Vitamin D
Posted on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 05:47 in Healthy Living - Post Comment
A couple years ago someone sent me an article on vit. D and the flue. My family and some friends started taking vit. D and we did not know if it was a coincidence or not, but we didn't have the flue that year. I kind of took it sporadically because I always forget to take such things. I also really didn't know what the dosage should be so I guessed and guessed kind of low.
I've always been a migrainer and it seemed to be getting way worse every year. Winter was a real drag! Every day was grey and foggy - whether the sun was shining or not! Reading became a chore as the letters wouldn't stop jiggling on the page. My head hurt ALL the time. Come spring things would gradually get better and summer was basically headache free. My dad once suggested vit. D but I probably brushed him off because I took vit. D whenever I remembered to.
Then one day during a rare visit to the doctor I found out I was profoundly deficient in vit. D. She suggested I take this enormous amount of vit. D and retest in 3 months. I wasn't very excited about the prescription vit. D since I am vegetarian and I am concerned about taking something that comes from fish considering the problems with polution, etc... So, I contacted a Dr. friend. He told me that he regularly recommends vit. D to his patients and that he has his wife and children on a weekly dose. He recommended this company: www.lef.org At his suggestion I began taking 5,000 IU a day to bring my stores up to normal.
An amazing thing happened! After a month of taking the vitamin my brain fog cleared and I went a whole 10 days without a migraine! WOW! Winter is not so bad after all. I still have the odd headache and I still get a little foggy once in awhile, but not all the time like before. I don't take it in the summer and I didn't take it in Africa. Interestingly, I didn't take any when I first arrived home and just the last few days I have been having headaches and I finally realized that I needed to if I wanted to enjoy another migrain free winter.
The Real Reason Flu Hits In Winter And How To Stop It Naturally
Dr. Robert J. Rowen, MD
Second Opinion Health Alert
12-15-6
For decades we've heard the myth that flu strikes in winter because of the
colder weather. But numerous studies have all debunked that theory.
Studies have shown that flu hits the tropics in their "winter" when it's
still quite warm (usually during the rainy season).
No, there's another reason flu hits in winter. And it gives you an easy way
to stop the flu before it hits. And it doesn't involve getting a flu shot.
We already know that our bodies produce a lot less vitamin D during the
winter. But is it possible the reduced vitamin D levels in winter
contribute to the flu?
The evidence is there. Years ago, an observant British general
practitioner, R. Edgar Hope-Simpson, connected influenza epidemics in the
northern hemisphere with winter solstice. So, flu hits right when vitamin D
levels begin to plummet. Conventional medicine has largely ignored his
work, until now.
Just this year, two major medical journals released a report written by Dr.
John Cannell, a California psychiatrist at the Atascadero State Hospital in
California. This is a maximum security facility for the criminally insane.
In his report, Dr. Cannell noted that wards all around his got hit hard
with a severe flu-like outbreak in April 2005. None of his 32 patients
caught the flu - even after they mingled with infected inmates from other
wards.
Dr. Cannell wondered why his ward avoided the flu when it hit all the
others. He soon realized it was the high doses of vitamin D he prescribed
to all the men on his ward. He had found that his patients, like most other
people in the industrial world, had a deficiency. (He must be one of the
very few psychiatrists that pays attention to nutrition!) His efforts to
correct the deficiency boosted their immune system and completely protected
them from the flu.
Why does it work? Science recently discovered that vitamin D stimulates
your white blood cells to make a substance called cathelicidin. Researchers
haven't studied this chemical on the flu virus yet, but they have previously
reported that it attacks a wide variety of pathogens. These include fungi,
viruses, bacteria, and even tuberculosis.
So, it turns out that my suggestions for you to have your vitamin D levels
checked this time of year were right on target. But now, armed with this
new information, I don't even think it's necessary to spend the money on a
test. Vitamin D is cheap. And it stimulates your body to make what might
be the ultimate antibiotic! One with no toxicity at all and only kills
those organisms invading you (not your own cells).
Arm yourself with the incredible protection of vitamin D. Get sunlight when
you can. Just be sure not to burn. If you are mostly indoors, I strongly
suggest that you add vitamin D to your daily regimen. I recommend 5,000 IU
per day. I see no downside to this dose, especially in the winter months!
Yours for better health and medical freedom,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD
Ref: FASEB Journal July 2006; Epidemiology and Infection, online, December
2006.
Very Interesting!
Posted by Ann @ HIs Grace To Me on Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 08:03 - Link
Thanks for the Vitamin D information, I plan to look into this!
Vegan Vitamin D
Posted by elliepea on Sunday, January 4, 2009 at 08:31 - Link
You can get vegetarian/vegan vitamin D. It is called D2. I believe that D3 is the nonveg kind and it is made from sheeps wool/lanolin. D2 is made from veggies - not sure what, but I am sure you could look it up on line.
(My health food store knowledge put to work! : ) )
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