D AND A AND "fish oil"
BTW, giving kids Cod Liver Oil became imperative during the depression years! Rickets were RAMPANT in this country because of general malnutrition. (As your parents or your grandparents about it!)
Thanks for all the supportive info folks! When my Mom was dxd with "possible MS" my sister insisted that we should NOT give her CLO because the "national MS website" said Vitamin D could "exacerbate" MS (!!!) I told her that the MS Association got their nutritional info from the dark ages... and we fought bitterly about it.