Posted on 02/27/2020 6:29:44 AM PST by blam
In April 2005, a virulent strain of influenza hit a maximum-security forensic psychiatric hospital for men that’s midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles. John J. Cannell, a psychiatrist there, observed with increasing curiosity as one infected ward after another was quarantined to limit the outbreak. Although 10 percent of the facility’s 1,200 patients ultimately developed the flu’s fever and debilitating muscle aches, none did in the ward that he supervised.
WINTER WOES. Cold-weather wear and the sun’s angle in the winter sky limit how much ultraviolet light reaches the skin. This can add up to a deficiency in production of vitamin D, which might explain why respiratory infections are common and severe in winter.
“First, the ward below mine was quarantined, then the wards on my right, left, and across the hall,” Cannell recalls. However, although the 32 men on his ward at Atascadero (Calif.) State Hospital had mingled with patients from infected wards before their quarantine, none developed the illness.
Cannell’s ward was the only heavily exposed ward left unaffected. Was it by mere chance, Cannell wondered, that his patients dodged the sickness?
A few months later, Cannell ran across a possible answer in the scientific literature. In the July 2005 FASEB Journal, Adrian F. Gombart of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and his colleagues reported that vitamin D boosts production in white blood cells of one of the antimicrobial compounds that defends the body against germs.
Immediately, Cannell says, the proverbial lightbulb went on in his head: Maybe the high doses of vitamin D that he had been prescribing to virtually all the men on his ward
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
The VA had me taking 50,000IU of Vitamin-D at one time. I quit doing that, after a while, just because I thought it was excessive. My Vitamin-D levels are now with-in the recommended range as determined by blood-tests from my private doctor.
Yes, it is important to take k-2 along with D in order to get calcium to bones and teeth rather than arteries.
Doubled my dosage. Don’t forget to take K2 with it. K2 transports the calcium that D3 collects and moves it from soft tissue to the bones where it belongs.
Also, Zinc.
Is there a brand of zinc that is easy on the tummy?
Many of my posting during the Corona dust ups have suggested that each day we get nature’s low cost and easy way to get Vitamin D.
Go outside without any sunshield and get a minimum of 30 minutes of sunlight a day. You can do it in two 15 minute sun breaks. If you walk during those sun breaks, you get more good results for your body at the same very low cost.
Besides getting vitamin D, nature’s way, you also get a free dose of dopamine to make you feel better about the world and yourself.
I take a 'high-speed' aerobic walk with my dogs each day in the woods. I've been to the same secluded park every day for more than 15 years. Also, I have an appointment Wednesday to have a Basal-cell carcinoma spot removed from my right cheek.(Ahem. The surgeon has assured me that my normal, good-looks will be unaffected)
Good question.
I’m not sure. I just take an OTC zinc supplement with my meal and have no issues.
Good advice. Free Vitamin D and exercise, not to mention a great way to reduce stress.
I’ll just try to take it with food.
Here’s something ‘interesting’ on Vit D ... I’m keeping it handy & will try it if the flu hits our family - btw, this is a “respectable” source, not some blog post ... the clinical experience with it is what means the most to me:
Vitamin D for influenza
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890/
Excerpt (skip to lasts paragraph for clinical experience with this:
I thank Dr Korownyk and colleagues for their interesting review on the neuraminidase inhibitors.1 Having spent some time looking at the reviews on these drugs myself, I agree that they are not very useful and the risk of causing harm is greater than the purported benefit. I no longer use them in my patients. Unfortunately, they are administered facility-wide in nursing homes as a public health measure when there is a reported outbreak of influenzalike illness or influenza. Working in long-term care settings, I have seen some of these patients and staff develop vomiting; some with serious diarrhea (also a known side effect); some with acute confusion, hallucinations, or delirium; and a number with worsening cognitive function. Having patients develop vomiting and diarrhea makes it difficult to know if there is a secondary outbreak in the facility of gastroenteritis. These side effects cause increased work for staff when this happens and are unpleasant for both staff and patients. I would suggest that these medications should no longer be stockpiled or used. This would result in tremendous savings in health care dollars.
On the other hand, it is well known that there is a seasonality to influenza that correlates well with the seasonal drop in vitamin D or 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels.2 Levels of 25(OH)D are quite low in nursing home residents, and supplementation with 2000 IU of vitamin D can bring levels to normal safely in most patients.3 The use of vitamin D as a prophylactic for influenza has shown promise in prevention of illness and reduction of secondary asthma in children.4 In this study there was benefit for influenza A but not influenza B or the common cold. The mechanism of how vitamin D works for influenza A has been described in the literature.5 Interestingly, the 25(OH)D levels identified in the recent Canadian Household Study have shown a drop in the average vitamin D level in Canadians over the past 5 years from about 67.7 nmol/L to 64 nmol/L, with one-third of those surveyed having levels below 50 nmol/L. Levels in the wintertime were considerably lower and would put the Canadian population at risk of a number of medical conditions.
The Institute of Medicine recommendation for adults younger than 70 years of age is 600 IU of vitamin D daily. We are told that this would achieve a level of 50 nmol/L in greater than 97.5% of individuals.6 Regrettably, a statistical error has resulted in erroneous recommendations by the Institute of Medicine leading to this conclusion and it might actually take 8800 IU of vitamin D to achieve this level in 97.5% of the population.7 This is a serious public health blunder.
A colleague of mine and I have introduced vitamin D at doses that have achieved greater than 100 nmol/L in most of our patients for the past number of years, and we now see very few patients in our clinics with the flu or influenzalike illness. In those patients who do have influenza, we have treated them with the vitamin D hammer, as coined by my colleague. This is a 1-time 50 000 IU dose of vitamin D3 or 10 000 IU 3 times daily for 2 to 3 days. The results are dramatic, with complete resolution of symptoms in 48 to 72 hours. One-time doses of vitamin D at this level have been used safely and have never been shown to be toxic.8 We urgently need a study of this intervention. The cost of vitamin D is about a penny for 1000 IU, so this treatment costs less than a dollar.
“I take a ‘high-speed’ aerobic walk with my dogs each day in the woods. I’ve been to the same secluded park every day for more than 15 years. Also, I have an appointment Wednesday to have a Basal-cell carcinoma spot removed from my right cheek.(Ahem. The surgeon has assured me that my normal, good-looks will be unaffected)”
You have been doing both suggestions of Grampa Dave re the walk and sunshine/vitamin D.
About 5-6 years ago, an in law, his in law and 2 very good friends of ours were diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Unfortunately, the inlaw and his in law basically stopped exercising and getting outside and one of our friends did the same. They are now basically wheelchair bound. Their oral medicines don’t work that well and lose any effectiveness in about 6 months.
The other friend’s wife is a PT professor at a good private college with private patient/clients. She gets her husband out of bed every morning for some walking and running and exercises with some of her private patients/clients.
She bought him a kayak so he could continue to fly fish. He is still in great shape. His speaking is impaired but nothing like the other 3. He is still on the basic PD drug he was started on, years ago.
His Parkinson doctors are rxing his life style to their other Parkinson patients.
Just to clarify (after reading my own comment) - my comment about ‘blog post’ was NOT directed at you & what you posted! There is a lot of vitamin/herbal info out on the web ... some good, some not-so-good. The source I listed comes from two doctors (not that docs are right all the time & in fact, modern medicine is dead wrong on a few important things) that have used this on their patients & are reporting the benefits rather than some study on mice, etc., thus the emphasis on clinical experience. ~Q
“Good advice. Free Vitamin D and exercise, not to mention a great way to reduce stress.”
Thanks. The cost is minimal, and the side effects are minimal if you pay attention while walking.
For decades YOUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT told you that daily consumption of more than 400 iu of Vitamin D would kill you.
Most of us spent much of our adult lives with a deficiency as a result. Thanks a lot, Uncle Sam.
Thanks for an excellent posting.
On the other hand, it is well known that there is a seasonality to influenza that correlates well with the seasonal drop in vitamin D or 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels.2 Levels of 25(OH)D are quite low in nursing home residents, and supplementation with 2000 IU of vitamin D can bring levels to normal safely in most patients.”
This is so obvious re how the flus go on rampages in the winter time.
Why, our vitamin D levels drop as we go indoors and don’t get our daily, low cost Vitamin D from the sun.
Yah, GedGov does seem to show signs certain genocidal “fetishes” toward it’s subjects...
Going predominately indoors usually means being in closer contact with other vectors...so that is another reason why infection rates goe up.
OMG I can’t believe I’m reading this. All this make sense. You see many years ago I suffered from severe Agoraphobia (fear of leaving the house). It was getting worse that I was getting nervous in leaving my bedroom. Then one day like I heard a little voice to just walk to the mailbox. So I courage myself and stepped outside to the mailbox and stood there. Then I heard this voice say “look up”. I did and wow I felt the warmth of the sun and I bathed myself in it for a few minutes. I kept doing it every day until my Agoraphobia went away. Amazing what the warmth of the Sun can do. No medications or therapy helped but nature did.
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