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Patient News 

  

Annual Patient Workshop

 

Save the date:

Sunday

 February 16, 2014

Hilton Dallas-Fort Worth Lakes Executive Conference Center

 

 

 

Therapy Tip

  

Vitamin D3 is photosynthesized in the skin and then transported to the liver where it's hydroxylated to produce 25-D. Photochemical regulation mechanisms in the skin prevent the formation of toxic levels of vitamin D3 but exposure to natural light can increase the production of 25-D to levels that may be immmunosuppressive (above 20ng/ml).

 

 

Recovery Reports

 

We are contacted daily by people with chronic illnesses who are looking for an effective treatment. Many ask us to provide evidence of efficacy in the form of statistics or stories. If you have recovered your health or had significant symptom improvement with Inflammation Therapy (or a similar treatment), please help us 'pay it forward' by telling your story. We will post it in the public section of our website to encourage others. Any report, short or long, with or without objective data (e.g., lab results, imaging reports) would be helpful. Please

send your story to

our email .

Thank you!  

To see the latest recovery reports,

click here. 

 

CIR Library Access

 

Access to our free, extensive, easy-to-read Library of Information

 (see this sample page)

and Physicians' Reference Library is available to anyone, without enrollment in our counseling program. If you're interested in using this resource, please send a request to our email

 address along with your doctor's name and fax number (in the US or Canada) or his/her email address, so we can notify your doctor that you have access to this information.

A list of the articles in our libraries is available at this link.

 Physicians may use CIR libraries even if they don't have a patient enrolled in our counseling program. Interested medical practitioners should contact CIR and ask to register.

 

 CIR is an IRS-recognized 501(c)3 non-profit charitable organization. 

Donate to CIR

 in support of our educational and research efforts. 

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Issue: 44
July 2013
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Greetings!

 

Vitamin D has far-reaching effects on the body.  One area of study has been on the cardiovascular system.  Researchers are not convinced supplementation has benefits, perhaps because the active steroid hormone of vitamin D is our most potent hormone, transcribing the DNA of our immune system.  Some vitamin D experts refer to it as the "Goldilocks" vitamin, meaning its amount must be just right to work well for us.  

 

CIR staff   

         

About Inflammation Therapy 
   

Vitamin D Supplementation and Cardiovascular Disease

 

In recent years, dietary supplements containing vitamin D have been frequently consumed in the hope that it might protect against cardiovascular disease. However, there is no conclusive evidence that vitamin D supplementation affords protection against heart disease.1,2

A randomized, placebo-controlled study, done at Rockefeller University in New York, found vitamin D supplementation failed to improve lipid profiles and elevated 25-D was associated with carotid and aorta artery plaque in a 2012 study.3,4

 

At a symposium sponsored by the American College of Rheumatology Dr. Lenore Buckley (professor of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University) commented on the 2012 study:

 

One of these concerns is that not all of the extra calcium absorption promoted by boosting vitamin D is going into bone to prevent fractures. Some of it may actually be taken up by atherosclerotic plaque, increasing the risk of cardiovascular events. The question we have to ask is: What does that low serum vitamin D level mean? Is it the thing that predisposes, or is it somehow a byproduct of illness?5

 

Regarding supplementation to prevent cardiovascular disease, Dr. Whayne (Professor of Medicine-Cardiology, Gill Heart Institute, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY) concluded that potential benefit of supplementation must be weighed against the current absence of definitive outcomes studies.6

 

1. Pittas AG, Chung M, Trikalinos T, et al. Systematic review: Vitamin

    D and cardiometabolic outcomes, Ann Intern Med. Mar 2010;152(5).

2. McGreevy C, Williams D. New insights about vitamin D and

    cardiovascular disease: a narrative review. Ann Intern Med. Dec

    2011;155(12):820-6.
3. Ponda MP, Dowd K, Finkielstein D, Holt PR, Breslow JL. The short-

    term effects of vitamin D repletion on cholesterol: a randomized,

    placebo-controlled trial. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. Oct 2012;32

    (10):2510-5.
4. Freedman BI, Wagenknecht LE, Hairston KG, et al. Vitamin D,

    adiposity, and calcified atherosclerotic plaque in African-Americans.

    J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Mar 2010;95(3):1076-83.
5. Skepticism Mounts on Need for Vitamin D Supplementation.

    HighBeam Research. Feb 15, 2010.

6. Whayne Jr TF. Vitamin D: popular cardiovascular supplement but

    benefit must be evaluated. Int J Angiol. Jun 2011;20(2):63-72.

 

 

Scientific Articles

 

Inflammatory pathways have emerged as important drivers of plaque disruption and thrombosis in patients with coronary atherosclerosis.
Mechanisms of Acute Coronary Syndromes and Their Implications for Therapy

Click here for full text (requires CIR library access).

 

"Taking together the evidence linking socioeconomic adversity to inflammation and inflammation to type 2 diabetes" the authors write, "it seems reasonable to postulate that chronically increased inflammatory activity in individuals exposed to socioeconomic adversity over the entire lifecourse may, at least partially, mediate the association between socioeconomic status over the lifecourse and future type 2 diabetes risk."
 Association of Lifecourse Socioeconomic Status with Chronic Inflammation and Type 2 Diabetes Risk: The Whitehall II Prospective Cohort Study
 

 

 

About Chronic Illness Recovery

 

CIR's mission is to inform the medical community and patients about vitamin D, the immune system, chronic inflammation and persistent infection.  We help clinicians understand the options for treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. We provide counseling for patients in conjunction with their doctor, via an online forum. Chronic Illness Recovery serves patients anywhere in the world that there is computer access. Currently we are counseling patients in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, South Africa, Ireland, Germany and Iran.

 

Working with patients who are on Inflammation Therapy has been the most effective means for clinicians of gaining an understanding of how to introduce and adjust the therapy medications to maintain tolerable symptoms and ensure patient safety. Enrolled patients and registered physicians are part of a supportive, friendly community and enjoy interactive forums for reporting and general discussion. Professional nurses, experienced with counseling patients on IT, monitor and advise patients through the recovery process while keeping their doctor informed each step of the way. These nurses, who generously donate their time, have counseled over a thousand patients and thoroughly understand how to manage immune system reactions.

 

 

Quotes 

  

"All my symptom increases seem to be (IT) medication related. I continue to enjoy life despite the symptoms and live a normal lifestyle." Safeharbour

 

"You all are doing a great job and making available a wellspring of help and hope for a future with this counseling site. I especially love how individually tailored the program is, both in meds and time and tolerance levels." Gracie

 

 

HONcode 

 

The Internet has become an important communication tool but it isn't always easy to tell which information is reliable. When it comes to your health, it's important to be sure you're accessing a credible source. Health On the Net Foundation has certified that the Chronic Illness Recovery website and forum conform to the principles of the HONcode for the dissemination of trustworthy health information for patients and professionals.

 

The HON seal on our website is your assurance that we're providing medical information you can trust.
 

Survey

 

Volunteers who have a diagnosis of autoimmune or inflammatory disease or are chronically ill but who are not being treated with Inflammation Therapy, the Marshall Protocol or the Stillpoint Protocol are needed to be in the control group of our long-term clinical study.

 

If you meet these criteria and would like to take part in this project (which will only take a few minutes each month), please contact us at our email address.