Vitamin D almost a hormone

[jacksfullofaces]

Vitamin D can play a big role in causing symptoms especially in cooler climates where the sun tends to be elusive. It can affect mood, bones and general well being. It is often available in D3 form and Lamberts are a good brand. Personally I'm not a fan of mega doses of vitamins and use 1000 IU translated as 25 mcg. It is especially important during the winter and helps if you suffer from SAD.It is considered almost a hormone by some doctors
Jacks

[Poppy]

I've been interested in this for some time Jacks

www.womentowomen.com/healthynutrition/vitamind.aspx

Recently asked GP about being tested for Vit D levels.
Needless to say, he was not keen & said that local hospital doesn't do full Vit D testing.

Suspect it's another cost issue, particularly for D3.

xx

[Robyn]

I guess that's where we're lucky here in Oz. Not because of the sunshine (ironically that means most Aussies are Vit D deficient), but we can get regular blood tests for Vit D, cholesterol etc done for free.

I am Vit D deficient and have to take daily supplements which, like I said, is actually very common even here in Australia where you would assume we have plenty of sunshine, but that's the problem. For the last 20-30 years we've had it drummed into us that the sun is bad because of cancer, so most of us avoid the sun or we slather on sunblock which impedes the absorption of all the good stuff from the sun.

[stumpy]

oooo this is really interesting.

Be good if NHS did the test though.

Stumpy xx

[Robyn]

Doctors usually say you should take magnesium and D3 with calcium, but not the other way around, ie if you take D3 supplements they don't usually say you should also take calcium, if that makes sense. Of course women of a certain age are always being told that they should take calcium, but I don't because basically most of the supplements you buy are fairly useless. The D3 that I buy is just Vit D3 with nothing added.

I stopped taking calcium because I had a very painful tail bone for about 2 years, which a naturopath said was due to calcification. I'm not sure if she was right or not, but ironically when I drastically reduced the calcium supplements I was taking my tail bone pain got a lot better. It's not 100% better, but I would say it's about 80% better. So I think it could have been directly attributed to all the calcium I was taking that my body basically didn't know what to do with, so just decided to store it on my bum. I have also suffered a lot with calcification in my shoulders, and that is strangely a lot better these days too.