Introduction
For years, Evelyn suffered from body aches and pains as well as lack of
energy. She consulted several physicians. One specialist gave her the
diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Another physician told her she had Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome. Someone else told her, “It’s all in your head.”
She was told to just live with it.
This advice didn’t satisfy Evelyn. “There has to be a better answer,”
she said to one of her coworkers, who happened to be my patient and had
been on the same dreadful road herself until she consulted me. She told
Evelyn that her body aches, pains and chronic fatigue had vanished after
she finally got the right diagnosis and treatment. Evelyn immediately
made an appointment to see me.
“You’re my last hope, Doc,” Evelyn
said during her visit. I could sense utter frustration in her voice. I
tested her vitamin D level which turned out to be very low. With proper
treatment of vitamin D deficiency, Evelyn was relieved of her symptoms
in just three months.
I see patients like Evelyn every day in my practice. What amazes me is
that physicians run numerous expensive and complicated tests, but don’t
think to order the one simple test that could clinch the diagnosis. Sad!
Here’s the plain truth. Most
physicians don’t have adequate knowledge about vitamin D deficiency and
it’s serious consequences. What little they do know about vitamin D
deficiency is based on outdated and inaccurate data.
My own journey to “enlightenment
about vitamin D” started about ten years ago. I vividly remember the day
at a medical conference in the Boston area when an old professor gave an
amazing talk about vitamin D deficiency. Not only are humans affected,
he brilliantly explained, but even animals can develop vitamin D
deficiency and it’s awful complications. For example, in nature, iguanas
spend most of the day sun bathing. In captivity however, they can
develop severe deficiency of vitamin D and consequently, their back
bones melt away.
This lecture definitely left a mark on me. Like most other doctors, I
was taught that vitamin D deficiency occurs primarily in older folks,
people living in cold, northern areas and patients on kidney dialysis.
However, the professor made it very clear that it is quite prevalent in
young active people, as well.
On my flight home, I kept thinking about it. I wondered, “What about
people living in warm, sunny places like my hometown in southern
I decided to start checking vitamin D levels in my patients. Was I in
for a big surprise! Almost 90% of my patients were low in vitamin D.
Most of my patients are active people. They are often involved in all
sorts of outdoor activities over the weekends. They are proactive in
taking care of their health. They take multivitamins, calcium and
vitamin D. They are not
elderly shut-ins or kidney dialysis patients. And they live in weather
charmed, sunny
I started to give my vitamin D deficient patients a dose of vitamin D
higher than the recommended dose, while closely monitoring them for
vitamin D toxicity. I checked their vitamin D level periodically and
adjusted the dose of vitamin D accordingly. I was surprised to find that
most people required about five to ten times the recommended dose
to achieve a good level of vitamin D.
With proper replacement of vitamin D, I started seeing some amazing
results in my patients. Body aches and pains simply disappeared. People
who were tired all the time and didn’t want to do much made a U-turn.
Now they had plenty of energy to participate in their favorite
activities. Women with osteoporosis did very well. Their bone density
got better and fractures were rare. Diabetics achieved excellent control
of their blood sugars. Diabetics are at particularly high risk for heart
disease, stroke and cancer, but in my patients, these medical
catastrophes were rare occurrences. Patients with thyroid disease felt
much better.
I’m not attributing all these great results simply to vitamin D
replacement because I have developed my own effective strategies in
treating diabetes and thyroid diseases.
However, proper vitamin D replacement has been a significant
factor in achieving these great results.
In the last few years, many researchers have done excellent work in the
field of vitamin D and their findings are in line with my own clinical
experience. The relationship of vitamin D deficiency to bone pains,
osteoporosis, immune disorders, heart disease, high blood pressure,
depression and cancer is well established now. There is also strong
evidence to support that vitamin D deficiency may play a significant
role in the development of diabetes.
Over the last ten years, my patients have benefited from my strategy of
diagnosing and treating vitamin D deficiency. It’s time to spread this
important knowledge. That’s why I decided to write this book.
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