The Hype On Vitamin D

           I'm sure you all have heard or read the talk about vitamin D deficiencies in the U.S.   Have you ever given it any thought that you may be one of those who may be deficient?  I didn't either, after all, I am in sunny California. 
  
      In my research, it seems that there are arguments on both sides of whether it is an epidemic. The facts are that a lot of people are deficient and that it can be fixed.  Are you one of those that needs vitamin D?
     It has been proven that having a deficiency over time will lead to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and a lot of other ailments.  Some believe that we get enough in the sunshine and our food.  The arguments don't really matter though if they would just test routinely for this and take care of the problem.  In my case, after three different blood tests, not one of them tested for this.  It was just this last blood test that it was revealed.

     What are the symptoms of vitamin D deficiency?  Well, for the most part, nothing.  It is so subtle that most people will be asymptomatic.  Although, a deficiency can cause bone pain, asthma in children, muscle weakness, cognitive impairment in adults and other types of symptoms.  Some research has suggested that it can play a role in multiple sclerosis, cancer, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and type 1 and type 2 diabetes. 

     Another way to maybe think about if you could be deficient is your lifestyle.  Do you always stay out of the sun?  Do you heavily use sunscreens?  Sun is one of the best ways to get your vitamin D.  When you are in the sun, your body makes vitamin D for you, probably one of the easiest ways to get vitamin D.  For so many years we were all told to stay out of the sun and always wear sunblock.  Turns out that wasn't the greatest advice, plus factoring in all the chemicals in sunblocks.  Just make sure to not get burned, and if you are going to be out in the hottest time of day, wear a mineral sunblock that has a safe rating.

      Other factors that could possibly make you susceptible to vitamin A deficiency is if you are a vegetarian.  The foods that contain the most Vitamin D are usually animal based.  Salmon, tuna, mackerel, and other fish oils and fish,  egg yolks, cheese and beef liver.  Also if you have dark skin you do not absorb as much vitamin D from the sun.  If you are older your kidneys lose some of their ability to convert the vitamin D to it's active form.  Certain diseases can effect the ability of your digestive tract to absorb vitamin D, and if you are obese the bodies ability to extract vitamin D can be inhibited. 

   There are various forms of vitamin D supplements.  The main ones are Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol)  and Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol )   From my research most experts agree that Vitamin D3 is the best form to take.  Vitamin D2 is less potent and doesn't last as long in your body.  It also seems to not get absorbed quite as well.  It used to be believed that both were the same, but studies have proven that is not the case.  Vitamin D3 is from the oils in sheep's wool, lanolin, since it is the same as what the sun gives us.

    What is the recommended daily amount to take?  Well, I have an opinion based on my own research and my own doctor so I recommend you do the same.  What the government recommends is way below what I believe is right.  My doctor started me on 5,000 IU a day.  She takes 10,000 IU herself since she is inside for most of the day.  You can always start out low and work up to a higher dose.  Can you get too much vitamin D?  From the sun and food it would be very rare.  With supplements though you could, and it could cause joint and muscle pain.  That's why I stress very much to get your blood level checked to see if you need to take it at all.

   This has been a very unscientific post, and I leave it up to you to find out more on Vitamin D.  My main goal was to let you know that maybe what you are hearing or reading about Vitamin D deficiency in America may really be true and may be you. 

     By the way, just merely getting into the sun isn't always enough, you have to actually try to get most of your body exposed, like in a bathing suit.  Or at least your arms, legs and face for at least 20 minutes. 

   As for vitamin D fortified milk and other dairy products, some companies still use the D2.  Raw milk has it naturally, but only about 38 IU.  I drink some raw milk every single day, both for the vitamins and minerals it gives me.  Pasteurization kills so many of the vital nutrients in milk, and also makes it rancid.  All the good cultures are killed also, but that's a different topic. 

References: 

http://www.breakthroughmedical.org/why-vitamin-d3-supplements-are-better-than-vitamin-d2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_d

http://organicvalley.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/organicvalley.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=188&p_created=1218487765&p_topview=1

http://search.mercola.com/search/Pages/results.aspx?k=vitamin D

http://www.mercola.com/article/milk/no-milk.htm

http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/what_is_in_raw_milk.html

Back In the Nest

     It's been awhile since I've posted.  It wasn't really a conscious choice.

     I started out my Thanksgiving day, Nov. 2011 in the emergency room at 1 a.m.  It was not a pleasant experience at all.  But possibly something that may happen again.  You see, at 1 a.m. I suffered what is called atrial fibrillation.  A-fib for short.  They never did figure out why.  I don't know that they really spent too much time trying to figure it out.  Basically, an emergency room just works to stabilize a patient.  So, I had to lay there most of the night, being injected with unknown substances while they waited for my body to go into normal sinus rhythm on it's own.  I guess there are other horrible ways to stop A-fib, but they for some reason wanted to see if my body would revert back on it's own.  So, the drugs basically were lowering my blood pressure to the extreme to help my body along.  Oh, there were some high points there.  The first that I got to chew up a baby aspirin, loved those things when I was a kid.  The second high point is that I didn't pee on the table, since they finally found a bedside commode, after I acted like a wild women and yelled out the door that I was very desperate.  Okay, I didn't word it quite like that, nor will I repeat what I said, it had something to do with wetting on myself. 
 
     Yeah, really, those were the high points.  What else did you expect me to say? 
I was admitted by morning, and of course I had to submit to a lot of pokes and prods from a few needles.  Okay, another high point, those lab techs do not miss veins in a hospital.  Despite all that, both my arms we're quite a festive sight for the next month, going from black to purple to blue and mixtures of all of those. 
So, I've yet to find out why this happend, but I have a new doctor who will be working on this issue.  In the meantime, of course, she had to do a fasting blood panel.  And that's where it gets interesting. Or horrible, depending on how you look at it.
  What she found is that I'm dangerously low in vitamin D3.  That totally took me by surprise.  I don't suppose any of the other drs. checked for that, so I'm glad she did.  The surprise is that I've been reading about how many Americans are low in Vitamin D3, but I assumed that couldn't be anyone in California.  How would that be possible?  I mean, sunshine most of the year, and we live near an ocean so eating fish shouldn't be an issue either should it?  That's why I was surprised. 
 
     I'll be doing a bit of research on Vitamin D3 since I really didn't know all that much, or didn't remember what I used to know.   I've heard of some say that their body doesn't absorb it properly, and have no idea if that is the case for me.  Although, the dr. has put me on 5,000 IU of vitamin D3. 

    I hope you join me as I work to learn more about what some have called the "vitamin D" epidemic in America.