The voices in my head don't think they're imaginary - Next up ... monkey glands!

So while I was in NYC, I got this cryptic VM from my doctor's office. It was all staticky and broken up. I didn't bother to call back because I figured it was about a billing matter. (Both my husband and I had paid their most recent invoice independently, leaving them with $400 extra of my hard-earned cash.)

But then yesterday, I get another VM from them saying that it's urgent that I call back. So I do, and I am notified by the lovely lady at my doctor's office that they tested the Vitamin D levels in my last blood draw and they're so low that I need to start taking supplements immediately.

Well, heck! I had visions of a screaming nurse: "Start a Vitamin D drip! Stat!!"

I'm already on three regular medications, as well as two "prescribed" supplements. I swear, I didn't think old age was going to jump up and attack me like this.

A little research shows, however, that Vitamin D deficiency is a "silent epidemic" (of course, everything's a "silent epidemic" these days ... Chafing is a silent epidemic, fergodsake.) But it's especially prevalent up here in the gloomy Northwest. The lady at my doctor's office said that approximately 90% of the patients that come through their door have Vitamin D levels that are "clinically deficient." The fact that so many people are now wearing sunscreen all the time doesn't help; if you wear SPF 8 sunscreen, it knocks out 95% of your skin's ability to synthesize Vitamin D.

"But wait!" I can hear you say. "I get plenty of Vitamin D in the milk I drink!/the multivitamins I take!" Actually, you probably don't. Because Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin, and can build up to deleterious levels in one's system if overconsumed, the FDA was extremely conservative when setting the RDA. The current RDA is 400 IU (the amount needed to ward off rickets in children, and the amount found in one of my multivitamin tablets) but current research shows that an RDA of 2,000 IU is probably closer to what we actually need. (And by way of comparison, my doc has me on a 6,000 IU/day dose for the next 3 months, until my levels increase.)

Low Vitamin D levels can play hell with your body. According to the Vitamin D Council Website:

Current research indicates vitamin D deficiency plays a role in causing seventeen varieties of cancer as well as heart disease, stroke, hypertension, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, depression, chronic pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, muscle weakness, muscle wasting, birth defects, and periodontal disease.

Anyway, there's lots more information at the Vitamin D Council. You should go read, especially if you've got other conditions you're trying to manage (e.g., high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes -- low Vitamin D levels have been shown to aggravate all of these.) Or even if you're just suffering from the effects of "Vitamin D Winter."

I'll let you know if it works. Otherwise, I'm switching to the monkey glands.