Vitamin d deficiency
 

Hi everyone, I have just found out that I am vitamin d deficient. Can anyone please tell me if this could be the cause of my Neuropathy? My doctor has given me 400iu tablet to take, is this enough or should I take more? What is the maximum safe amount that I could take every day? Thanks for reading this.

I know my endo said it is important for building bone. I may be confused. Do you have osteo? I have osteo but have good d levels but my doc still has me taking calcium with vitamin d. I think I take 2 600calcium with 400of vitamin d. My mom has low d levels and is on prescription I think once a month or week not sure. Is your prescription?Hopefully Mrs D will come a long and give more answers and correct me if I am wrong.

400 IU.... is this correct?
 

There is a very complete Vit D thread over at BrainTalk. I suggest you
read over there...first page of the Vitamin Forum.

400IU will do nothing. Also it depends on the form you take. If it is D2
(ergocalciferol) it will be even less effective.

Very deficient patients are usually given 50,000 IU weekly for a few months, retested, and typically 2000 to 4000 IU daily (preferably D3 cholecalciferol).
Some patients take 10,000 IU daily. I myself use 2,000 IU D3 daily.

I don't think low Vit D causes PN, but it does seem to relate to chronic pain issues in general and appear in those who have chronic pain syndromes.

Mrs D so quick. I was just thinking that I was told that low vitamin d can have a role in fibromyalgia. This may not be true but do you have any of those symptoms too?

Hi Mark:

Sitting in the sun is a good way to get lots of Vitamin D. Slap on some sunscreen, (don't know if the Vitamin D gets through Sunscreen).

Sit for 20 minutes. I try and do this as much as I can.

It feels so warm and wonderful. And I'm absorbing all that D. At least I tell myself that I am. lol

Take care,

Melody

Unfortunately, Mel--
 

--sunscreen--at least, effective sunscreen, blocks precisely those wavelengths of ultraviolet radiation that cause the skin's cholesterol to start the reaction that lead to the production of cholecalciferol (Vitamin D3).

From what I've read of the literature, though--mostly thanks to Mrs. D and Ted Hutchinson at the Vitamin forum at BT--by the time skin begins to redden in the sun, that means the skin can no longer add to its D3 production capacity--the reaction now breaks down into a homeostatic feedback equilibrium (e.g., whatever is made gets pulled apart almost immediately). The trick seems to be to get short, concentrated bursts of ultraviolet onto the skin and stop before there is noticable damage, whichis when the skin cancer incidence rises. Depending on one's own particular hue, the time of day, the time of year, and the latitutde, this may be anywhere from 10 minutes to a hour or more--in fact, at high latitudes, it's unlikely that during late fall through early spring one CAN get enough exposure to produce optimal levels (and there's a lot of evidence that in places like Scandinavia, people are running around with chronic Vitamin D deficiency, especially in winter).

Since I'm very light and freckly, in summer I limit myself to ten minutes--at high noon, maybe five. And this is with much of my body uncovered--short sleeves, shorts. In other months, there's less sun, and I am more covered, so I try to stay out longer, but I do supplement with D3, as I suspect I'm not getting what I need at those times of year.

Don't you kind of find it odd, that the sun, the giver of sunshine, solar panel stuff, the bright shiny thing way up in the sky, that same lovely star that gives us vitamin D, can also kill us with skin cancer.

Good Lord.

See, I grew up on boats, the beach and sunburns, with the peeling and using noxema. Back in my time, you wanted to go to the beach and get as red as you could get because you knew that in time, you would get a nice tan (now how dumb were we way back then).

The guy who used to live downstairs from me (about 10 years ago), was fair with blond hair. He had two skin cancers removed.

I once saw him go outside without a hat. Now I'm not stupid, believe me on this one. I know that when you have had skin cancer (he had some kind of either basal or squamous cell carcinoma), that the next time you go into the sun, you are supposed to slather on sun screen and put on protective clothing. I knew this.

So I said: 'why are you exposing yourself to the sun, don't you know that you can get it again?" And his reply was "Oh, I don't care about that".

Now this was a professional man in his late 40's who had two skin cancers removed from his face. I just stood there and I said "are you serious? you really don't put on sun screen at all and you won't put a hat on?"

He said "Nah, I don't believe in that stuff". And I have a friend's husband who has had a heart attack and still eats red meat, and they just found some spots on his lungs and his pancreas and his reaction was (after having ct scans and everying, his reaction was "I want to live my life the way I want to live my life". So he is continuing his red meat, his drinking, and he actually said: "I like to live like this, so I don't are what happens?

???????????????????????The guy is a grandfather who is raising a 5 year old grandaughter with his wife who has MS.

WILL SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THE THINKING OF THESE TWO INDIVIDUALS??

I know me, if I had ever had some kind of skin cancer removed, that would be my last day in the sun. I know me. And if I had some previous heart attack, I wouldn't be eating red meat or drinking every Saturday night. I don't eat red meat ajnyway, but that's beside the point.

I do not understand how a person can get two skin cancers removed and then go out in the sun without sunscreen or protective clothing.

Makes no sense to me. But I'm clueless here. What is it? A man thing or something?? I know we are supposed to enjoy our lives to the fullest but, well, I just don't understand this way of thinking.

well...
 

It is disturbing but people who use sunscreen tend to get MORE skin cancer than others.

example:
http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/newstop...ing-sunscreen/

You can google this... and it is true. For a while it was thought that PABA in sunscreens was the culprit, but even though that ingredient was replaced,
the cancers still are higher in those using sunscreens.

It is a confusing complex subject...and all the answers are not in yet.
One theory is that low Vit D levels in the skin, are to blame.

Hi thanks for all your replies, the doctor has prescribed me vitamin d3 400iu a day for 2 months. Should I take more then? I have a found a website that says low levels can cause Paresthesia. I am hoping that maybe that is what I have....

Hello Mark,

Please tell us:

• What were/are your symptoms?
• What was your measured vitamin D level (with the units)?
• Where do you live (to give us an idea of how much sun you get)?

Vitamin D deficiency can cause quite a bit of pain, even before there is any evidence of bone damage on a scan. This "hypovitaminosis D" can cause joint pain, bone pain and muscle pain.

I was able to increase my vitamin D level, from a borderline low of 55 pmol/L (= 22 ng/mL) to 90 pmol/L, by having sensible sun exposure.

This might be an alternative for you to consider, depending on how severe your deficiency is, where you live, and your lifestyle.

I invite you to read my posts on these two threads:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread41845.html
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread42532.html

Even if you opt not to use sun exposure, you might find something useful in the links that I have provided in the first thread.

Paul