Vitamin D was life changing for me, helped my mood, body comp, chronic pain so much, etc. I do agree it may hinder sleep quality or perhaps amount but for me, I actually welcomed this a bit, since otherwise I could just sleep all day.
It would be asy to get into a pointless back and forth over contrast in individual experience and its relative value.
In other words, I'm not looking to debate the value of vitamin D. If you percieve that it works for you in your preferred regimen, why wouldn't you take it?
But that won't change my experience with it, nor my caution in regard to it that is founded on what I know.
In fact, I'd caution anyone over a certain age in regard to regular immunosuppressant supplementation that isn't at least only cyclical.
I find reading and listing anecdotal experience here to be valuable.
I don't find debating supplement use based on anecdotal experience to be valuable. If it is valuable, then I will offer this:
My grandfather, who never smoked a cigarrette in his life but who supplemented with "lung protective" vitamin D for thirty years died of lung cancer. The doctor who (over prescribed) him the vitamin is now dying of prostate cancer. Causative? Who knows? Correlative? In these single subject experiments.
If I had a nickel for every over hyped supplement on this board that I have found to have low to no substantial positive effect, especially over the long term, but had a high risk of side effects (many realized), I might have enough money to buy a bottle of water.
However, that doesn't mean that people with systems who are at differing stages of stress or age will realize the same noticeable side effects.
Depending on who they are, some individuals might come back to write half-manic multi-paragraph reviews (I'm not referring to you) based on a very minor, and I would venture often short lived, positive effect of a supplement. This board attracts those types.
Positive endorsements here are unreliable in terms of supplement value. Mine included. The more detail and the less emotion they provide the better. But positive endorsements are nevertheless unrelaible.
Which is why I find that anecdotes can have cautionary value and instructive value (which is the spirit in which I offer mine), but little value in terms of predictable positive benefit.
Everyone has to try any individual substance on their own, ideally on its own, and whether or not it will work for them seems to be unpredictable.
In this thread are two such detailed descriptions of my separate experiences. Hopefully, they will be instructive for someone.
I certainly affirmed the value of Vitamin D's use, for me, in conjunction with retinyl palmitate earlier in this thread.
Though, my overall experience with Vitamin D remains. Moreover, that experience also happens to parallel what I percieve to be conflicting, inconclusive, and certainly over-hyped research (given the fact that its optimal use isn't conclusive) on Vitamin D.
Vitamin D is necessary. My issue with it is that it tends to be used like a sledge hammer and without the clearly required nuance of prescription that is not limited to Vitamin K.
The conclusions of the below study align with my percieved experience with Vitamin D:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.../pubmed/8137721
1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 and pancreatic beta-cell function: vitamin D receptors, gene expression, and insulin secretion.
in in vitro studies 1,25-(OH)2D3 at concentrations of 10(-10)-10(-7) M was consistently found to inhibit insulin secretion from islets of vitamin D-replete rats
The above study that shows insulin inhibition by Vitamin D is never cited in Vitamin D promotional literature.
What is often paraphrased in a misleading manner are the studies that show that Vitamin D (as a steroid) can help prevent Diabetes Type I. Though, Vitamin D accomplishes this feat specifically through its immunospuppressive action.That last part is always left out of the promotion, or at best "immunosuppression" is replaced with the misleading "immunomodulation". In fact, many steroids have immunosuppressive action.
In contrast, the research on Vitamin A, which is is described by the below quoted article, corroborates my experience in regard to its reversal of Vitamin D's negative effects on sugar metabolism.
https://www.scienced...70613111649.htm
The role of vitamin A in diabetes
A new study suggests that the vitamin improves the insulin producing β-cell´s function.
In order to study the role of the vitamin in cases of diabetes, the researchers worked with insulin cells from mice and non-diabetic and type 2 diabetic donors. By partially blocking the vitamin A receptor and challenging the cells with sugar, they could see that the cells' ability to secrete insulin deteriorated.
"We saw close to a 30 per cent reduction," says Albert Salehi, adding that impaired cell survival and insulin secretion are key causes of type 2 diabetes.
The same tendency could be seen when comparing insulin cells from type 2 diabetic donors. Cells from patients with type 2 diabetes were less capable of insulin secretion compared with cells from people without diabetes.
The researchers also saw that the beta-cells' resistance to inflammation decreases in the absence of vitamin A.
Be careful to take vitamin K, that sleepiness you’re mentioning could well be some issue with calcium regulation.
My opinion is that Vitamin K supplemantion is reckless for the obvious reason. I have some anecdotal experience to back that opinion up. But, again, that experience is most valuable to me. My implied anecdote can only be cautionary to someone else.
As for vitamin A-some others have noted as well-I feel horrible at any dose.
As I noted in post 7, I had a good response to Vitamin A. Its side effect was relieved by taking it in a 5:1 ratio with Vitamin D. Also, again, not looking for a debate. What I'm looking to do is post my experience. If you think that posting a detailed account of your experience is valuable, and it is pertinent to the thread topic, then we would likely all benefit. I'm just not keying into the value of posting a brief version of it as a response to my experience.
It’s good for an immediate increase in weird emotional symptoms for me, and some bone pain/joint clicking. This is because preformed Vitamin A is unregulated by the body, it just goes straight into the bloodstream and starts to do its thing. I do much better on beta carotene, whose conversion is limited.
I don't get those symptoms, and in contrast with your experience realize no noticecable positive effect (prophylactic or otherwise) from carotenoids at any dose and over an relatively long period of time. Retinyl Palmitate does provide that, in contrast. Eating liver products seems to as well, but in a much gentler fashion. I will provide my recent experience later below.
Edited by golgi1, 24 February 2020 - 06:16 AM.
