[1] https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD...
This sounds too risk-averse, and I worry that it scares people off taking Vitamin D at all; yet a low level would be good for most people.
I live in a northern latitude, and Vitamin D deficiency is widespread. What should the public health system recommend? It seems there are two choices:
(a) Regularly test the Vitamin D levels of the entire population, and recommend zero Vitamin D supplements for any individual who has not been tested recently.
(b) Find an average "safe" level that will help most and cause damage in very few.
From a perspective of an individual physician I would see how you might want to cover your risk and go for (a), but thinking about it as a whole population, I would think (b) is the best.
“first, do no harm” seems to be the thread of this caution though, so not exactly unexpected from a doctor.
I’m not a health nut, just someone who has annual physicals. Doesn’t it make more sense to encourage people to spend their time and money on annual checkups and tests, rather than encouraging them to buy supplements they might not need—or, worse, that might harm them? Supplements seem cheap at first, but the costs add up over time.
We should be encouraging people to see doctors, not to make uninformed health decisions that might not be right for them.
I believe there is a safe level. In Sweden the government recommends everybody to take 10 micrograms daily, with some groups at 20 micrograms, and this advice is very commonly followed. As far as I understand it that advice does an awful lot more good than it does harm.
My mother has been plagued many of the same symptoms that your patient had, and she has been searching for a cure for years. All of her blood levels are "within normal ranges", and doctors always dismiss her as being crazy, so she ends up seeking treatment from various "quack" doctors.
It sounds like you are the kind of doctor that is able to analyze the human body holistically and solve underlying problems that other doctors would miss.
How can I find a doctor like you that I can convince my mom to go to?
Looking online, I see that there is a hypothesis that nitric oxide has a protective effect against COVID, but I don't see that this hypothesis is any better tested than the hypothesis that vitamin D itself has a protective effect against COVID.
So, sunlight will probably get you the best of both worlds, as it would help either way, but there doesn't seem to be real evidence for nitric oxide vs vitamin D.
The alleged anti-covid benefits.
There's been no causal relation established so far.
This time is directly proportional to how much skin you expose to the sun. If it's only face & hands you need a lot more than if you're in the swimsuit.
It would be interesting to know what clothing the 15-30 min tip assumes.
Also, sunlight through a window does nothing. You need the UV light.
Even if the filament somehow does (I doubt it), it won't make it through the glass of the bulb.
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0716RWHX4/ref=ppx_yo_dt...
So, 1000 IU.
I know many people on this protocol who have had their blood tested and verified that they have no detectable calcium levels in the blood. And blood testing is key. Anyone on this protocol should be checking their calcium, D, and potassium levels. They should also monitor their blood pressure.
The citrate and bicarbonate forms are much better tolerated, and at much higher doses. I take 3 teaspoons a day of potassium citrate, in water, spread throughout the day (I built up to this over time) because I have a mostly meat and dairy diet. This yields approximately 6 grams of potassium a day. For most people building up to 2 teaspoons a day is sufficient. This much potassium chloride would be dangerous.
The primary symptom of too much of the citrate or bicarbonate forms is diarrhea. Also, the metabolic byproduct of citrate is bicarbonate, which has a far greater effect on body pH than taking bicarbonate itself, as the process increases blood pH rather than that of the intestinal tract.
Citation? Do you mean MK4?
MK4 is the common one in lots of things. MK7 is the form found in quantity in nattō which is not commonly consumed outside Japan. It can be supplemented.
My folks live in WA near Seattle and, while summers are pretty nice, most of the year is crazy dark and gray, necessitating some Vit D supplementation. My mom was pretty diligent about that and noticed heart palpitation on a few occasions, but no actual heart issues.
I live further north and supplement for the same reasons, and have even gone to the hospital thinking I was having a heart attack -- but all the tests came back fine. Those heart issues were after a long period of supplementation + aggressive workouts. If anything, my heart health was probably better then than most times; doctors attributed the issues to stress.
For more details, I'd usually take it late morning with breakfast. I'm a normal weight (155lbs), exercise, eat healthy, low stress, in my 30s, good blood pressure, don't drink coffee. I'd notice the heart issues usually in the evening. Sometimes they would occur almost daily for a week, and then they'd go away for a couple of weeks. Then I'd experience them again one day, and not for another few days. They would occur for about a few seconds or a minute when I was at rest and not doing anything active. It's hard to describe the feeling but it was kind of like a muscle spasm occurring in what I thought my was heart. Or, like some strange beating/squeezing sensation that would occur once, then again 5 seconds later, then a couple of seconds after, then that was it. Or it might return after a few minutes and happen again.
It was an intense and serious enough feeling that it would make me pause whatever I was doing. It would make me think that one of these times it would be a bit worse, I'd end up collapsing, and that would be the end. I'd usually do a bit of cardio for a few minutes because like I said it only seemed to happen when I was at a resting heart rate.
I should probably get my heart checked because there's a good chance the connection with the vitamin D supplements is just a coincidence. Nonetheless, I'll pay attention to see if there seems to be a relation between the two, because although it's unlikely, stranger things have happened.
It's interesting how woman weren't affected, but I am all too aware of the link between smoking and lung cancer as the two go hand in hand. My father died of lung cancer and we didn't part on the best of terms as he had a bad cough for a over a decade before being diagnosed, I lacked sympathy as it was virtually a given. Seeing patients needing to go outside to smoke (often with an IV attached) as they are dying is something I'll never get my head. I would name it the Darwin ward, but that is probably insensitive... (ASD)
It makes me angry that medics won't even condon, let along recommend smokers switch to vaping due to politics. They could save 100,000's of lives per year in the US alone (480k smokers die per year).
Getting your vitamin D levels tested is a super simple blood test - you can just ask your doctor and they'll prescribe it.
There’s also “Quick and Easy Screening for Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults”[1] which has a quick and dirty formula in Table 2 to help assess your risk of deficiency without a blood test.
[1]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4998626/pdf/med...
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-from-sun#time...
So I am wondering how come in this case selection did not chose those whose forearms can produce a lot of Vitamin D as it was probably the most exposed part to the sun.
[1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S09600...
I started taking 2000 IU/day because I wasn't seeing much of daylight because of the pandemic. I hope that's a safe amount, but it would be nice to get my blood levels checked.
It is the responsibility of physicians to discuss diet and supplementation with patients, and know that food and supplements have potent acute and chronic effects, and these effects may be on par with prescription medications.
Magnesium is interesting. A lot of these vitamins and minerals interact, in ways many doctors have forgotten. Magnesium is essential for calcium metabolism, so I often recommend it for anyone who takes calcium. It does help with muscle cramps and many take it for insomnia. Magnesium isn't a miracle drug, any more than Vitamin D, but it is a necessary mineral, and people do really notice improvements with muscle soreness. If cramps are the main issue you have, some people swear by magnesium malate - the malic acid in it may also help with sore muscles.
We experimented over two years and OTC VitD didn't help, but my point is, I was confused by two types of Vitamin D: the stuff you can by OTC, and the "real" stuff. How does this compare to the VitD you are referring to?
(I cannot take calcium because I have another disease, and "calcium bolus" is a very real concern for me do to another medication i am on.)
Use a tool like CRON-o-meter to check diet. PRAL score. ZMA.
I have a "happy lamp" by a reading chair in my living room, and sit under it in the mornings while drinking coffee and watching the news. Coffee+Sun perks me up in the morning right quick.
I'm in Edmonton, Canada -- look it up on a map, we're far up there -- and it's basically how I make it through the winters here.
I'm taking 2500IU daily