cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
I continually test low for Vit D.
In the past few years, several times my LLMD has written me for weekly mega-doses (50,000) to get it up (each time taken once weekly for one month), and I supplement 2000 per day.
Yet again, my Vit D is low. I have yet to have a normal test.
So - again, I will be taking 50,000 weekly, and still taking my 2000 per day.
Is there anything I can do to boost this, to help my body better absorb it?
I get some sun outside with my child, and am not sitting in a dark house all the time. I wear sunscreen for prolonged exposure but not if we'll only be riding in the car or out for a short time.
What else can I do?
Thanks for any advice on this, Cactus
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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lymednva
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posted
My LLMD wrote my rx for long term, rather than just a month. I take 50,000 units once a week and that's it.
My biggest concern is that it's D2, rather than D3, which is the form we really need. I did bring that up with my LLMD at my last appointment. Apparently the only available D by rx is D2.
Prior to the rx I was taking 1,000 units of D3 daily.
-------------------- Lymednva Posts: 2407 | From over the river and through the woods | Registered: Apr 2006
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Hoosiers51
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posted
I once spoke to a nutritionist who said that besides sitting in the sun, sunflower seeds (raw, unsalted) are the only TRUE way to get the NATURAL form of Vitamin D that your body needs/wants. She said everything else is artificial...I don't really know what she meant, but she was sort of obsessed with this idea, so she liked me to eat them a lot.
Who knows if she was right or not, but it's something to think about. Even if your levels don't technically go up from eating them, maybe at least your body is getting a more natural form of D that is absorbed well...?
Hope that helps!
Posts: 4590 | From Midwest | Registered: Jun 2008
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cactus
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posted
Yes, VA, I wondered about D3, too - but that explains why we're getting D2. Do you supplement any D3 additionally?
Hoosiers, maybe the sunflower seeds have D3, and that's what the nutritionist meant? Either way, it can't hurt. And I like sunflower seeds.
I feel like I should understand *why* it's low, but for some reason I can't remember the reason.
There must be another component to this, but my brain is weary and not cooperating with remembering or researching right now.
Thanks for any insight into this, everyone!
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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Lymeorsomething
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
Yep, I'm male...my D has been regularly low too....seems like a lyme thing although many people test low for D because were sitting behind desks too much.
Recent studies, particularly the breast cancer ones, suggest that people need to raise D to optimal levels.
SUN continues to be the best source. Twenty minutes works WITHOUT the sun block...
Another poster, DoctorLuddite (I think), seems very knowledgeable about D issues...
-------------------- "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong." Posts: 2062 | From CT | Registered: Jul 2008
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kelmo
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posted
I'm a crossing guard in AZ! No sunblock 80% of the time...I just forget. My vitamin D is low!
My doc says it's because our bodies don't convert it well. Could be caused by the disease?
Anyway, my recommendation, based on my daughter's level. She stared at nearly zero. It took over a year...working up slowly from 400IU to 6000IU daily to reach a decent D level of 73.
My recommendation is a combo of supplements, consistently, and sunshine.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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Lymeorsomething
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posted
Kelmo, that's my guess! I'm sure lyme uses it up somehow but I don't know what the mechanism is....anyone?
-------------------- "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong." Posts: 2062 | From CT | Registered: Jul 2008
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Angelica
Unregistered
posted
They did a story on low D3 on the national news last night. It seems not just lymies are low on it but many Americans.
posted
If you are overweight you need more Vit D because your body doesn't process it as well. You should only take D3 or get it through sunshine - 3 times a week 90% body exposure in summer months. In northern latitudes can't generate vitamin D from the sun during the winter months. Average person uses 4000 IU daily, so 2000 IU may not be enough. Body less efficient at using Vit D when you are over 40.
I had a DRAMATIC improvement in my health supplementing with D3. Bike to work every day now. I took 10000 IU for 6 weeks - then had my blood tested. My levels were almost optimal after that. Get levels test before and after supplementing - Vit D is fat soluable and can be toxic - although likely at levels higher than 10000 IU daily.
Acts as a natural antibiotic, immune system modulator, anticarcinogen, helps with blood pressure etc.
Supplementing with Vit D3 was one of the best things I have done to combat Lyme disease.
posted
hi According to dr Fry everybody with a Haemobartonella finding has low Vit D. Gale
Posts: 268 | From europe | Registered: May 2008
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posted
I use Vitamin D by Douglas Labs. This helped my friend who had low vitamin D.
Posts: 22 | From California | Registered: Jul 2008
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luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
I was low in D also. Increased my time in the sun and supplement 1000 IU of D3. Next test I was in the low normal range so is working for me.
I never use sunscreen even though I am on doxy.
I have never had a bad sunburn and never get very dark, just lightly brown. I have always sworn I have built in sunscreen.
Vit D cuts some cancers rates by 60%. Good stuff. Not sure what to do for those of you supplementing, sunbathing and still low. Gosh, Kelmo! I don't know what else you can do.
Luvs
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
I have been studying the Vit.D endocrine cycle in the body for better than 3 years now, and have seen miraculous results when levels go up, however, if it has been low for a long time, raising it quickly can be very uncomfortable for some, as minerals such as calcium and magnesium are depleted in deficiency states, and those are important in normal bone, nerve and muscle metabolism.
Sunshine is the absolute best way to get it, the second best is a D3 supplement that comes from fish, and the third is D3 that is derived from wool oil (lanolin). D2 can be helpful, but D3 should be taken concurrently, as the presence of D2 makes the D3 more active, probably because it makes the D3 more bio-available. D2 by itself makes people feel better for a week or two, but if levels are retested, the D3 will go down and the D2 will go up.
Absorption from the intestine and conversion by the liver and kidneys into the sequentially more potent forms (25 hydroxy and 1,25 dihydroxy) are the limiting steps; someone with alot of gut inflammation and irritable or inflammatory bowel issues might not absorb it and people with elevated liver enzymes or bilirubin might have trouble with the first hydroxylation step, and people with impaired renal function might have trouble with the second hydroxylation.
With each passing decade after age 20 (that's right, 20) the need for D increases, probably due to a combination of factors, but the one thing that is in decline from the early 20's on is growth hormone, and in my humble opinion, the hormone form of Vitamin D takes up some of the duties of growth hormone as we age.
The one thing I am certain of is that the presence of mercury, and likely other heavy metals, inhibits the activation step of vitamin D in the liver and kidneys; I am certain of it but I have no proof except that of indirect evidence from personal experience.
There are specialty vitamin companies that sell a 50,000 IU vitamin D3 supplement; I have queried reps from these companies, and they claim that the form they use comes from wool oil. Drisdol, the Vit. D known as ergocalciferol, should only be used in conjunction with a vit.D 3 supplement, and with great caution, as the 50,000 IU dose used too frequently can cause toxicity.
Lastly, I also believe that the Industrial-Medical Complex is aware of the benefits to people that vitamin D can have, as well as the detriment that people getting healthy from taking it can have on said complex's bottom line...but they can't patent sunshine, so get your sun, unblocked, but use caution not to burn.
Posts: 442 | From Biddeford, ME | Registered: Nov 2007
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Lymeorsomething
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posted
Dr.L.
Do you know by what mechanism lyme may deplete D? Is it just the state of chronic infection or something more specific?
-------------------- "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong." Posts: 2062 | From CT | Registered: Jul 2008
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sutherngrl
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Member # 16270
posted
My LLMD said not to worry about your D. Vitamin D turns into a hormone and acts like a steroid, which is very bad for LD. You can read about this in the Marshall Protocol.
I had very low D before discovering that I had LD. Went to regular doctor and he put me on 50,000 IUs 2x a week. My D went way up and I felt wonderful for about 6 weeks. Then we had to cut back on the D because it was too high.
The point is, I felt good because of the steroid affect. But while I was feeling good the Lyme Borellia was having a party; and as soon as my D feel back down, I was sicker than I was before.
So just be careful when it comes to vitamin D.
Posts: 4035 | From Mississippi | Registered: Jul 2008
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cactus
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posted
Thanks, everyone, for the responses!
There does seem to be a correlation between low D and TBDs. Lymeorsomething, I suspect that there is info about that correlation right here on lymenet, but I have not found it yet. Will post it, if I come across anything.
Kelmo, I remember your daughter's struggle to raise her D levels. Glad to know she did it, that gives me hope.
Angelica, thanks for the article on Vit D, and I hope it inspires each of us with low D to find a way to get it back up.
DocL, what would be the best way to supplement D for someone with Inflammatory Bowel issues? That sounds like a possible reason that mine is staying so low (I have IBD issues).
Gwen, what kind of D3 supplement did you use? Any recommendations would be appreciated!
A big thank you to everyone else for your thoughts on this!
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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kelmo
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posted
quote:If you are overweight you need more Vit D because your body doesn't process it as well.
SUCKS to be ME!
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
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posted
Kelmo! Me, too!
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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posted
If you don't absorb it, the best way to raise it is to get in the sun. If the sun is not available, short trips in a tanning booth will also raise it but use these in moderation.
The natural cycle of vitamin D has been with us since we rose from the primordial soup; it does get converted into a seco-steroid, but this is an immune activating and regulating steroid, not suppressing, as it enhances cellular differentiation, including white blood cells, so that they will perform their duties at the proper level at the proper time.
There are some that have issues with their vitamin D metabolism who's hormone form may be produced in too large a quantity, but they will likely get sicker with supplementation or short periods in the sun, and that is why constant low level supplementation is better than 50,000 IU boluses.
To the person who felt great after 6 weeks and then crashed when it was removed, to what level did it get, was it D2 or D3, and why did you not just decrease your dose? I don't know why lymies tend to have low levels, but suspect that low vitamin D prior to infection lead to a weakening of the immune system and enabled the disease to get a foothold before diagnosis, and perhaps the hypermetabolic state created by the infection causes it (vit.D) to be used up faster.
On that note, many Lymies also have thyroid problems, and symptoms of low thyroid and Lyme are sometimes hard to tease apart. Another micronutrient that people are commonly deficient in is iodine. The RDA set here in America is 150 micrograms, but the Japanese get on the order of 100 mg per day in their high seaweed, seafood diets. The RDA for vit. D is 400 IU, but so called experts are now agreeing that the correct RDA for a healthy adult is likely in the range of 1000-2000 IU/day.
The human body is a machine that evolved to self regulate and self heal in a natural environment. The answer to the question of why it is failing to self heal/regulate is often found in the perturbation of the immediate natural environment. Not everyone that gets exposed to BB gets LD...
[ 13. August 2008, 02:03 PM: Message edited by: DoctorLuddite ]
Posts: 442 | From Biddeford, ME | Registered: Nov 2007
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cactus
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Thanks, DocL.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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Angelica
Unregistered
posted
Yes thanks Doc L. That sheds some sunlight on the whole D equation.
It certainly makes me want to move to a climate that gets more sun year round.
Does anyone else here worry about trying to lay in the sun and getting exposed to ticks at the same time?
I always wonder where the best place is to sun without getting tick exposure now that I have seen a tick running around on the beach.
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I take SISU brand Vitamin D3 - cheap and a reliable company. In the summer I try to get most of my Vitamin D intake from sunshine (the most optimal way to get Vit D). I aim for 3x a week - 90% body exposure - for 20-30 minutes each time between 10-2:00pm. I am very careful not to burn.
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Kelmo! Me, too!
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