Vitamin D deficiency, seasonal

I just saw a TV doctor (GP) say that 50% of adults are deficient in Vitamin D in the autumn winter.
As this is thought to be one of our problems....hmmm
Might explain my awful autumn and winter.

P

Vit. D deficiency is quite common--especially for anyone that lives in the northern climates or a cloudy area--like the Great Lakes in the U.S.

It can be easily tested, and one of the most common ways to boost Vit. D. is to take 50,000IU per week of ergocalcifen. Calcium too is important to absorb Vit. D into the system.

I have Vit. D. deficiency and my levels were quite low. Getting past the lower limits to get levels into normal range takes a while.

I don't think it's a smoking gun for migraines, but it may aggrevate some aches and pains (joints).

Yeah, and especially now with all this hype that goes for more than 20 years about avoiding sun at all cost.
Now the drs advise going back to suntan except in the afternoon hours when the sun is at its strongest.

Risa

My worst problems are in September and February. That's when my migraines peak.

In my case, vitamin D levels might explain the February ones, but not the September. In September my vitamin D levels are probably at a peak. They build up all summer and persist for a long time after you build them up.

Low vitamin D has also been suggested for multiple sclerosis and might be one explanation as to why MS is more common the further north you go.

In England doctors are warning rickets is back in children.
Everyone has been hiding from the sun.
Mind you over here you have to find it first....

on the local news last year it showed a report about children and women from other countries where it is hot, who have come to live in the UK getting ricketts and vit D deficiency, as their clothing keeps them covered from head to foot apart from their face, thus blocking out all sunlight all year round,

And lets be honest theresa, we dont get enough sunshine to be avoiding it.
My daughter in law wont let a bit of sun touch our grand daughters skin.
My dad used to put me in the sun for a few minutes each day, bring me in and cover arms legs head etc.
He lengthened it each day. He was a champion swimmer and used to dealing with the sun.
I did the same with my kids....moderation I think.

Wait, what? Why are we avoiding the sun all of the sudden?

I'm down for sunscreen to avoid skin cancer and all of that but isn't being in the sun healthy? I mean yeah sure, I could use more since I'm photophobic all the time with my m's but still, I have been exposing my daughter to the sunshine since she was born (obviously not enough to get her burned) because it is supposed to be good for ya! She's doing just fine and never had a burn. My mom did the same for me and I'm great too besides my head.

To my mind you are doing exactly the right thing.
But because of all the global warming scam, and people abusing sunbeds and getting skin cancer, it seems we are not getting enough.
We need vitamin D to get through the eyes to the Pineal gland.
I find this difficult because of the photophobia, but I do my best when its sunny but not too bright.
We were given the sun for a reason and I dont believe it is to avoid it at all costs or worship it.
You are doing just fine.

And how much is too much? I don't have the answer to that. However, I do have painful experiences with melanoma so I am perhaps overly concerned. A boss I liked very much died at 42 from too much sun exposure resulting in melanoma. Another person close to me caught his melanoma just before it started to metastasize. Make of this what you will, They both had very fair skin, red hair, and loved to bake in the sun.

Pen, I see that you say global warming is a scam. Care to elaborate? I'm not picking a fight. I don't care to argue one way or the other. I'm just curious about what you think and why.

Chris

Chris.
I do believe in climate change, but have lived a few too many years not to realise these changes occur regardless of what we do. When I was in school, we were taught another ice age was coming. Given the lousy summers and bad winters we are getting here, I could believe it.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that no real credence has been given to the "other" argument.
In our national papers this last week there have been 2 admissions of some of the "proof" being almost Chinese whispers.
Today there is a plea from one of our top scientists to let the other side be heard. It is slowly unraveling.

IF we are doing untold damage to the planet, I want to know.But I am sick of "us" being blamed all the time. My car isn't doing it. Cars are cleaner than they have ever been. If its for real we all need to really pull together, and I dont see that happening.
We have people being fined for putting the wrong stuff in the wrong garbage bin.....yet the companies and supermarkets are filling up the landfills....

I just smell a rat Chris. The meeting in Copenhagen was the last straw. Millions of pound on it, large parties of people where one or two would have done. Huge expense and damage to the very thing they were there to consider. And for what, as we say here "nowt".

Scam was perhaps the wrong word, but I think there is a lot we are not being told, and usually there is politics and money embroiled in these things.

Please know this is just the opinion of myself and my family. I am not saying I am right. I still have an open mind, but something so potentially important deserves honesty and I dont feel we are getting it.
I dont wish to start a controversy on here either. Just answering and explaining.

I agree with you Pen. Won't all the people screaming Global Warming be shocked when the next Ice Age hits?

Geology shows that there is often a warm spell just before the Ice Age starts. Evidence is from pollen and such things found in ice cores taken in Greenland, Antartica, and other places.

But since Global Warming is the only Politically Correct view, the other is hushed up. Recently (the last several hundred years), the Earth has been experiencing an unusually temperate cycle; but the more extreme norms (both, hotter and colder) will be returning, no matter what humans do. But, the Politically Correct view is that this unusually temperate cycle is the norm (and must never change), when that is not the case.

The vitamin D issue IS confusing. We need to be out in the sun to produce adequate amounts of vitamin D; yet being out in the sun leads to skin cancer, which can also be brought on by vitamin D defiicency. We are also told to reduce our levels of cholesterol; yet our bodies produce Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D) by the action of sun on the choleserol in our skin.

The safest form of vitamin D to supplement with is Cholecalciferol, the synthetic form Ecalciferol is more toxic, so must be used at lower doseges.

Thank you for adding that. More eloquent than I could do right now.