OK, let's talk vitamin D. I'm completely confussed about this topic. During the Dr. appointment a few weeks ago, where I was diagnosed with Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease and borderline Lupus, I was also told that I have a vitamin D deficiency and that I should take a supplement. Of course I ran out and bought some and have been taking it when I can remember which is not everyday. You are supposed to take it with food and I rarely remember to take it. I'm lucky if I can remember my last name most days!
Anyways I remember coming home and googling vitamin D deficiency and autoimmune diseases after that appointment and finding that it is actuallly very common to be deficient in vitamin D if you have an autoimmune disease. Basically the thought was that in our culture we use so much sunscreen that we don't get enough exposure to the sun, and therefore many of us are deficient. vitamin D deficiency is on the rise. The research was all the same, that low levels of vitamin D can trigger and make autoimmune diseases worse. So ok, I need to be in the sun, without sunscreen to get vitamin D. But that is a big no-no with Lupus. So I guess the only alternative is the supplement. I remember thinking if so many people with autoimmune disease are deficient in vitamin D, maybe the autoimmune disease is the cause, not the symptom.
Well it seems my hunch may be correct. Last night I came across an article in Science Daily with this title:
Low Levels Of Vitamin D In Patients With Autoimmune Disease May Be Result, Not Cause, Of The Disease
ScienceDaily (Apr. 16, 2009) — Deficiency in vitamin D has been widely regarded as contributing to autoimmune disease, but a review appearing in Autoimmunity Reviews explains that low levels of vitamin D in patients with autoimmune disease may be a result rather than a cause of disease and that supplementing with vitamin D may actually exacerbate autoimmune disease.
you can read the rest of this article here
so hmmmm. now what do I do? I don't know a whole lot about the risks of living with a vitamin D deficiency but I do know that it is associated with a higher rate of cancer. But supplementing
with it will make my autoimmune disease worse in the long run. Is this my choice? Risk cancer or worsen the autoimmune disease? That's just great. And even if I do choose to take the supplement, will it work? I know a girl that has seriously low vitamin D levels and she has been supplementing with the highest dose possible, and yet her levels have continued to drop.
with it will make my autoimmune disease worse in the long run. Is this my choice? Risk cancer or worsen the autoimmune disease? That's just great. And even if I do choose to take the supplement, will it work? I know a girl that has seriously low vitamin D levels and she has been supplementing with the highest dose possible, and yet her levels have continued to drop.
My gut tells me that I should take the supplement because I can live with autoimmune disease but cancer is a much scarrier diagnosis that I don't wish to tango with. Anyways, I guess I'll bring that article with me to my next rheumotology appointment in 3 weeks and see what the Dr. has to say. Maybe I shouldn't worry about it so much, since even if I decide to take it I'll most likely forget to take it most days. Ah what a life I live.
