Question:

I have been Vitamin D deficient now for almost a year. They have had me on 50,000 units once a week until recently and have now bumped me up to 50,000 twice a week.

However, I am still deficient. I am always tired, have to force myself to do things most days, and have major mood swings… My body hurts all over, so they said, “oh you have Fibromalagia.” Now this new Doctor says it’s all caused from the lack of vitamin D…..

Do you have any suggestions, or help for me? I am at my wits end!

Sincerely,
K
Dallas, Texas

Answer:

Hi K,

Wow, that sounds like it hasn’t been a very fun year. At least your doctors were aware enough to check for Vitamin D Deficiency, but it sounds like they are missing a few things.

First, a possible solution

Since you live in Dallas, you might be able to remedy this situation in a few weeks by GOING OUT IN THE SUN! Get outside in a bikini, or nothing at all if you have some privacy and are inclined to do so- and get as much sun as you can every day to the point of BEFORE you get burned.

Sun is the way that we were MEANT to get vitamin D. So, if that is at all a possibility, then do that. You can protect your face with sunscreen and a big hat, but otherwise, let your entire body get as much sun as you possibly can- just don’t burn.

You can make up to 20,000 IU’s of Vitamin D per day by exposing your skin in this very efficient Vitamin D Deficiency Treatment.

What your doctor is doing wrong

So, one of the things that your doctors are not doing right is giving you a PRESCRIPTION for your Vitamin D. Prescription Vitamin D is in the form of Vitamin D2 and researchers have stated, “Vitamin D2, or ergocalciferol, should not be regarded as a nutrient suitable for supplementation”. So, print out this study, sit down with a highlighter pen and highlight any questions that you may have for your doctor and ask him why he chose to use Vitamin D2 to treat you instead of the far superior form of Vitamin D3 that he can’t write a prescription for, but nonetheless is widely available and inexpensive.

 

Why You Might be Deficient

So, one of the reasons that you may still be deficient is that you are taking Vitamin D2 which has up to one-tenth the bioavailability to the body. The other reason that you may be deficient is that you are not ABSORBING the vitamin D that you ARE getting, and THAT is a critical component of illness that doctors almost always completely overlook.

You see, under certain circumstances (and I’ll talk about those in a minute), it’s possible for people to develop a condition called Increased Intestinal Permeability or “Leaky Gut Syndrome”. Doctors seem to think that this condition is something that alternative practitioners made up, but there are THOUSANDS of references to increased intestinal permeability in the literature and several different easy to do tests to test for this.

It is very real and can cause you not to be absorbing nutrients.

Also, if you have been unable to absorb vitamin D, what ELSE have you not been absorbing? Doctors seem to think that if they find vitamin D deficiency, then they have found “The Answer”, because they haven’t been able to find anything else wrong with you. But really, that should provoke a lot more questions- like WHY you are not absorbing your vitamin D and what else are you deficient in. Your doctor says that your problems are all because of the vitamin D, but has he tested your Vitamin B12 level? How about your Carnitine level, coenzyme q10, folic acid, RBC Magnesium and other nutrients?

So, you might want to ask him why he hasn’t tested you for any of those, even though you can test all of those and many more in an inexpensive in-home urine test called The Organix Profile. This is not some “woo-woo” test, although your doctor will make you believe that it is. It is based on years of research on substances called Organic Acids that are produced and excreted in urine in differing amounts depending upon what is going on in the body. This test is has published PEER-REVIEWED studies as to its accuracy, and yet your doctor just simply will not do it because he has not been told about it.

But you ABSOLUTELY need to insist that your doctor test you for Vitamin B12 deficiency using a test called a METHYLMALONIC ACID TEST, or MMA. HE will WANT to get a “Vitamin B12 Level”, but don’t let him. That is NOT the test that you want to get, you want an MMA. It is much more accurate and many studies show that it is MUCH more sensitive for vitamin B12 deficiency than is a “Vitamin B12 Level”.

What is Causing this Malabsorption

So, if you get back your MMA and it is HIGH (HIGH MMA is indicative of LOW Vitamin B12), then you are not ABSORBING properly. Why wouldn’t you be absorbing nutrients? Well, a couple of possible reasons.

1) You might have Undiagnosed Celiac Disease. Undiagnosed Celiac Disease is a HUGE problem, even though your doctor will think that it is “RARE”. It is NOT rare, it is common- possibly up to 1 in every 33 people! So, if your MMA is high, you should INSIST on being tested for Celiac Disease, and here are Some Research Studies for you to print out and take to your doctor.

2) You might also have the H Pylori Bacteria causing inflammation and malabsorption in your stomach- EVEN IF you have no stomach problems!! Doctors seem to think that you MUST have stomach problems for H pylori to be a problem, but research just doesn’t show this to be the case. People with ASYMPTOMATIC H pylori can have inflammation and malabsorption.

So, there is SO much more that I could tell you, but that is a start. So, here is your action plan:

1) Print out the study, “The Case Against Vitamin D2′ and ask your doctor WHY he is choosing to use it when researchers say that he shouldn’t be.

2) Insist on getting tested for MMA or Methylmalonic Acid. Your fatigue is certainly a justifiable reason to test for Vitamin B12, as if your malabsorption of Vitamin D.

Good luck,

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com

Kids get so little Vitamin D these days, that Rickets- a disease that was thought to be virtually eradicated over 50 years ago in developed countries- is back again. Rickets,  with it’s characteristic bowed legs from improper bone hardening, is caused by a simple nutritional deficiency. Yet children right here in the US are getting this easily preventable disease in numbers never thought possible.

Vitamin D, which is naturally present in few foods except for Fatty Fisk like Wild Salmon and Sardine Snacks, is made naturally when the skin is exposed to sunlight.

But Rickets became prevalent during the Industrial Revolution in England when the already weak British sun’s rays were blocked entirely by the incredible pollution in the air.

Scientists were able to make a synthetic form of Vitamin D and quickly began fortifying milk products, solving the rickets problem for good- or so they thought.

But now, rickets is back…

Dr. Laura Tosi, bone health chief at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington says, “I am now treating rickets in a way that I never treated it 20 years ago,”

Possibly even more alarming is a new epidemic where bone formation in children appears normal, but is actually much softer than it should be.

As such, girls today break their arms 56% more often than their peers did 40 years ago- and boys break them 32% more often!

A  long term Bone Health Study of US Children is now being done in response to this phenomenon- and researchers are concerned that widespread osteoporosis may be waiting for this younger generation in adulthood.

But why is this happening?

There is no one answer to that question. But the recommendation of most dermatologists to keep children out of the sun for fear of skin cancer is one reason. The widespread use of sunscreen that effectively blocks the UV rays that allow the skin to make Vitamin D is another.

Children’s increased time indoors watching television, playing video games and computer usage is another reason.

Not only does being indoors keep children out of the Vitamin D making rays of the sun, but it also keeps them from doing the essential weight-bearing exercises like running and jumping that encourage young bones to grow denser and stronger.

“Physical activity increases growth in width and mineral content of bones in girls and adolescent females, particularly when it is initiated before puberty,” concluded one study.

Other studies estimate that children and teens, due to poor dietary choices, get 20% less calcium than is recommended.

So the problem is compounded by the perfect storm of:

Not enough Vitamin D
Not enough Calcium
and
Not enough Exercise

Very Long-Term Effects

While these studies are focusing on the possible osteoporosis that these children may be getting later in life, other researchers are concerned about other, less well known effects that low Vitamin D levels may have on these children later in life.

Dr. Cedric Garland, who  has been researching Vitamin D for over 20 years, states, “We estimate that we could prevent 75%of cancers by getting everyone’s Vitamin D Blood Level into the 40 -60 (ng/ml) level.”

There has also been much research into Vitamin D for diabetes and heart disease prevention. An analysis of several studies even claims that sufficient Vitamin D levels can reduce “All cause mortality”, a claim that is somewhat like the “holy grail” as drug research is endlessly in the quest of a patentable drug that can make this claim.

While Dr. Garland and other researchers like Dr. Robert Heaney and Dr. John Cannell have been urging higher Vitamin D levels for years, governments have been slow to respond.

With the Official Recommended Daily Intake  of Vitamin D unchanged in over 50 years despite the mounds of evidence of the benefits of higher Vitamin D intake -our youngest generation may be the ones who are going to be suffering from our governments turning a deaf ear to the cries of researchers worldwide.

What you can do…

Get enough sun and/or Take enough Supplemental Vitamin D to keep your level within the recommended 40-60 ng/ml range outlined by Dr. Cedric Garland and an entire team of Vitamin D researchers.

You Really Can Be Well Again!

Kerri Knox, RN -The Immune Queen

Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com

 
Yet another study shows that Chronic Pain is a Symptom of Vitamin D Deficiency.

This study, this time from the renowned Mayo Clinic, states that people with low Vitamin D levels use almost twice as much pain medicine as those who have normal Vitamin D levels.

This is only one of MANY STUDIES that show the relationship between chronic pain and Vitamin D levels.
Many studies have even shown effective TREATMENT OF CHRONIC PAIN conditions by increasing Vitamin D levels to within the normal range.
 

Many researchers are even implicating Vitamin D deficiency as The Cause of Fibromyalgia and that many with this elusive condition can be effectively treated simply with proper high dose Vitamin D supplementation!
 
 
Yet, it’s unlikely that this study will change policy in the Conventional Medical Field. There are a few doctors who are now starting to check Vitamin D levels for various reasons, yet most still are clueless about the MANY diseases that Vitamin D deficiency can improve and even cure.
 
 

Unfortunately, most of health care is driven by education from Pharmaceutical Companies- and Vitamin D doesn’t have any scantily clad representatives running around to doctors offices giving out samples so that awareness of it’s benefits increases.
 
 

If you suffer from Chronic Pain, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Low Thyroid, Obesity, Fibromyalgia, Periodontal Disease, High Blood Pressure or any type of cancer- you owe it to yourself to get your Vitamin D Level Tested.

I can help you to decide an appropriate dosage of this essential Vitamin- as well as helping you overcome any other chronic medical problems that you are suffering from.
 
 

“Stop Managing your health problems and Start Getting Well..”
 
 

I can help you to Finally Be well again!

Kerri Knox, RN

Functional Medicine Practitioner

http://www.easy-immune-health.com