Vitamin D - Mainstream, evidence-based, good info

SpecialK

Were you in Tampa, FL back then too?

The info on prognosis for those with low vitamin D at time of diagosis, if true, was interesting. I do remember taking an awful lot of pills when doing chemo. But I was wondering why they would not get a jump ahead on it and test right away at time of diagnosis and then supplement through surgery at least until other treatment was chosen and started.

A.A.

Of course there is also concern with sun exposure about melanoma, and maybe more so as the atmosphere changes due to the ozone, and all that to consider. Figuring out the best balance of exposure to sunlight is better than just slathering on protective cream (that can contain parabens or other substances). BUT....

Some time ago I read a bit about a female researcher who was studying the effects of sunlight that enters through the eyes. I think she may have been Australian and she was trying to figure out whether a particlar color of the light and wavelength was especially beneficial so that people would know the actual importance of not only taking supplemental vitamin D but the importance of exposure to sunlight through the eyes. I have looked since then to try to find her name, or the information, but I've lost track of it.

Here is an interesting commentary about the phenomenon, and the research on it done by another individual:

http://www.second-opinions.co.uk/full_spectrum_sunlight.html

"Ott discusses experiments which showed that sunlight absorbed through the eyes had dramatic effects on the pineal gland. It is these which are of the greatest significance as far as cancer is concerned."

"In an interview published in 1991, he noted: "There are neurochemical channels from the retina to the pineal and pituitary glands, the master glands of the whole endocrine system that controls the production and release of hormones. This regulates your body chemistry and its growth, all organs of your body, including your brain, and how they function"."

P.S. A main hormone that is regulated by this is melatonin -- which affects both skin pigmentation and sleep cycle -- and there is more research being done that indicates that one's melatonin production may be protective against cancer.

I was diagnosed in December, biopsied in early January, and began chemo in March. There are studies that show that the time of year when one is diagnosed may affect the prognosis. At that time I had no info about any of this, but from the start I got out on our porch in my swimsuit even when it was cold and sunny. I deliberately kept my eyes open as much as possible.

Vitamin D is pretty easy to apply and it doesn't require a prescription and it isn't expensive. Don't go overboard with it, but if you are sure that was the reading, that is REALLY low.

AlaskaAngel

Unless one lives in a place where money is really tight, there seems to be a psychological bias by the more elite and formally educated and specialized, that favors the expensive synthetic types of treatment at time of crisis over the basic essential health maintenance tasks of adequate minerals, vitamins, exercise, etc. Patients can also tend to buy into it because they assume that the "doctor" is paying attention to all of their health needs and would tell them to stay focused on those needs too, when in reality specialists are narrowly focused a lot of the time on the mysteries of the one particular problem they are helping with. They don't stay aware that the lack of emphasis on some of the basic health maintenance can ruin all the spendy treatments they are so jazzed about.

And it is also true that there is a lot more glory for doctors in providing exciting potentially blockbuster drugs than there is in the day-to-day reminders to people (who often ignore the reminders anyway). There are some patients, too, who are so sold on the latest and greatest chemotherapy that they block out a lot of the importance of simpler therapies and put most of their eggs in the basket of toxic chemistry, even though it is known that certain patients get little to no benefit from those therapies.

A.A.