Saturday, October 20, 2007

(36) Bonus Report on Vitamin D

Of course this isn't a travel report, but just something I wanted to share along the way.

Joint Pain, Back Pain.

The miracle of Vitamin D3

I thought I’d share this story about my own experience with aches and pains and the solution that’s worked for me. For a number of years, I have had a fair amount of back pain. Usually occurring if I sit in the wrong position for too long and especially after a nights sleep. I would usually wake up in the morning and had to get out of bed because my back hurt so much. I was even beginning to have pain in my legs at night as well.

Then about a year ago, while traveling on the road, my right arm really started to give me a lot of pain. Especially in the shoulder socket, my elbow joint and then finally my wrist. It was getting so bad, I couldn’t even lay on my right arm at night which I usually did. While driving, I’d have to rest my arm on the arm rest and try not to move it. The pain was almost constant.
I was heading towards my sisters home in lower Mich. And planned on asking her if she could get an appointment with her doctor for me. It was getting that bad.

By chance, one evening I watched a news article on TV with a doctor talking about the benefits of vitamin D. He mentioned first that over 80% of his patients were found to be deficient in vitamin D. Causing weak bones, loss of muscle and tissue, all leading to more aches and pains.

Obviously a light bulb started to blink in my brain. He mentioned that he was recommending that most of his adult patients take as much as 4,000 IU of vitamin D a day. Now we all know that calcium helps build bones and that it quite often comes with a smaller dose of vitamin D which works in conjunction with calcium. But unfortunately the dosage of vitamin D just isn’t enough if your deficient.

Since I had a couple of weeks before getting to my sisters house, I decided to go out and get a bottle of vitamin D and began to take 2,000 IU a day. Trying to be cautious, I didn’t feel comfortable taking 4,000 IU that the doctor had recommended for his patients. It is now believed that an adult can easily take up to 10,000 IU’s per day.

Well, within about a week to two weeks, I really began to feel a difference. After taking the 2,000 IU’s of vitamin D for about two months, my arm was completely healed. The relief from the pain in my joints was a God send.

I dropped down to taking 1,000 IU of vitamin D and continue to take it today. About a year later, I was talking to my other sister and it dawned on me that not only had it healed my joints in my arm, but that my back pain had finally eased to such a point that I was now able to lay in bed in the morning and enjoy a couple minutes more of pain free luxurious rest before stretching and getting out of bed. Completely pain free! Except for an occasional lower back pain after a full day of walking or touring, I never even think about my back anymore.

Needless to say, I practically feel like I have a new body. During this past year or two I have also started to take a multi-vitamin which I’m sure has helped to balance any vitamin deficiencies I may have had and could have contributed to my overall well-being.

I’ve done a bit further research and it’s recommended that one take Vitamin D3 which is a natural form of vitamin D that will be absorbed by the body much more readily. It’s odd that a search on vitamin D will list the many benefits including reducing the risk of cancer and MS, but rarely brings up the benefit of regeneration of muscle, bone and joints. That, I think is the best of all benefits.

Please do your own research as well. I’ve never had such a direct and positive benefit from taking any vitamin or nutritional supplement. I’m not an expert and have little knowledge about the benefits of other vitamins and supplements. However, this was my direct experience and I felt if important to share it with you. I hope it may help you or a friend if you find your in the same situation.

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