Interesting Info In The Current Vitamin D Council Newsletter

[tex]

Hi All,

If you don't already subscribe to the Vitamin D Council newsletter, I urge you to do so. The current issue contains some very valuable information about vitamin D overdoses, and about the way that vitamin D deficiency apparently can present as any of a variety of diseases.

There are also some comments about the possibility that vitamin D deficiency may be behind the tendency of many diseases to wax and wane, as is so common with the IBDs, for example. IOW, sufficient vitamin D may be a prerequisite in order for certain diseases to go into spontaneous remission, while a vitamin D deficiency could be the cause of relapses of symptoms - some interesting thoughts.

Consider this quote, for example:

Let’s look at one rare disease, childhood multiple sclerosis, a nightmare for any parent to face. The child will have problems with vision, co-ordination, or balance, with relapses and remissions, that is the disease seems to come and go. Recently, Dr. Ellen Mowry and her colleagues discovered that these relapses, these periods of active autoimmune illness, are associated with low levels of vitamin D. The disease comes and goes as vitamin D levels come and go. Dr. Mowrey speculated that a 15 ng/ml increase in vitamin D levels would cut the relapse rate in half.

Joe, I'm thinking about you, and your Crohn's diagnosis, especially, as I write this, but there is a very good chance that this phenomenon applies to virtually any of the autoimmune diseases, including MC. IOW, what I am saying is that while vitamin D probably cannot "cure" any disease, (by itself), once the disease presents, then sufficient vitamin D is a prerequisite for remission. That's a very profound statement, if it turns out to be true, (and I'm confident that it will be proven to be true, some day).

You can subscribe at their site, but the newsletter cannot be viewed there - you have to subscribe, and receive it by e-mail, in order to be able to read it. I highly recommend it.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/

Tex

[Joefnh]

Tex thanks for posting this, I have been reading in a few places some similar research. I have another GI doc appt after the trip to Oz, and I was planning on asking for another blood test at that time. Its been 7 months since my last one. To summarize last November I had a count of 2, which after 3 months at 50k IU per week the level came up I believe 38. Since then I have been taking 3k IU per day.


Thanks again Tex

--Joe

[tex]

Joe,

I'm a true believer in your tag line. Helen Keller definitely got it right. Americans are security fanatics - they seek it, (in fact, they demand it), in virtually every part of their daily lives, and yet true security does not exist - it can exist only in the mind, because as she correctly points out, security does not exist in nature. Security can, (and often does), evaporate in the twinkling of an eye.

In nature, security is a function mostly of one's position in the food chain. The relative security of prey species, is determined by predators, and the relative security of predators, is determined by prey species. IOW, security is outside of everyone's control, and therefore, unattainable, in the real world.

The bottom line, IMO, is - don't sweat it. Live life one day at a time, and enjoy each and every minute of it.

Tex

[Joefnh]

Your right Tex. Nature = Entropy, but with its own sense of order. When we wake in the morning and step out of bed the risk starts and there are NO guarantees. This is a bit of the reason I feel that we have lost our sense self responsibility. It seems that we are looking to blame our own problems on someone else. i.e. when something bad happens we want to pin blame on someone or something else.. i.e. legislate litigate etc.. but rarely accept the simple responsibility of living and our own activities which each entail risks. Overall there really is very little 'security', just an illusion of it

I remember an incident recently of some flooding after a nasty rainstorm and a homeowner whose house was basically destroyed was yelling out who's responsible who can I sue, who will make this right. I just shook my head. He lived in a wooded area off of a hill and it was just happenstance that that rain came the way it did. He did not have flood insurance.

Your right about living one day at a time. The development of MC and Crohns has definitely changed me, I am working on not being a perfectionist, infinite planner and just working the issues as they come overall, reduce the stress and live in the day.



--Joe

[tex]

Joe,

I was afraid this discussion would get around to our "learned response" for trying to blame someone else for our troubles. You're right, of course. I place most of the blame for this phenomenon on the media, (and the rest on ambulance-chasing lawyers).

When I was a kid, (tv was developed after I was born), if something beyond anyone's control happened, it was just plain bad luck, and we shrugged, and went on and picked up the pieces, and rebuilt, or whatever we had to do. As you pointed out, look at what happens now. It's a different world with live tv coverage, (and all the internet social sites). Now, when something bad happens, it is always someone's fault, (whether it actually is or not), because we have been conditioned by the media for a generation or two, to believe that BS. I'm sure the ex-chief of BP can attest to that. He wasn't any more responsible for that well blowout than I was, but that is beside the point, because the media immediately had him in their sights, and everyone else was looking for a scapegoat, so he was doomed.

Remember the "witch hunts" from a couple of hundred years ago, when "witches" were burned at the stake? Remember the "lynching parties" that became popular during the days of the "Wild West". Someone in the crowd would talk the mob into a frenzy, until they took action. We look at those events now, in almost utter disbelief, at how something so distasteful could be carried out by intelligent, supposedly "caring" human beings.

When I see most major news media "campaigns" these days, I get almost exactly the same impressions - the media are the current equivalent of those "lynching parties", and "witch hunt" organizers. The only difference is that these days, the mob is too lazy to lynch the victim, or burn him or her at the stake. These days, they settle for career destruction, and character assassination. In the mean time, the media giants get richer, and more prestigious, and the mobs still disperse to the "saloons", to celebrate the "virtual lynching", just as they've always done.

"Responsibility"? that word has been transformed so that it only applies to someone else - it no longer applies to us, (present company excepted, of course).

Tex

[Joefnh]

Good points Tex. This topic does open a can of worms all around. Overall the media does choose who is to be guilty and tries them in the court of public opinion before the smoke even clears.

Well lets try steering this topic back on track. If my vitamin D levels are still low after the next blood test what are the possible causes? Additionally should I personally try to achieve the >75ng level?

Thanks

--Joe

[tex]

Well lets try steering this topic back on track. If my vitamin D levels are still low after the next blood test what are the possible causes? Additionally should I personally try to achieve the >75nl level?

Good questions. I wish I knew how to answer them.

Personally, with the goal of minimizing health problems in mind, I'm trying to keep my vitamin D level in the upper part of the range, (say, 80 - 100 ng/mL). Unfortunately, my last test result showed that my current level is about half of what I expected, so clearly, I'm doing something wrong, which suggests that I'm not qualified to answer your question about the likely cause/es of low readings.

Tex

[harma]

thanks tex for posting the information on the Vit D new letter of course I have subscribed. I am still waiting for my vit d results. Hope to get them monday.