Lately, I’ve been getting people writing in asking if they should worry if they Store Vitamin D. Now, I’m not sure where people have got the idea that storing vitamin d is something that is worrisome or something harmful, but let me set the record straight that you should not worry if you store vitamin d.

Vitamin d is a FAT SOLUBLE vitamin and you do not excrete it through the sweat, urine or stool as you would if it were a Water Soluble vitamin. Vitamins and minerals such as the B vitamins, magnesium and Vitamin C Supplements must be taken on a daily basis because they get excreted if you do not use them in a short period of time (a few hours to a few days depending upon the vitamin). But the fat soluble vitamins like vitamin d are not excreted this way. In fact it is a GOOD thing that you store vitamin d because this was how humans were designed!

When we evolved as humans, we did not always have consistent sunlight- and for most populations, sunlight was the only way to obtain vitamin d. Only populations, such as the Inuit and Sami people of the far Northern parts of the world have access to abundant year round vitamin d food sources- and ‘NO’, milk in its natural form is NOT a food source of vitamin d, it has had synthetic vitamin d supplements added artificially.

Since Vitamin D and Sun is an inconsistent way to obtain vitamin d, nature designed us to be EXTREMELY efficient at collecting the vitamin d that we do get when we get it. And the way that we do that is to Store Vitamin D when there is an excess of it. And we DO store vitamin d in our fat and it gets sort of ‘time- released’ as we need it. In fact the ‘half-life’ of natural vitamin d from sun or from Vitamin D3 Supplements is a long 3 WEEKS in order to get us through monsoon season or a long and snowy winter.

In fact, to illustrate this point, Dr. Robert Heaney, one of the foremost Vitamin D Researchers, found that if you take 2,200 IU per day, you only have about 12 days supply of vitamin D in your body. “What this indicates,” he explained, “… is that fat reserves of the vitamin are essentially running on empty.” So, according to Dr. Heaney, storing only 12 DAYS of vitamin d is inadequate to really meet your needs.

Sometimes doctors will give extremely large-sounding dosages, up to as much as 600,000 IU’s all at once, and some forums out there are saying, “Oh no, that’s bad because you store the Vitamin D”, there is just simply no worry about this. To store vitamin d when it’s in excess is what our bodies do. While certainly too high of dosages for too long can lead to Vitamin D Toxicity, but that is NOT the same thing as storing vitamin d. Too much is TOXIC, but storing vitamin d is a natural healthy body process that no one should ‘Worry’ about.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System

Television ads featuring heart inventor, Dr. Robert Jarvik, who, by the way, cannot row a skull and never practiced medicine, claims that Lipitor will lower heart attack risk by 36%. Now, who wouldn’t want that but let’s look at the fine print. The fine print required says:

Let’s do the math.

For every 100 people in the trial that lasted 3 l/2 years, 3 people on the placebo and 2 people on Lipitor had heart attacks. That is one less heart attack for every 100 people. In other words, 100 people had to take Lipitor for 3 l/2 years to prevent one heart attack. What this really means is, 99 out of 100 people taking Lipitor received no benefit from taking Lipitor.

There is a little known statistic, “Number Needed To Treat,” (NNT) defined as the number of patients who need to be treated in order to prevent one bad outcome. In the case of Lipitor, 100 patients needed to be treated for 3 l/2 years to possibly eliminate one heart attack. Let’s compare that number to today’s antibiotic treatment to eradicate ulcer causing H Pylori Stomach Bacteria. The Number Needed To Treat H. pylori is 1:1. That means if you give the antibiotic to 11 people, 10 will be cured.

Several recent scientific papers peg the NNT for statin medications at 250. That means 249 of 250 would receive no benefit. Dr. Jerome R. Hoffman, Professor of Clinical Medicine at UCLA asks:

Marketing Over Medicine

Drug companies have a responsibility to their shareholders to make a profit. We need drug companies to develop new medicines; however, when they grossly overstate benefits and spend enormous dollars influencing physicians, it leads to potential corruption. The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) 2004 guidelines lowered the targets for
cholesterol treatment and recommended more Americans take statins. The panel that issued the guidelines was comprised of 9 experts, 8 of which had ties to the drug industry. We physicians who speak out take great risks as medicine and government agencies do not like criticism. For example, Dr. Henry C. Barry of the Michigan State University College of Medicine recently stated, “The NCEP guideline and process went awry.”

Very, very few.

Dr. Barry and 34 other experts sent a petition of protest to the National Institutes of Health saying the evidence was weak and the panel biased because of its ties to the drug industry. Dr. Rodney A. Hayward, Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical school said, “current evidence supports ignoring LDL cholesterol altogether.” In response, The National Cholesterol Education Program stated strongly, “Dr. Hayward should
be held accountable in a court of law for doing things to kill people.” We might expect this kind of harsh response from zealots and extremists but not from government agencies or scientists. If we spent just a fraction of the money we now do on cholesterol testing, cholesterol lowering drugs and doctors visits, on educating people about
proper diet, exercise and weight loss, we’d be far healthier.

–Dr. Dwight Lundell

Dr. Lundell is a former cardiothoracic surgeon who has been campaigning for the natural treatment of heart disease through inflammation reduction. His book, “The Great Cholesterol Lie” can teach you how to manage cholesterol- and what is more important, reduce your risk of heart disease at the SOURCE.

The experiences of pain and stress are not only experienced more acutely in people with
Symptoms of Fibromyalgia but they very often are part of the CAUSE of Fibromyalgia as well. In fact, fibromyalgia most often occurs after a serious emotional event and has been compared to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. There are likely underlying metabolic problems such as Adrenal Gland Fatigue and nutritional problems that may contribute to the development of Fibromyalgia- and stress becomes the ‘Straw that Broke the Camel’s Back’ that pushes you over the edge into having chronic pain and fatigue.

Those who have fibromyalgia seem to have a weak stress response, possibly because the adrenal glands have a genetic predisposition to be weak and small. Or possibly because of large amounts of stress that have contributed to the overproduction of adrenal hormones throughout life. No one is really sure, but what we DO know is that the Fibromyalgia patient has impaired response to stress and pain that are a downward spiral of worsening stress and pain from the ever more stress and pain!

This increases stress and pain can also lead to the stress of worrying about so many missed days at work and whether your job is secure and the financial worries that come with that. Nearly as stressful, for many, is the stress of coping with spouses who may want to help, but can’t understand the constant pain and fatigue that don’t allow you to be the lively person that they married. When just playing with your children is difficult, it’s stressful wanting to do more for them.

As I outline on the Fibromyalgia Cause page, this continued stress actually leads to serious damage in the body from a phenomenon called ‘Oxidative Stress’ which is LITERALLY stress on every cell in the body that can lead to MORE pain and premature aging.

So, needless to say, attempting to get rid of as much stress as possible is an important part of managing your fibromyalgia. Here are some Fibromyalgia Tips that can help you begin to improve and even overcome your symptoms.

1. Diet: You really MUST think about your diet and eliminate foods that cause DIETARY STRESS like sugar, caffeine and processed foods. Food allergies like Gluten Sensitivity can cause a HUGE amount of ‘subclinical’ stress that you may not even notice that you have! Eating a ‘Paleolithic Diet’, such as that outlined in The Healthy Urban Kitchen is really an ESSENTIAL stress reduction strategy.

2. Stress Management Techniques: such as visualization, meditation and breathing. These techniques decrease the level of neurochemicals circulating in your body, and help decrease both stress and pain.

3. Exercise: Even though exercising may be difficult, often the motivation to exercise is one of the hardest things to get over. Walking, yoga and light weight lifting are likely to be the most effective exercise strategies. But the MOST effective exercise strategy is the one that you DO.

If you decrease your stress, you will slowly begin to have less pain, less fatigue and a better quality of life in general.

For more tips and information to help you ELIMINATE your fibromyalgia for good, please go to EliminateFibromyalgia.com.

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System