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The Big Vitamin D Mistake

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

161–170 of 459 posts

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting to hear of a connection between this, type 1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's?). I have celiac, also an autoimmune disease, and one of the symptoms is tingly and numb extremities, peripheral neuropathy. I think that's related to the ataxia side of celiac and nerve degeneration from nerves losing their sheathing. Prior to diagnosis, I learned that the numbness is also a symptom of Vitam…

Have you ever taken a fluoroquinolone antibiotic at any point in your life? Look into r-lipoic acid, low dose 100mg (take one per day, with food), from the Doctor's Best brand (available on Amazon). You might consider that for the peripheral neuropathy, it does wonders for some people.

Thanks, I'll check out that supplement.

I looked up the list of those drugs (-floxacins?) and I don't recall having taken one of those. I was actually prescribed Ciprofloxacin earlier this year, merely as a prophylactic after a very minor surgery, and after looking into it I decided to not fill the prescription.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#162
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, shoot. I just took ciprofloxacin for a week following a minor surgery, and noticed that I've lost some of the sensation in my upper right leg. I assumed it was caused by the surgery, but in six weeks, it hasn't improved. Not exactly life-altering, but it does feel pretty weird when scratching an itch and I'll get odd tingling there sometimes while trying to sleep that feels more warm than painful. > Nearly all…

Cipro and fluoros in general can be extremely dangerous (and Cipro is the light-weight among the class, the others are truly terrifying). It's now carrying two black-box warning labels from the FDA, which they slapped on it after dragging their feet for over a decade about several well-known and horrific side effects, including causing nerve damage. If you've taken it in the last year or two, I'd suggest taking high…

Sounds awful. I had a girlfriend who took Cipro repeatedly for urinary tract infections. Another, fibromyalgia - I wonder whether she had taken those drugs. Most likely.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#163
post #156

Related to this topic, if you have IBS/IBD, some interesting research been coming out in the last couple of years indicating that low vitamin D may play a role in this issue as well. This [1] 2015 study found 82% of people with IBS had low vitamin D levels relative to 31% in the control group. This [2] 2016 one proved causation of vitamin D supplementation improving symptoms, by randomly splitting into two groups and…

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Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#164

How do you get your levels checked in the UK if you have private insurance?

Go to your GP. If you get frequent colds, feel lethargic, or have pretty much any ache or pain which can't be ascribed to a physical damage, they will test you for VitD deficiency. You can also ask to be tested.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#165

This article seems to be a low quality review of other research with a clickbatey title (full text here: https://www.jpmph.org/journal/view.php?doi=10.3961/jpmph.16.... ). Pubmed is sort of like arxiv.org and the fact this has an nih.gov base url should not be taken as an endorsement of it by the NIH. That said I do actually believe that more then the recommended amount of vitamin D can be beneficial and the recommen…

Just to back this up: the journal it's published in has a very very low impact factor of 0.235 (i.e. it publishes 4x more papers that it gets citations, probably most of it's papers are never cited by anyone) [1]. If this paper was considered a big a deal by the wider research community you would expect it to be published in a high profile journal. [1]: https://journal.komci.org/ViewJournalInfo.php?JID=109#Impact...

its papers

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#166
post #158
post #144

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> I got less sick during the winter, and my overall wellbeing improved greatly. Just out of curiosity, did you work out regularly in a gym before taking those pills?

Not the GP, but: While I discovered in the last years that I absolutely need to work out regularly or risk getting depressed, it is especially hard in the winter months. It seems that my body is preparing for hibernation and all I want to do is sleep and eat (preferably with lots of carbs and fat). I think I will talk to my doctor about trying some Vitamin D supplementation in the next months. Generally I try to avoi…

It is very easy to fall to low levels of Vitamin D even with supplementation (you need an abnormally high dose at times to get to 'normal'). So, please do check with your doctor. If you do have a deficiency and get supplements, it makes a lot of difference.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#167
post #93

This article recommends around 100 nmol/L. Most people are between 20-30, because they don't get enough Sun and do not take supplements. It gets really really bad when the number gets below 10 and it takes months to recover. Another Vitamin whose deficiency cause irreversible damage is B12. Folks, get both of these checked.

> [D and] B12. Folks, get both of these checked. Yes, please. I'm spreading this news for years. Many are deficient in both. B12 has a name for being low in veg*ans, while that is true many omnis are deficient as well. It's good to have more papers published on "high-dose D3". But by what I read this has been know for many years. And shun multi-AZ tablets, they provide a false sense of security. Eat loads of fresh pr…

> Limit (or drop) meat, fish and eggs

What are you smoking?

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#168
post #97

I have been taking 5000IU Vitamin D for the past 7 years, with a little more over the winter months. It's stupidly cheap, I get 360 5000IU capsules for $13, so it has cost me less than $100 over that period. Anecdotally, it was a game changer for me personally. I got less sick during the winter, and my overall wellbeing improved greatly. A word of advice, increase Vitamin K intake aswell. Vitamin D helps calcium abso…

Vitamin K can be dangerous for a not insignificant part of the population, many of whom don't realize they might be sensitive to it. It is a very strong addition to the body and affects blood clotting and interactions with many medications. If you want to safely increase vitamin K, just eat more dark green vegetables like spinach. There's no need to overdo it with K or it could be a regrettable error.

The best „normal“ dietary source is Gouda cheese, and almost an order of magnitude better, Natto (though that’s hard on the taste buds).

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#169
Everyone supplementing and doing their own tests should be careful to note the difference between nmol and ng/ml.

100 nmol = 40 ng/ml

ng/ml is the most common measure in India and many other places.

Re: The Big Vitamin D Mistake

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been tracking my depression for a few years now, and I'm amazed at the number of things that can trigger a depressive episode. I used to think I had a disease called depression, but it now appears that I had arrived at a collection of various life circumstances that made experiencing depression on any given day more likely for me. Some of the main triggers have been: - Attempting to proceed without a plan - Push…

> Too few dopamine-injecting experiences That is an awesome way to phrase that. I took a 3 week vacation for the first time since I started working 8 or 9 years ago. Did wonders for me. Should've made the time for a long long vacation a while ago.

Real vacations also help to put work stress into a proper perspective. In day-to-day worklife it's sometimes too easy to forget that work is there to support the other aspects of life, and not vice versa.
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