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Chronic Illness Recovery Newsletter



Outreach

 

Chronic Illness Recovery will be represented at the prestigious 18th Workshop on Vitamin D to be held April 21-24, 2015 in Delft, the Netherlands. Meg Mangin, RN will present a poster titled "Intracellular Bacteria May Alter Innate Immune Response".

 

Science Behind 

Inflammation Therapy

 

Our peer-reviewed article
has been published in the October 2014 issue of Inflammation Research.

 

 

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

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Therapy Tip

 

 Since every human protein has a bacterial motif, it's not surprising the immune system would attack 'us' too. Autoantibodies result from an overactive adaptive immune system. When the bacteria invade the phagocytes a cytokine release signals to B cells (and T cells) that something's wrong. The antibodies subsequently generated include some that attack human proteins, as well as target pathogens.

 

 

 

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Issue: 64
March 2015

Greetings!        

 

After a long winter, the sight of the first daffodil tendrils poking above the snow always gives us hope spring is on its way. The first signs of spring are so welcome precisely because they give us hope: hope that the weather will improve and our lives in general will get better. We gain new enthusiasm with spring, plan new projects and dream of ways to spruce up our surroundings.

Hope is an important part of Chronic Illness Recovery. One of the reasons this organization was created was to give patients hope that they can improve, and to give physicians dealing with patients with complicated chronically ill patients hope that they can get better and become less of a concern.

The recovery stories on our website are full of hope and encouragement. When you have time, read some of those stories and share in how their success feels.

May spring come soon in your area, and give you renewed hope.

 

As always, wishing you well,  

CIR Team  

  

About Inflammation Therapy

 

1,25(OH)2D Reference Ranges

 

Measurement of serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D] is done by radioimmunoassay (RIA). 1,25(OH)2D lab reference ranges are determined by statistical analysis of the people who have had 1,25(OH)2D measured. The "normal" range is where 95% of the people measured fall.

 

However, the current standard advises measurement of 1,25(OH)2D only in patients with, or suspected of, serious medical conditions such as hypercalcemia, renal failure, sarcoidosis, lymphoma, abnormalities of 1-alphahydroxylase, hyphophosphatic rickets, primary hyperparathyroidism, hypoparathyroidism, pseudohypoparathyroidism, renal osteodystrophy, vitamin D-resistant rickets or vitamin D receptor defects. This population cannot be considered normal. Thus, lab ranges do not provide an accurate assessment of a normal level of 1,25(OH)2D.

 

Statistics on 1,25(OH)2D in a normal population are very limited. The best data comes from a 1999 cross-sectional study of the influence of smoking on serum parathyroid hormone (PTH), serum vitamin D metabolites, serum ionized calcium, serum phosphate, and biochemical markers of bone turnover. In this study, serum 1,25(OH)2D was measured, via radioimmunoassay, in a cohort of 510 healthy Danish women aged 45 to 58 years. The average 1,25(OH)2D level of the non-smokers in this group was 29.0 pg/mL (plus or minus 9.5 pg/mL) for a range of 19.5 - 38.5 pg/mL in this healthy population. [1]

 

Furthermore, when measured coincidentally, the significance of elevated 1,25(OH)2D may be overlooked. For example, a 2011 study of the effect of vitamin D and calcium supplementation on patients with multiple sclerosis, revealed elevated 1,25(OH)2D at baseline and one year later (61 pg/mL � 22.6 pg/mL and 70.7 pg/mL � 18 pg/mL respectively). [2] All of these 1,25(OH)2D levels were considered normal. Calcium, phosphorus and parathyroid hormone were not measured in those whose 1,25(OH)2D exceeded the normal range.  

  

The Merck Manual of Diagnosis and Therapy (15 Oct 2006 online) listed the range of serum 1,25(OH)2D in healthy persons as 20-45 pg/mL. The 2013 edition lists the normal range as 25-65 pg/mL. The Mayo Clinic lists 18 - 78 pg/mL as the normal range. It's disappointing to note that on March 16, 2015 Labcorp is raising their normal range of 1,25(OH)2D from 10 - 75 pg/mL to 19.9 - 79.3 pg/mL.   

As the incidence of chronic illness increases and serum 1,25(OH)2D levels rise, authorities simply increase the range of 1,25(OH)2D that is considered normal. This signifies a failure to recognize elevated 1,25(OH)2D as a sign of dysregulated vitamin D metabolism and a marker of a chronic inflammatory disease process. Studies need to be done to determine the serum level of 1,25(OH))2D in healthy populations. Using reference ranges that truly represent normal will promote accurate diagnosis of vitamin D endocrine dysfunction.

 

References

 

  1. Brot C, Jorgensen NR, Sorensen OH The influence of smoking on vitamin D status and calcium metabolism. Eur J Clin Nutr. 1999;53:920-6.
  2. Kimball S, Vieth R, Dosch HM, et al. Cholecalciferol plus calcium suppresses abnormal PBMC reactivity in patients with multiple sclerosis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. Sep 2011(96(9)):2826-34.
Quotes 

 

"The CIR team should be cherished for all your hard work at helping people improve their health." Flyboy

 

"I'm doing a lot more than I was even a year ago." Katherine

 

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, 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 email your story to us. Thank you! 

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