Right in the centre - Has a solution always been there?
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- Published on Friday, November 26, 2021
By Ken Wadell
Neepawa Banner & Press
There has been a lot of discussion, but not enough, about the value of Vitamin D to fend off disease. Vitamin D has been closely related to the COVID-19 issue. Studies seem to show that the higher the Vitamin D level in a person鈥檚 body, the less chance of getting C-19, less chance of getting really sick from it and less chance of dying from it.
This week, a reader offered his opinion as to why Vitamin D doesn鈥檛 get the recognition it should have. He suggested it is because Health Care doesn鈥檛 cover it. He feels Vitamin D levels are tested relatively simply and it should be done more often
The reader went on to say, 鈥淚 would venture to say that many of the deaths from Covid, especially in seniors homes, were caused by dehydration and low Vitamin D levels.鈥� He further asked, 鈥淲hat can we, as individuals, do to get the health system to check the present research out and/or do some group testing to see where the Vitamin D readings are in certain groups of society?鈥�
He said he asked many people what their Vitamin D levels are. The answer usually is, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know.鈥�
He takes thousands of units of Vitamin D per day. The reader explained, 鈥淣o two people absorb vitamins the same. In my own case, I was taking 7,000 IU per day for over a year. When tested, I came at a reading of 89, the minimum is 75. I changed products and three to four months later, the reading is now 113. My natural doctor wants to see it at 130-150. An ordinary doctor says 89 is good enough.鈥�
As written in this space a few months ago, I have a condition called Myasthenia Gravis or MG. Vitamin D supplements are recommended for treating MG. I take in about 4000 units per day of Vitamin D. I have no real way of knowing if it is working, as I am not about to stop taking Vitamin D nor the prescribed medications to find out. I am on four drugs and my specialist says to stay on them. Seeing as I have yet to meet one of his patients who doesn鈥檛 think he鈥檚 doing a good job, why should I second guess him on the medications? Besides, he said I should take Vitamin D.
With all the C-19 deaths in the care homes, it should be obvious that a lack of Vitamin D could be a big part of the problem. We get Vitamin D from milk and from sunshine. Think about it! How much milk or sunshine does a person get in a care home? Not much. Your body can鈥檛 make Vitamin D if you鈥檙e sitting indoors by a sunny window because ultraviolet B (UVB) rays (the ones your body needs to make Vitamin D) can鈥檛 get through the glass. It has to be real and direct sunshine. Instead of dwelling on the C-19 virus and its effects, maybe we should be concentrating on the solution.
The government has been having two to three news conferences a week for 20 months now and never once has preventative remedies been talked about. Yeah, yeah, we get it. Wash your hands, socially distance and all that. But what about diet, exercise, medications? Silence, mostly.
Doctors tell me you can only treat C-19 symptoms. What they aren鈥檛 talking about is prevention.
Combined low food intake and therefore low nutrition, low Vitamin D intake, dehydration and outright loneliness, and I am willing to bet we killed off hundreds of seniors before their time.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer鈥檚 personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff.
