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Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

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Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#151
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The widely used daily recommended amounts of Vitamin D (600 IU in the US and Canada) are wrong, by a factor of 10, and based on a math typo that no one caught until 2017: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5541280/ . I guess many still don't realize this fact. "We call public health authorities to consider designating as the RDA ... around 8000 IU for adults"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/ Is the article that talks about the miscalculation

That was ten years ago, so was the recommendation updated? If not, I must assume the error might be in the newer calculation.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#152

I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for 5+ years. This is nearly 10x canada's recommended winter time dose for adults under 70. After years of struggling with severe joint pain and mental fog/depression, among other things it was discovered that I had critically low vitamin D. They prescribed the 5000 dose but told me at least 10 times how I should NOT continue this high…

I take 7000IU daily upon direction of my physician for about 5 years and I’m still barely at the minimum when they test me each year.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#153
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 5 years ago I got a new doctor that noticed I had Ricketts level vitamin D. They say in New England everyone has a deficiency but I also spent the previous 15 summers in dark server rooms. My level was 9 on the scale they use and the cutoff level for low level is 31. I have been taking between a 1,000 to 2000 units daily and just this year made it to 31. My doctor looked at my labs on-line and sent message tell…

How much progress do you think is possible only using dietary adjustments and getting a couple hours of sunshine per day?

I have no idea but think that it is not possible to get enough vitamin D while wearing long sleeves and pants most of the time. I wonder how the bedouin population fares in vitamin D.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

About 5 years ago I got a new doctor that noticed I had Ricketts level vitamin D. They say in New England everyone has a deficiency but I also spent the previous 15 summers in dark server rooms. My level was 9 on the scale they use and the cutoff level for low level is 31. I have been taking between a 1,000 to 2000 units daily and just this year made it to 31. My doctor looked at my labs on-line and sent message tell…

I had similar levels and my dr prescribed 10000iu (prescription) for a few weeks and then lowered to 3-5000iu (OTC)

How long did it take you to get back to base levels? I would say it took me years.

Do you notice a physical difference. I do notice a different but I also radically changed many aspects of my life.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#155
post #79

I'm currently taking 10,000IU per day in an effort to control psoriasis, but it's a bit of guess work really and trying stuff to see what helps. It's somewhat annoying that I've had a dermatologist order some blood tests, but they were only targeted for whether I can safely take acitretin (a retinoid). I wish there were cheap home-tests for various blood levels of minerals and vitamins like there are for things like…

Does more exposure to sunlight help? I remember there’s UV light treatment that shines for a few minutes.

Light therapy is very effective, but not because of vitamin D. UVB light has an immunosuppressant effect on the skin.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#156

I'm currently taking 10,000IU per day in an effort to control psoriasis, but it's a bit of guess work really and trying stuff to see what helps. It's somewhat annoying that I've had a dermatologist order some blood tests, but they were only targeted for whether I can safely take acitretin (a retinoid). I wish there were cheap home-tests for various blood levels of minerals and vitamins like there are for things like…

We don't really have evidence that vitamin D supplementation has any effect on psoriasis. This large review and meta-analysis from 2023 by Formisano et al [1] is a very good paper on the subject.

It's true that studies regularly show that vitamin D deficiency correlates with psoriasis disease severity, at least when it comes to plaque psoriasis. But when patients are given vitamin D to normalize levels, their psoriasis tends not does not improve. (We have a tiny handful of studies that do show improvement in symptoms, but they are small and of poor quality.)

It may be that severe psoriasis simply causes vitamin D deficiency, e.g. by disrupting the skin's ability to synthesize vitamin D (which normally builds up and is released upon exposure to sunlight), rather than vitamin D deficiency causing psoriasis. There's at least one study that shows that people with psoriasis tend to avoid the sun more than other people.

[1] https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/15/3387

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#157

I'm currently taking 10,000IU per day in an effort to control psoriasis, but it's a bit of guess work really and trying stuff to see what helps. It's somewhat annoying that I've had a dermatologist order some blood tests, but they were only targeted for whether I can safely take acitretin (a retinoid). I wish there were cheap home-tests for various blood levels of minerals and vitamins like there are for things like…

We don't really have evidence that vitamin D supplementation has any effect on psoriasis. This large review and meta-analysis from 2023 by Formisano et al [1] is a very good paper on the subject. It's true that studies regularly show that vitamin D deficiency correlates with psoriasis disease severity, at least when it comes to plaque psoriasis. But when patients are given vitamin D to normalize levels, their psorias…

One of the problems with psoriasis is that it seems to behave differently for different people and also changes over time too which makes it very much a case of trial and error to find what treatments work for people.

There's definitely a link between psoriasis and vitamin D, but as you state, it's not necessarily a deficiency that triggers it. However, anecdotally there's people who do benefit from taking vitamin D3 (along with K2 seems to be a popular combo) so I think it's worth a shot though I have tried it in the past without much success (that wasn't erythrodermic psoriasis though).

I've definitely noticed that sun exposure does help with plaque psoriasis and most people will see that their condition worsens over winter - that may be due to lower sunlight levels or cold, dry air exacerbating skin issues. And yes, psoriasis does affect people's self-image, so it can be embarrassing to expose skin when it looks like you've got some kind of plague.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#159

I'm currently taking 10,000IU per day in an effort to control psoriasis, but it's a bit of guess work really and trying stuff to see what helps. It's somewhat annoying that I've had a dermatologist order some blood tests, but they were only targeted for whether I can safely take acitretin (a retinoid). I wish there were cheap home-tests for various blood levels of minerals and vitamins like there are for things like…

We don't really have evidence that vitamin D supplementation has any effect on psoriasis. This large review and meta-analysis from 2023 by Formisano et al [1] is a very good paper on the subject. It's true that studies regularly show that vitamin D deficiency correlates with psoriasis disease severity, at least when it comes to plaque psoriasis. But when patients are given vitamin D to normalize levels, their psorias…

[deleted]

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't really have evidence that vitamin D supplementation has any effect on psoriasis. This large review and meta-analysis from 2023 by Formisano et al [1] is a very good paper on the subject. It's true that studies regularly show that vitamin D deficiency correlates with psoriasis disease severity, at least when it comes to plaque psoriasis. But when patients are given vitamin D to normalize levels, their psorias…

One of the problems with psoriasis is that it seems to behave differently for different people and also changes over time too which makes it very much a case of trial and error to find what treatments work for people. There's definitely a link between psoriasis and vitamin D, but as you state, it's not necessarily a deficiency that triggers it. However, anecdotally there's people who do benefit from taking vitamin D3…

True, and I would never go as far as saying that the benefits have been disproven.

I do hear about many people trying to treat their psoriasis wit vitamin D, but not about many success stories.

As far as we know, the reason sunlight helps psoriasis is not vitamin D, but because UVB at specific wavelengths has an immunosuppressive effect on the skin. It induces apoptosis of T-cells and promotes keratinocyte differentiation.

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