I've just been reading about some research that was done about 3/4 years ago in Canada involving thousands of women which found that there was a direct correlation between low vitamin D levels and onset of RA.
This got me thinking and I think that this could have been a factor with me. At the time I got RA, I hardly ever saw daylight, let alone sunlight, I remember going into my large office building as sun came up and leaving when it was dark. Also because of stress we were living off ready-made food all the time and I definitely didn't have much dairy in my diet or any foods that contain vit D.
Just wondered if anyone else thinks this could have contributed to their RA?
Also, does anyone have a view on whether it could actually make any difference to take extra vit D now that I have lived with this disease for 8 years?
anna
Hi Anna - my Dr has had me on Vitamin D tablets for about a year now. Internationally, it is turning out to be quite a thing to have a Vit. D deficiency. my levels were found to be very low. A boost treatment of one tab daily for 10 days, which brought my levels back up within the norm, and thereafter has been only 1 tab per month maintenance.
As you know, of course the best source of Vit D, is the sun, so, in recent years, with all us being told to cover up and use sun block etc because of melanoma risk, and other sun damage to the skin - we (and I believe, particularly women) are coming up deficient in the D Vitamin. I think iron comes into the equation somewhere as well.
So don't know whether it's a direct correlation to RA or not, but next time you're there, ask your Dr. about it and get him to to test your blood for Vit D., - it's a simple fix if you're deficient in it. But probably better to do it that way than OTC stuff. The Tab I am on is Colecalciferol 1.25 mg.
The dosage was 1 tab daily for 10 days, then 1 tab only per month for maintenance.
I'm due to have my levels retested soon.
Good question Anna! I will be interested to read what others have to say on this.
Just curious - what is the incidence of RA or autoimmune issues among people in extreme northern climates (Scandanavia, Siberia, Alaska, etc) where people are almost always bundled up and don't get much sunlight on their skin? I have no idea. I'll have to look into it later this evening.
Interesting!
Well, bringing in the cultures of my probiotics to my doctor made him think about how they work and about how Vitamin D and calcium work and he said he wouldn't be surprised if i put calcium back into my diet (can't eat dairy) and stayed outside for at least 15min a day that the vitamin D from the sun should be enough for the day an that together they might work even harder to protect bones, joints etc.
I just wish a company would just study what they need too instead of just a bit here and there, maybe then they would know what works and what doesn't for us.
I'm happy to share some of the info I have concerning Vitamin D.Anna,
I'm not sure that d contributes to my ra but i absolutely beleive that true vitamin d from the sunshine takes away my pain to a degree. In the summer when I spend alot of time in the sun, I have much less pain and absolutely contribute much of it to sunshine D.
LEV
Anna ?? Then why would a person that lives say in Hawaii get RA? Esp if they see the sun a LOTAnna and all -
I'm sort of, kind of, in the 'no Vitamin D' camp. I don't really cut it out, but I definitely don't add it in.
Here's my reasoning - there is a group of people who practice the MP (Marshall Protocol) which is one big gun type of AP program. It is really involved and involves alternate use of antibiotics with drugs that exponentiate the herx. They are also the only group with AP/antibiotics who claim we can get a cure of this.
There head guru - Dr. Marshall - believes one of the problems with Vitamin D is not that we don't have enough of it - but that we do not metabolize it correctly. Our problems are in the ratios. If our RA is such that our ratios are really off - we can possibly really hurt ourselves with huge intakes of vitamin D. Check out www.sarcinfo.com for more info.
They also say that Vitamin D is not a vitamin at all - but a powerful steroid hormone. Which is why Lev is correct and most of us all feel better and can do more in the summer versus the winter.
Since I became ill a lot of my research has shown me that RA/AI peeps do not metabolize many things correctly - most important being we are hormone resistant. Insulin is a hormone. We are almost everyone 'insulin resistant' (even if we may not be diabetic yet). We are estrogen resistant - another hormone. And we are Adrenal resistant - think of the problems Pred can cause us.
I've had the 4 tests for my levels - but have never looked into the results to see what my ratios are doing. I guess things just got dropped with the move and all.
In all the studies Lynn posted, I didn't see any of them looking at ratios. Just overall D levels.
Also, somebody mentioned the northern climes. I do know that I've seen population overlay maps that show that the northern people do get more MS than say, people in LA. Again, we all know people with RA from the Southern Hemisphere - so - for D to be mostly a northern thing it my way of thinking it has to be something eles.
Like maybe he's right and it's the ratios.
Pip
I've lived in Mexico and the Yuma area for the last 3 years but I also use sun block daily. Have lived in Nevada for 10 years prior. My Vit. D. and Mag. levels were low and my RD prescribed Vit. D and Mag for me plus sunshine, 15 minutes a day without sunblock, except on my nose. I have to wear sun block because I just had a basal cell removed. My RA feels much better when we're in Mexico even though the humidity is high, the barometer changes very little. The barometer change is what affects RA.
I'm not sure that defiencency in Vit. D causes RA but it may contribute to the onset. I feel that the onset of RA is caused by multiple factors that sets your body up for RA to present itself. Because each person reacts differently, then maybe the factors that were present for me wouldn't be the factors that caused RA to manifest in another person.
I'm all for the sunshine. I think that it affects us in many positive ways, physically and emotionally. Lindy
Pip, interesting study. When I was diagnosed with Sarcoid, I was prescribed the usual course of steroids but also Vit. D. Within 6 months I was in remission and have been in remission for 40 years. Granted when I was diagnosed little was known about sarcoidosis and I was treated at NIH and then follow up was done by Stanford when we moved to San Francisco. I'd like to think that I'm still in remission with nothing floating around or lodged in my body from Sarcoid. But one never knows. LindySee, you are I are on the same page. I do think it's multi-factoral and I think if we were treated right in the beginning, we'd be able to beat this.
My worry on the Vitamin D thing is silly - but I figure if in order to go for 'the cure' it turns out my body does need a lot of D to heal - it'll be a lot easier to add a bunch in later from zero, so to speak, then to try to get it out later if Marshall is correct. Does that make sense? It just seems making the wrong decision now could really put me behind later - so here I sit - doing nothing about D.
:-)
Pip
I have also been found to be "profoundly deficient" in vitamin D. My doctor has me on 50000IU of D weekly for 8 weeks to bring my levels back up. My level was <7! He told me 32-100 is considered normal.
I'm absolutely convinced with all that I have read since discovering my deficiency, that it is indeed a factor in my contracting this disease. I am on my 2nd week of my D megadose supplement, and am anxious to see how bringing it up to normal will affect my overall health in the near future.
In trying to sort this D stuff out, I've settled on this: D deficiency can cause problems that mimic or exacerbate RA symptoms, but doesn't cause RA. I would never, ever supplement D, unless testing showed a deficiency. It is one that builds up; you don't sweat or pee out any excess from my understanding.
Hubby's GP had a patient in and out of hosps. every three weeks for five years and could no longer get treatment because they thought she was crazy (she had actually moved to a new state, to find a dr.!). He asked her if she would see a pysch. if he told her to. She said yes. He said, okay let's check you D levels first. They were low and he treated her and she is fine now.
Hubby's D came back low, a mystery since he drinks more milk and gets more sun running than the rest of us put together. But, GP put him on D and, also interesting, hubby is on Benicar for HBP (part of MP, where they avoid D). The first week, he felt awful!!! He had so much soreness, he said he was going to stop the D. But he stuck with it, and it doesn't bother him anymore. He can't tell a difference now, before or after D.
My vitamin D levels are also extremely low and a few months ago my dr. put me on megadoses of vitamin D and I had the worse flares I have had in a long time. I read in an American book on RA that milk exacerbate RA because of the added vitamin D in milk in USA. I dont know how accurate that is but I am on monthly tabs of vit. D and get a lot of pain for a few days afterwards - maybe coincidence but think it connects with the vit. D supplementing. My dr. said I should spend lots of time in the sun minus sunblock as the risk of bowel cancer with low vit. D outweighs the risk of skin cancer.[QUOTE=Cassandra]My vitamin D levels are also extremely low and a few months ago my dr. put me on megadoses of vitamin D and I had the worse flares I have had in a long time. I read in an American book on RA that milk exacerbate RA because of the added vitamin D in milk in USA. I dont know how accurate that is but I am on monthly tabs of vit. D and get a lot of pain for a few days afterwards - maybe coincidence but think it connects with the vit. D supplementing. My dr. said I should spend lots of time in the sun minus sunblock as the risk of bowel cancer with low vit. D outweighs the risk of skin cancer.[/QUOTE]
Interesting! How old is that book that you read, Cassie? Because I believe, according to what my GP tells me, that this link between D deficiency and autoimmune diseases is relatively recent. He also told me that since Vit D basically helps the body to metabolize calcium, that it is sometimes necessary to take calcium supplements along with the D. I'm on my 2nd week of megadose D and have had no unusual pains since I started it.
Hi All, The only thing I can add to the discussion is that my sister in law comes from Spain and she says that in Spain you hardly ever hear of anyone having RA. OK, this is word of mouth, and can be due to a multitude of factors, but I would love to see some serious statistics comparing RA rates from countries that get a lot of sunshine with countries that do not. Because of what I've read about the Vit D, I'm inclined to think that there's something in what she says about Spain.The Inuit don't get RA? Seriously?
Pip
Hi, I have been taking calcium for osteopeania for years but was told to start on the vitamin d as it help the calcium to absorb into the bones. The book I read on vit D and bone pain is around 1 - 2 years old I think and was published by the Seventh Day Adventists who do a lot of research into the nutritional link to disease. It may be a coincidence the increase in bone pain I experienced but I am due to take another of my monthly doses soon so will see what happens then.Darn, Anna, I was hoping for a group somebody somewhere would be interested in studying.
:-)
Pip
I never thought about vitamins before and what they were made of until i got sick.
To know that most are man made, not a real vitamin worries me very much. We aren't actually getting what we need, but rather getting more toxicity in our systems from man made chemicals.
I would do my best to get all the natural vitamins if possible.
Had to take my daughter to a lab in the same building as hubby's GP today. They were talking about different drs., and I said hubby went to one there. They said they liked him, and that several of their phlebotomists used him. I said I heard he tested a lot for D, and that he had put hubby on D.
They laughed. They said he is "wearing it out" on the D testing, sending every patient in for it. They said they call him "Dr. D" now.