Posted by: Denise on: November 17, 2010
I’ve been taking vitamin D for several years now for my CLL. But it wasn’t until very recently that it has gained “official” acceptance in the medical world as an important supplement for all those with cancer and specially for those with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Here is one article and another on this very topic.
My experience. I would like to share my own experience with this wonderful supplement. It is one of the few that I’ve taken that I can rave about. I felt a difference when i first started taking vitamin D3. Take a look at the bottle on this page. This was the brand that first made a difference. My alternative doc told me to take it because I tested low (19!). Prior to taking it, I believe I took about 1600 IU (international units) a day. Now, at doctor’s advice, I’m taking 4000 units a day. I obediently added this to my regimen without a clue of how it would affect my health.
Vitamin D for pain.  Prior to taking vitamin D3, I really thought I had undiagnosed fibromyalgia. I was always in pain. Something always hurt. My arm, my neck, my back, my tailbone. When one ache disappeared, another would take its place. I thought perhaps I needed a shrink. Well shrink be gone, as after about a week on these pills (just 1600 IU), the pain went away!!!! Just before the pills, my tailbone had been acting up from an accident I’d had a few years back, a trip down cement steps on my backside. I remember thinking that I was too young to have to hold onto the arms of a chair or onto a table in order to get up and sit down without pain. But that pain went away — and was never replaced by any other. Think of the money I’ve saved on therapy. : )  There are several articles about vitamin D and pain.  Google it and you will see even more.
Vitamin D and Longevity. If you haven’t read the articles in the links above, please take note of this now: vitamin D3 also helps CLL patients live longer. In case it wasn’t enough that it makes you feel better, scientists/doctors are now saying that deficiency increases mortality. (If you don’t have enough vitamin D in your body, and you have CLL, you are more likely to die.)  Make sure you take D3 and NOT D2 –D2 is synthetic, not what you want!.
Why are we deficient in vitamin D? Vitamin D is manufactured in our skin when we are exposed to direct sunlight without sun block. Yes, I know. Dermatologists have been warning us for decades to stay out of the sun. Maybe that’s helped prevent some skin cancer cases, but the unintended consequences have been terrible. Vitamin D deficiency is responsible for susceptibility to cancer! Even melanoma. (How ironic is that?) Here is a list from the Vitamin D Council.
Get out in the sun. You’ve heard of safe sex. Now have some safe sun. Get out in the sun, every day (when warm enough) for about 15-20 minutes, with as much skin exposed as is legal and practical), and get out before you burn. Sun burn is NOT healthy. Sun exposure is very healthy. Remember when people were told to get plenty of fresh air and sunshine? Both are therapeutic.
Bottom line is check your vitamin D levels regularly, preferably by an alternative practitioner. Here is the information about what test should be ordered and what the proper level of vitamin D should be. The test is the 25 (OH)D test. Your level should be between 50-80 ng/ml, year round. If you can’t get out into the sun for practical or seasonal reasons, then supplement. Give it a try. I hope you have stellar results like I did!