Saying Hi and updating

[kitty16]

Hi,

First weeks of school are always hectic, so have not been on much . My Gastro started me on a medicine called Lotronex about 6 weeks ago, it is used to treat IBS in woman where nothing else has helped, but since its main purpose is to stop D we decided to give it a try. For me its seems to be doing what Entocort has done for some of you. All Normans, and has cut the D to about 7 a day down from anywhere between 8 and 15, it can cause C so some days I skip a dose.

I'm very careful what I eat, and am not able to go GF due to the fact that some of the ingredients in GF (xanthum gum) cause D for me. I have been able to start back some vegetables, and Salad.

Stomach still feels sore and painful sometimes, and my hair is falling out in handfuls, (not sure why it started before I began Lotronex) but for now I will accept the good parts.

Intresting since my vitamins are still very low, especially D (I believe she told me it was 6) my pcp has me on a once a week 50,000 dose, I noticed on the day I take it My D improves and I feel better. I have started taking a 1,000 dose every day and it does seem to work. Can low Vit. D cause D. Will have to check to make sure I'm not now taking to much.

Hugs to all of you
K

[tex]

Hi Kitty,

If your 25(OH)D test level is only "6", you are extremely vulnerable to developing another IBD or additonal autoimmune diseases (to say nothing of colds, flu, etc.). Most of us try to get our level up to at least 40 or 50, and I like to keep mine in the 80 to 90 range, but I'm having trouble getting it there. 50,000 IU per week will take months to get your level up to a decent range, but it will probably eventually get there. That's only 7,000 IU per day and the additional 1,000 IU dose that you take increases that to 8,000 IU. Normal daily requirements are somewhere around 5,000 IU, so your dose is not nearly as potent as your doctor probably thinks it is. If that's all you're going to take, you don't have to worry about taking too much for at lest a year, and probably longer, because IBDs (including MC) deplete vitamin D and prevent it from being absorbed properly.

Thanks for the update.

Hugs,
Tex

P. S. Many of us get around the xanthan gum problem by avoiding commercial products that contain it, and making our own food from safe ingredients.

[kitty16]

Hi Tx,

Thanks, yes that is what they said Vitamin D levels 6 (this is when they finally started to take me seriously). I have been looking into getting a GF cook book, no excuse just lazy lol.

Tex, do you know if this is why my hair is falling out, the lack of vitamin D.
Hugs,
K

[tex]

Dee has perfected several hundred gourmet-quality recipes that she has listed here.

Apparently there is a connection between vitamin D deficiency and hair loss. Here are some references that discuss how it can happen:

http://vitaminddeficiencyhairloss.net/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/28515 ... hair-loss/

Conclusion:

Extensive data from animal models clearly show that the VDR, independent of vitamin D3 hormone, plays an important role in the hair follicle cycle, specifically anagen initiation. Studies have demonstrated the ability of vitamin D3 analogs to stimulate hair regrowth, but clinical trials of calcitriol in humans have been unable to replicate these results. Reasons for this may be that more potent analogs of vitamin D3 were used in the animal studies than the human trials. Also, the mechanism of hair recovery in nude mice may not be applicable to humans with alopecia. The latter is reflected in one study that used nude mice with congenital alopecia, which does not have an equivalent in humans. This review shows the need for further exploration of the role of vitamin D and the VDR in the hair cycle. For clinical hair disorders in which there is an abnormal hair cycle, such as chemotherapy-induced alopecia, treatments that up regulate the expression of the vitamin D receptor may be successful. Developments of such treatments are a future area of study. Furthermore, studies on the optimal levels of local and systemic vitamin D levels are still limited and there is currently no evidence-based data to recommend vitamin D supplementation for various types of alopecia. In order to fully understand the effects of vitamin D supplementation in alopecia, future studies should compare results in vitamin D deficient patients to those in vitamin D sufficient patients.

http://dermatology.cdlib.org/1602/revie ... ashid.html

Stress can also be a factor, as discussed by this article:

http://vitamindlife.com/vitamindlife-co ... hair-loss/

Tex

[kitty16]

Thanks again

K

[Gabes-Apg]

Kitty
hair falling out can be a sign of low folic acid and b Group vitamins (and tex's link re the low Vit D)
given you Vit D level was quite low, it is quite likely your B12 is low as well

it is pretty easy to follow a GF eating plan and avoid xanthum gum. Yes... it takes a bit of planning and organisation, but once you have your eating plan figured out it is easy.
Given what we know from the learnings of the people on this forum, if gluten is causing inflammation in your body, the longer you continue to ingest it, the harder it will be to heal.
(this applies for all digestion issues, IBS, MC, Crohns, UC)

awesome news that you found a med that has made the days liveable.

[kitty16]

Hi,

Thanks for the articles, Tex, Stress and lack of vitamins are doing a number on me.

I will be looking at all those GF receipes I didn't mean to imply that I just eat anything I don't eat bread, crackers etc. anything else that I know has gluten I just avoid. I'm lucky in that I can eat most meats potato's and rice. No dairy, and nothing with any kind of flavoring artificial or otherwise.

Thanks for all the info.

Hugs,
K