....how do you find out the levels of all the vitamins and minerals in your body ?

are there specific blood tests, or do all the tests produce a listing of each element. It seems every time I have another blood test it is for a specific such as high potassium or a high platelet count.
Is it dependent on the boxes ticked by the Doc on the blood test request form ? On my last one a week ago, the nurse appeared to have 6 pages of line item tests relating to different colour containers ( so I assume different tests)

or do you have to request the test for vitamin levels yourself ?

Peter

Peter,

It is confusing. In the States, usually our doctors tick off an electrolytes test for minerals like potassium, chloride, etc. As for the Vita D, you may have to suggest it to your doctor if he is not a neurologist that you've learned PWP generally have a deficiency. That's what I did and a few days later had my results. I am not sure of how it works in the UK.

Hope this helps,

Laura

Thanks Laura

I don't suppose anyone can point me to a definite list of what I should get tested ?
I've got myself so confused with all the vitamins / electrolytes / possible supplements, I'm not quite sure which side is up

Some tests we have are not good predictors for some nutrients.

Magnesium for example only shows very low or very high with good predictability. The "normal" range is very large and some deficiency may exist within it.

It is thought that measuring serum is less accurate than measuring what is within the cells themselves.
This lab does intracellular measurement:
http://www.spectracell.com/

The "functional medicine" chiropractors do a more comprehensive testing panel, but that is often not covered by insurance.

Some common tests in US have antiquated ranges for normal for B12 and Vit D. The low end of this scale is considered "deficient" by many well informed doctors today. But people are given "normal" verbal results when in the very low end of "normal". So knowing your levels is important here.

IMO people respond to nutrients often irrespective of their tests therefore. Allopathic interpretation of nutrients blood serum testing therefore is not always accurate, or predictive of the patient's response to many nutrients.

I continue to experience improved med response and better sleep. I also have a great improvement in bowel function. Also, problems with prostate swelling have been reduced by half.

I should add that starting about three weeks ago (or about a week before starting D3) I, with my neuro's approval, dropped Requip from my regimen when it proved to be causing my dyskinesia. I had been taking it for ten years and was maxxed out at 24 mg per day, so I expected a bumpy ride. I upped my sinemet to the 1200 to 1400 mg range from the 800 to 1000 range and dropped the Requip to 800 mg the first week and, not having any noticeable problems, zeroed it out in week two. I have experienced no withdrawal symptoms at all that I can tell.

This is totally amazing! The responses here are similar to people on other forums who have different issues!

Wouldn't it be something if this one nutrient impacted many things we consider "chronic"? Who would have thought?

PD shares something with many modern afflictions.It is idiopathic (origin unknown), widespread both geographically and across class lines, affects widely distributed body systems (seemingly) without rhyme or reason, comes on slowly, and is generally maddening.

It is tempting to blame environmental toxins and other "obvious suspects", but all fail to explain more than a part of the puzzle.

But this hypothesis is subtly different in that it blows right by the question of original cause and addresses the issue as a disruption of the body's ability to repair itself.

In light of that approach, consider the following-
1) PD is first noted in London approximately one lifetime after a large number of people have abandoned a life of working in the sunlight (repair systems working) for one of both Vit D depletion and increased exposure to destructive forces.
2) There is an increase in PD among farmers with the highest rate among the Amish. This would seem to make no sense. However, anyone from a farming background will tell you that you never see a farmer working in the sun without a long sleeved shirt once he is out of his teens. This is because of the factor of protection from irritating substances and because it is cooler.
3) PD is overwhelmingly a white man's disease. It is true that pale skin produces more Vit D than dark skin and paradox rears its head once again - unless dark skin also is a marker for more efficient use of Vit D itself. Do similar racial disparities exist for, say, MS?
4) The lowest rates of PD are nearest the equator and the highest near the poles.
5) One of the studies that I posted bemoaned the variance among individuals and the difficulty in determining the proper dosing with Vit D, so even growing up together doesn't mean a common fate.

And so on....
There is a lot of room in this tent.

I do think skin color is a factor.

Normally darker skinned people, live in more tropical Southern countries. They don't cover up 100%... either.

In the US darker skinned people tend to have rickets risk more.
This is because the more pigment in the skin blocks some UV...but in their country of origin they are typically outside MORE, so that balances out.

In northern latitudes, darker pigmented people need longer sun exposure therefore.

The Amish are highly inbred too...so that if the original members from many decades ago, were inefficient Vit D synthesizers, that trait would be passed eventually to the whole community. The Amish are often quoted as having less autism for the same reasons, to illustrate that autism may be genetic.

But I do think the coming years will be exciting about Vit D.... and we all need to keep in mind that Vit D is NOT a vitamin...and I hope the name converts to D3 or CholeD3 or something like that. The general public and some older medical doctors think...diet/deficiency...and that is not what is happening.

I do think it is exciting... the new research. And in fact it may turn out to be a medical miracle and turning point in our world!
(won't Big Pharma be fit to be tied?)

I am wondering, this is entirely tangential, how many of us are affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder? All this talk of light and dark struck me...I have always had a reaction to changes in Daylight Saving Time, but I would say markedly so in years just preceding my first motor symptoms. I went to a doctor's appointment Monday and found myself asking for anti-depressant; this was completely not pre-meditated, and we started talking SAD...which lead us too my vita D level. Anyway, I realized that I am having a particularly difficult time adjusting to the time change, so my doc suggested I invest in light therapy before drugs. That's a first...new I liked her for some reason!

Just wondering if this is just "me" or if anyone else notices they are impacted by the lack of daylight? It might not at all be a Parkinsonian thing, but Mrs. D and Rick always provide good food for thought....

I also wanted to thank you two for exploring this skin color aspect and sunlight aspect... I have had a sneaking suspicion that answers lie in the melanin. We lose a lot of it with PD, and it seems to be a really under-researched aspect of the disease especially in relation to this vita D stuff.

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate it!

Laura

Yes, I've had SAD for years. I bought a light visor, and it did work well.

Since I started with my D in the higher doses, I've not needed to use it! (there are studies showing improved mood with D therapy)

This is the visor I have:
http://www.feelbrightlight.com/

I used it first thing in the morning for 1/2 hr at the lower setting.
2 yrs...then I started the D.

I tend to slow down in late Sept, after a sunny vacation on the lakeshore and garden. The 5000IU D worked the best starting in Fall. I don't take it in the summer depending on my exposure.
(If it is a cool June, I stop in July. and restart in late Sept, I use my fading tan as an indicator).