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Following the lead of my favorite doctor, (Polly), I started taking a vitamin D supplement this winter, even though I live at a lower latitude, and get a fair amount of sun exposure most days, even in the wintertime. I take a 2,000 IU tablet every day, but I'll probably discontinue taking then as the days get longer, and the sun exposure becomes more intense.
Anyway, Polly mentioned that if she is around someone, (or expects to be around someone), with a cold or some other virus, she ups her dose to 4,000 to 6,000 IUs per day, I believe. Soooooo, last Thursday night I had a board meeting with a group that is notorious for passing on colds and/or other viruses to me. Before the meeting, I took a couple of additional vitamin D tablets, (IOW, an extra 4,000 IUs, for a total of 6,000 IUs for that day. Sure enough, our secretary was constantly dabbing at her nose during the meeting, and when the meeting was adjourned, she was kind enough to serve some banana creme pudding. I have told her many times to just disregard me whenever she brings any snacks to the meetings, since I can't safely eat most of them, anyway, but naturally, as you have all experienced yourselves, she felt obligated to try to accommodate my gluten intolerance, by trying to convince me that it was safe for me to eat the pudding, because she had left the vanilla wafers off my serving. When I asked her about the ingredients in the pudding itself, (since some recipes use wheat flour), her jaw dropped open, and as she said "I don't know", (right in my face), I could smell the cold germs on her breath.
So, I was spared the agony of a gluten reaction, but I knew she "had me" with that cold, so as soon as I got home, I took a couple more of those vitamin D tablets, (along with a snack, since they should always be taken with food), hoping that they might help to keep the cold down to a milder level. The next day, (Friday), everything seemed fine, except that one of my eyes was watering quite a bit, so I took a couple of extra tablets, again, just to be on the safe side. On Saturday, I can't remember for sure, but I think I took two of the vitamin D tablets, since I thought that I was just about out of the woods by then, because again, the only symptom was a watery eye, and it wasn't as bad as the day before.
On Sunday, however, my right eye especially, was watering pretty seriously, and I was beginning to wonder if I was having an allergic reaction to something, especially after I started sneezing, about late morning. By early afternoon, I was sneezing up a storm, my eye was watering profusely, and I noticed that I was clearing my throat pretty often, so I decided that maybe I wasn't out of the woods after all, and it was time for action, (if it wasn't already too late). So, I downed a couple more vitamin D tablets, and after a couple of hours, I downed a couple more, (for a total dose of about 10,000 IU for the day. After a few hours, the symptoms were gone. My breathing was clear, during the night, and my eyes were no longer watering. The next morning, (Monday), I took a couple of vitamin D tablets, and had no further problems. Yesterday, I took two tablets, and this morning, only my usual dose of one.
I can't say for sure that I stopped a cold in it's tracks, but it sure looks suspicious to me. I definitely have not developed a cold, at any rate, and for a while, (both Thursday night, when it dawned on me that I had been "inoculated" with cold germs, and Sunday, when the suspicious symptoms began to become rather intense), I was convinced that I was doomed. I still can't believe that I "dodged that bullet".
This warrants further study.
Tex
Dr. Mercola really touts Vit D as the near cure all. 