vitamin d

[humming4u]

hi, okay guys i'm doing this the lazy way, and instead of looking this up i'm going to ask you wise ones:)
IS a vitamin D deficiency commom place in MS, i'm feeling somethings reemembering me about this.had mine tested 5 weeks ago, very low,she said very! hasme on 50000iu a week.at the end of october i get to see my new nero who has a very good rep, so i'm trying to get "my ducks in a row", so to speak and find everything and anything that will help him understand what my bodys been up to for the last three years! is this one? funny, how life changes and suddenly one can be excited about a change that might bring an answer even if its unpleasant, or not a good answer huh? limboland ers,i'm so hoping to find a name, a reason,a titile to my story so to speak! anyway,
thanks anyone who wants to speak up!                                  humming4u

[monotreme]

Thanks Rena.  That was so nice of you to post it for us.  By the way, Craig goes to NYU for EVP battery on the 25th and I will see what I can find for you.

Elaine

[Rena705]

Hi honey...today on our new here in Canada there was a big story about the alarming amount of children that are being diagnosed with MS in comparison to a few years ago.  The research people believe that any children living in the northern hemisphere is at risk of being diagnosed with MS if they are tested for a Vitamin D level and found to be lacking Vitamin D.  It was very upsetting to see how many of these young people are going through what we "older" people are only at such a young age.

The following is something that I copied and pasted from our news program that was aired this evening...

Canadian researchers say they have found new links between low levels of vitamin D in children and an increased risk that they may develop multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Brenda Banwell told an international meeting of MS specialists in Montreal on Friday that low levels of vitamin D in some children may explain why doctors are seeing more kids developing MS in Canada and other parts of the world.

"What we found is the children with the lowest vitamin D levels were far more likely to be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis than were children who had healthier levels of Vitamin D," she told CTV News.

Banwell and a team of scientists measured vitamin D levels from more than 100 children suffering what could be a first attack of MS.

Of those with the highest blood levels of the so-called "sunshine vitamin," only six per cent went on to develop full-blown MS within the next two years. Twenty-seven per cent developed MS among those with the lowest levels of the vitamin.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic disease that attacks the central nervous system. Past studies have linked the disease -- which affects about 55,000 Canadians -- to environmental and genetic factors.

Researchers say low vitamin D levels are epidemic among children, and people without enough vitamin D are at risk for bone problems. Doctors also believe that vitamin D may help keep the immune system functioning normally.

Researchers say too many Canadian children aren't getting enough of the vitamin, which may be obtained naturally from sunshine.

"Children are indoors more they are on computers more, they play outdoors far less, but the consequence is, of course, they are getting little sunlight and little vitamin D," Banwell said.

Researchers are now trying to see if boosting vitamin D levels in kids with MS could help treat the disease and put it into remission. They're also trying to see if vitamin D can prevent the onset of the disease.

Last March, eight-year-old Jordan Klug suddenly became blind in his right eye.

"I couldn't see anything out of the eye. (I was) very scared," he recalled.

Doctors told his mother that the attack may have been the first symptom of multiple sclerosis. Jordan's eyesight has since returned and doctors have put him on vitamin D supplements. They're hoping to prevent the disease from taking hold and stop future neurological attacks.

"We can got to the store and buy vitamin D and it could stop something as bad as MS. That's wonderful," Jordon's mother, Vanessa Taylor, told CTV.ca.

The following is information provided by our resident doc Quix...

There are two main views out there regarding the very common finding of low D3 levels in people with autoimmune diseases and with MS

1)  The low D3 is itself one of the triggering factors in causing disease.  This may be from a genetic dispostion to poor absorption and/or possible inadequate exposure to the UV rations needed to synthesize Vitamin D in the skin.

2) The low measured D3 levels are a secondary effect of another disease process and have nothing to do with taking in or synthesizing too little Vitamin D, but rather over-activity of the most active form of Vitamin D.

I hope that this has been of some help to you...personally I had my Vit. D. level tested by my Rheumatologist and I was found to be low and now take supplements.

Lots of Hugs,
Rena