Posted on 04/16/2010 11:15:56 AM PDT by luckystarmom
I need some help and I thought freepers could help.
My daughter has low vitamin d due to anti-seizure medication she is taking.
We are giving her 4000 IU of D3 every, but her levels have only gone from 19-24 (under 30 is deficient), and we've been supplementing for over a year.
Our pediatrician is not sure what to do.
My daughter is also symptomatic of low Vitamin D. This past year she has gotten lots of colds, her allergies are worse, and her problems with asthma are significantly worse.
I know there have been lots of posts about problems with low levels of vitamin D on free republic, and I thought maybe some of you might have some suggestions on ways to bring up her levels.
We live in San Jose, California, and it has been raining a ton, so getting out in the sun is not an option currently.
Any suggestions for what to do would be appreciated.
Direct sunshine, it’s not bad for you, lack thereof is the reason for low Vitamin D and even skin cancer, that’s right. Do not use a suntan salon unless you want her to get skin cancer. Again, Direct Sunshine !!
You may have to insist on this as many doctors tend to resist the possibility of celiac disease. If it is celiac disease, then the exclusion of wheat and other sources of gluten will make for a major improvement in your daughter's health. Consultation with a nutritionist and the use of supplements will be helpful.
(2) Give your daughter vitamin D3 in the dry form. This is more readily absorbed when the intestinal system is damaged by a malabsorption disorder.
As others have said, you need to supplement at higher doses for a while.
Magnesium can help with asthma. Make sure you get a high-quality type (not oxide). Quercetin can help with pollen allergies. Good luck!
I read-up about sunlight for this post. Was surprised to find that 5-10 minutes of sun exposure for just 2-3 times per week can elevate Vitamin D levels. Perhaps your daughter’s problem is absorption-related.. Due to other medications which can interfere.
Sorry to hear about your little one. It’s so hard when they’re sick all the time isn’t it. Our 11 month old had a febrile seizure recently from a fever and while I know they are “harmless” I still shake remembering it.
I don’t know how much help I can be. My first suggestion was going to be sun, but obviously rainy/cloudy days makes that difficult.
The next thing I would try would be to load up her diet with fortified foods - milks, cheeses, cereal bars, oj, etc. Anything and everything you can find with Vitamin D.
Foods that are naturally high in Vitamin D:
Salmon
Catfish
Some canned tunas
Egg yolk (my girls hate the yolk, but maybe egg salad would work)
As I write this it seems to me that what you need is advice on increasing the absorption of the Vit D. I know that Vit D helps us absorb calcium, but are there things that help us absorb Vit D? Or is it possible there’s an underlying condition (in addition to the anti-seizure medicine) that is preventing her from absorbing Vit D?
If your far north staying in the sun won’t help unless it’s mid-summer. My doc said I could stand out all day in my skivveys in the winter sun and get 0 vitamin D.
The thing is that her seizures are better, and we can start lowering her seizure medication slowly.
Unfortunately, as long as she is sick, I can’t lower the medication. I need to keep her from getting the dang colds, then start weaning her off the seizure medication.
We’ve already lowed the medication from 225 mg to 150 mg.
In WW II U S Navy Submariners used sun lamps to supplement V D intake.
I take “Bluebonnet” D in oil, softgels from deep sea cold water fish liver oil.
I get it at a NATURE’S OASIS store in Durango.
In oil it reportedly assimilates more effectively.
I’ve read somewhere that 10,000 units is not toxic. I don’t know if that’s true, or not.
There should be a lot on the web.
should also have a lot to offer.
aLSO,
Please check out
Pastor Henry Wright’s:
and particularly his book:
A MORE EXCELLENT WAY.
He has facilitated thousands of folks being healed of many incurable diseases by helping them deal with the roots of such maladies.
Lard.
No, seriously, lard has the second highest vitamin D content of any food (second only to cod liver oil). Best is from free-range pigs. Just substitute it for all or part of your normal cooking oil.
Lard also contains cholesterol, which your body needs to be able to make its own vitamin D.
There’s a stigma associated with lard, so you might need to refer to it as “non-vegetable shortening” :p
I hear you. It’s amazing how fast the lamps work once you figure out that that’s what’s wrong with you...
“that’s what’s wrong with you...”
Why does everyone say that to me? :)
sun bathing creates huge amounts of Vitamin D
Also Calcium. Vit E is the master vit, where as zinc is the master mineral...per Earl Mendell author of the Vit. Bible.
My kids and I were prescribed 50,000 IU of vitamin D. My doctor told me that he had one patient who required 100,000 IU of vit D for three months to get her levels up.
My kids and I take 5,000 IU of vitamin D from October through April, then we sunbathe for 30 minutes a day.
I know that a lot of people hate sunbathing, but it’s the only way my family can stay healthy.
Last year I only went out twice. I just didn’t do it. Last winter I was sicker than I’d been in years. The oral just wasn’t enough. I’m still trying to recover from a surgery I had in January. Very slow healing.
From mid-April (right now) until it’s just too cold, we get out on every sunny day that we can, for as long as we can stand it. (It gets hot in Texas!)
It took us two years to figure all this out.
I get my vitamin D from lots of Hagen Dazs Chocolate Frappes.
lots.....
yummy
Besides awesome frappes a lot of sunlight might help your daughter.
she needs to be on magnesium. get a good, absorbable kind like magnesium malate and she should take AT LEAST 450mg but double that is okay.
That’s what will make the D3 efficient.
I'm sorry! That was 50,000 IU a *WEEK*. And that is prescription ONLY.
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