Report: Vitamin D Insufficiency is Prevalent in Severe COVID-19

Martina1991

speckle wrote: »

Hse have rules on who should be tested... I had asked before to no avail. The Hse think everyone has low levels here, but they forget that some people may have even lower levels and not be older.
Hopefully this will change and the same with vit B12 levels

https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/cspd/ncps/pathology/resources/national%20laboratory%20handbook.html

This is the HSE national laboratory handbook. It provides clinical guidance for who should be tested and when.

It is not recommended to test asymptomatic healthy people for Vitamin D as a screening test because it is a waste of resources.

leahyl

Do you have to ask your doctor before you start taking vitamin D if you are on medication - for example blood pressure; or is just ok to take it cos it’s a vitamin?

ShineOn7

leahyl wrote: »

Do you have to ask your doctor before you start taking vitamin D if you are on medication - for example blood pressure; or is just ok to take it cos it’s a vitamin?

Could be worth giving them a call just in case

There's Vitamin D home test kits you can take too

speckle

Martina1991 wrote: »

https://www.hse.ie/eng/about/who/cspd/ncps/pathology/resources/national%20laboratory%20handbook.html

This is the HSE national laboratory handbook. It provides clinical guidance for who should be tested and when.

It is not recommended to test asymptomatic healthy people for Vitamin D as a screening test because it is a waste of resources.

Yes that is the one I read and my GP was working off, yet it doe not account for us who are younger and may have extremely low vit d. without the normal warning signs.
I understand that the HSE doesn't want to be overloaded with testing everyone, but if my GP hadn't have pushed for both it and my B12 to be checked at my insistence, I could have ended up in a very bad place health wise.


'Studies in Ireland have indicated that the year-round prevalence rates for serum 25(OH) D concentrations in 1132 healthy Irish adults below 30, 40, 50, and 75 nmol/L were 6.7%, 21.9%, 40.1% and 75.6% respectively'


I as a younger person would not have fallen into any of the categories for testing, when I was tested and yet I had the most extremely low level below 10.

Bodie Damp Treasurer

Bodie Damp Treasurer wrote: »

Complimentary to this are obesity factors, figures across the Ire & uk show there are plenty 'o fatties. Ire: 37% are overweight and a further 23% 'obese'. A recent average put it at 25% obese, with Swedes just 20%.

I wasn't talking about Sweden though, they have high covid rates.
Over 50% of the Finnish population are overweight, didn't check but I'd say Norway are much the same.

wellwhynot

speckle wrote: »

well I know everyone is different at absorbing, but aprox aprill 2 years ago my level was under 10.
Now up to 55. yipee
At the very low level I was getting too many chest infections etc
Now I get checked about every 6month.
Hse have rules on who should be tested... I had asked before to no avail. The Hse think everyone has low levels here, but they forget that some people may have even lower levels and not be older.
Hopefully this will change and the same with vit B12 levels

Can I ask where you get tested? Is it a blood test via your GP?

GooglePlus

It's proven that Vitamin D does wonders for the immune system and that's not just the cold and flu immune system we've been brought up to know. It is a major force in fighting aging and DNA damage, which is the building block to all cancers.

Get your Vitamin D in!

leahyl

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Could be worth giving them a call just in case

There's Vitamin D home test kits you can take too

Cheers, it’s actually for my parents, I want them to start taking it, if they can. I’ve been taking vitamin d for a few years myself.

byhookorbycrook

You can develop toxicity on relatively low levels of Vit D . Just because it’s a vitamin , you can’t presume large doses are safe . Get the blood test done and talk to your gp.

GooglePlus

leahyl wrote: »

Do you have to ask your doctor before you start taking vitamin D if you are on medication - for example blood pressure; or is just ok to take it cos it’s a vitamin?

It's actually a hormone that is very hard to build a toxic body amount to. It will take a strain off your heart as it drives immune responses to several inflammatory ailments, all of which strain the heart and increase BP.

Go to the doctor anyway to get blood work and do this as regular as they recommend afterwards. Tell them about your Vit D supplementation but don't be worrying about taking it, you'll be far better off if you're deficient.

GooglePlus

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

You can develop toxicity on relatively low levels of Vit D . Just because it’s a vitamin , you can’t presume large doses are safe . Get the blood test done and talk to your gp.

Not true.

Vitamin D toxicity is extremely rare and requires ridiculously high dosage.

Please read up on this before potentially turning people away from something that could save their lives in the long term. I'm not even talking about Covid, I'm talking about heart disease and cancer, both of which Vitamin D help our body's natural response.

The majority of all tested subjects are deficient in vitamin D!

speckle

wellwhynot wrote: »

Can I ask where you get tested? Is it a blood test via your GP?

Yes, as noted via the guidelines, I probably would not fall into one of the categories for testing, but a good diagnostic GP, will know when to push for his patient against guidelines. So, probably not needed for everyone.Others here have mentioned other testing options outside the HSE/GP system, as laboratories are overloaded and underfunded



Another example regarding of medics pushing against the system here, is the first instance of recorded community transmission of covid. If the doctors involved down in Cork had not insisted against HSE guidelines at the time, and advocated for their patient for testing for covid, community transmission would have increased rather than being caught early, that led to a change in the testing requirements. And saved lives. Tragically, not the person themselves.

GooglePlus

bubblypop wrote: »

If insufficient vitamin D was a factor in contracting covid, then surely countries with people who have low vitamin D should be high in covid?

And yet they are not, Norway & Finland have low cases of covid, & their citizens suffer from low vitamin D.

Just to touch on this, us folk so north of the equator have skin adapted to take in more Vitamin D. Pale skin will take in more Vitamin D from the sun but it still isn't enough, as most of us aren't getting enough of it anyway.

If you're a person from a region closer to the equator living in Sweden, you would obtain less vitamin D from the sun than a Swedish national.

Martina1991

speckle wrote:

Others here have mentioned other testing options outside the HSE/GP system, as laboratories are overloaded and underfunded

I wouldnt recommend those self or home tests for anything. They're often quite expensive and sold/promoted by companies that also sell supplements.

Their testing methods and laboratories also may not be accredited to national standards like HSE laboratories.

speckle

Martina1991 wrote: »

I wouldnt recommend those self or home tests for anything. They're often quite expensive and sold/promoted by companies that also sell supplements.

Their testing methods and laboratories also may not be accredited to national standards like HSE laboratories.

I would have definitely agreed with that answer 5 years ago, which is why I pushed for a HSE/lab test for so long, but recently some/not all of the home tests kits are made by reputable companies, so for me it is do your research, talk to your GP and buyer beware. Try get your sunshine first, eat well, get good sleep and de-stress, but also trust your instincts when the above fails/or you have unexplained bodily warning signs and talk to your GP or practice nurse.

ShineOn7

Sitting out in the sunshine today I remembered reading in this thread that:

Ireland and other EU countries has sunshine that produces very little to no Vitamin D from September to March

So during these months the supplements are essential

Away With The Fairies

ShineOn7 wrote: »

Sitting out in the sunshine today I remembered reading in this thread that:

Ireland and other EU countries has sunshine that produces very little to no Vitamin D from September to March

So during these months the supplements are essential

I posted here last week about a liquid multivitamin that I like, source of life - gold. I'm back taking it since last Sunday, I already feel my energy being up something I never get with tablet form of a multivitamin. So hoping it works on vitamin D as well.

odyssey06

100 mls of Avonmore Slimline Milk has 20% of recommended daily intake of Vitamin D (as D3).
There are similar own brand fortified milks available.

Reckon that'll be a fixture on my shopping list.

mvl

Said I'd mention it here in case gives some ideas to others: my sis while pregnant was doing frequent blood work (she lives in DE) and so realized that even if she was getting the vitamin D spray form in high dosage, her D levels were decreasing from month to month.

When discussing with her OB about it, explaining what type of vitamin D she is taking, she was told to switch the vitamin type to some oily ones that contain fat, as vitamin D needs fat to be absorbed.

So ... I am suggesting you ask your GPs about this too (and would also question if low fat milk with vitamin D is a good idea)
(only found this link on the subject - very rushed search though)

ShineOn7

mvl wrote: »

When discussing with her OB about it, explaining what type of vitamin D she is taking, she was told to switch the vitamin type to some oily ones that contain fat, as vitamin D needs fat to be absorbed.

Supplements wise, my research has found that Zinc absorbs it

It's why many Vitamin D supplements come with added Zinc

fits

When I lived in Finland I took vitD.
Everybody takes it there. It’s really difficult to get enough from diet. Just got ourselves some Solgar and drops for the kids.

Wanderer78

fits wrote:

When I lived in Finland I took vitD. Everybody takes it there. It’s really difficult to get enough from diet. Just got ourselves some Solgar and drops for the kids.

Does it really work, I've been recommended it?

fits

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Does it really work, I've been recommended it?

I’m not sure. I was pretty healthy over there - got bad flu once. I plan on continuing to take it for winter months here anyway.

is_that_so

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Does it really work, I've been recommended it?

It's not going to do you too much harm especially in the winter, that and a reasonably decent diet should be the aim.

amandstu

Is there any point getting tested for this.?

If we can assume that we are all slightly/moderately/ quite deficient in VitD over the winter and it needs a large overdose to be harmful ,shouldn't we all take a supplement even if it turns out it was not necessary?

But will the stocks be depleted if everyone does this?

The figures showing how it helps (came out or were reported a couple of days ago) seemed very significant to me.

ShineOn7

Yikes! @ these rising and scary figures

I think I'll double my daily dose from 2,000 to 4,000 IU

ShineOn7

amandstu wrote: »

But will the stocks be depleted if everyone does this?

As in stock supply of Vitamin D running scarce?

I doubt it will, it's so cheap to produce and there's so many options out there for it

SouthWesterly

The carrier oil is as important as the vitamin.
I take 5000 iu per day.

ShineOn7

SouthWesterly wrote: »

The carrier oil

The what now?

SouthWesterly

ShineOn7 wrote: »

The what now?

There are different base oils in which the vitamin sits