Posted on 11/15/2023 9:30:04 AM PST by ConservativeMind
New research suggests that patients who have insufficient levels of vitamin D before starting paclitaxel treatment are more likely to experience peripheral neuropathy.
According to an analysis of 1,191 patients with early-stage breast cancer—using data collected in the SWOG S0221 study—20.7% of patients with vitamin D deficiency experienced at least a grade 3 level of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN), compared to 14.2% of those with sufficient vitamin D levels. The researchers also found that inducing vitamin D deficiency in an accompanying mice model study caused neurotoxicity-like symptoms.
"These results suggest that vitamin D supplementation in patients with lower levels of vitamin D may reduce peripheral neuropathy, and particularly high grade peripheral neuropathy, which would improve these patients' long-term quality of life," explained Daniel L. Hertz, PharmD, Ph.D. "There are barely any negative consequences that come from taking steps to increase vitamin D levels. Patients can easily take safe, inexpensive, and widely available over-the-counter supplements."
Dr. Hertz explained that CIPN is a common side effect of paclitaxel and several other commonly used anticancer drugs. It typically appears as numbness, tingling, and sometimes burning pain in the fingers and toes. CIPN can eventually lead to the loss of sensation in hands and feet. These symptoms are largely untreatable and can sometimes be permanent, so it is critical that patients and oncology health care providers monitor for CIPN during treatment to address the development of treatment-related peripheral neuropathy before symptoms become intolerable.
The researchers also noted that it is well-established that vitamin D deficiency is more common in self-reported Black patients. This population group is also at higher risk of CIPN. There are additional studies underway to learn more about the role vitamin D supplements may be able to play in improving outcomes for these patients.
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
“The primary independent variable, vitamin D insufficiency, was defined as total vitamin D concentration (D2 + D3) ≤20 ng/mL.“
Have your levels confirmed to be above 20 ng/mL, and you should likely do better with your nerves.
I still have not forgiven CDC for failing to notify us that we should take more Vitamin D3 in the winter, the further north we live. Also failure to notice that around 2.5 times more dark skinned people were dying of Covid-19 than light skinned people and warning them to have their Vitamin D levels checked. I believe the August/Sept. spurt in Covid cases in southern states is because that is when everyone is staying in the AC and not getting much sun exposure.
As to the value of above the 20 ng/ml reading as being adequate levels, that is the old thinking about Vitamin D as helping prevent poor bone development (Rickets). The new thinking recognizes the importance of Vitamin D levels to support the immune system. The professionals who value this approach (I think endochrinologists) say that 30 ng./ml should be the cutoff between sufficient and insufficient.
Below is an interesting link about recent changes trying to improve the CDC, and proven waste and theft of Covid money. I hope someone will post it as a separate article.
COVID Aid Grifters Waste Billions; Inside Cohen’s CDC; Forged Neuro Data?
— This past week in healthcare investigations
by Rachael Robertson, Enterprise & Investigative Writer, MedPage Today November 15, 2023
Regarding my own experience with Vitamin D3, from summer 2020, to Dec. 2021, I had built up my Vitamin D level to optimum with 66 ng/ml as measured by Kaiser Permanente. In the fall of 2022, I had much anxiety with 3 loved ones dealing with cancer illness. I gained weight from 145 lb. to 157 lb. and had a BMI of 27.5. Mid Dec. 2022 I tested insufficient in Vitamin D, but the figure they gave me was not in ng/ml or any other measure I have seen in the literature. Was KP being told to make it hard for us to follow the Vitamin D picture? A week later I read an article posted by ConservativeMind saying that if BMI was above 25, then the Vitamin D rested in the fat rather than circulating in the blood. I immediately went on a diet but became sick with the respiratory illness my partner brought home from babysitting his sick grandson (was it RSV??). We were sick and miserable, and coughing hard and a lot for over 3 months. Late this Sept. partner brought home another illness from babysitting his sick grandson. We have been sick for over a month and only recently has our coughing almost completely healed. He has promised, “no more babysitting until Spring.” My weight is now down to 130 lbs, I have been taking 10,000 IU or 5,000 IU of Vitamin D since January 2023. I wonder what my VItamin D level will be this Dec. annual checkup? I wonder if KP will still be using this weird measure of D levels? I do hope CDC starts to actually pay attention to the importance of nutritional health and immunity.
Below are two more articles concerning disinformation and misinformation in the medical information field, including the use of “generative AI.” MedPage Today has been busy.
ChatGPT Created a Fake Dataset With Skewed Results
— Findings raise concerns about the ease of generating false medical evidence
by Kristina Fiore, Director of Enterprise & Investigative Reporting, MedPage Today November 9, 2023
ChatGPT Quickly Authored 100 Blogs Full of Healthcare Disinformation
— But Google Bard and Microsoft Bing had guardrails in place to thwart such prompting
by Michael DePeau-Wilson, Enterprise & Investigative Writer, MedPage Today November 13, 2023
These disinformation blogs included a lot concerning vaccines, using AI to generate the scrips very quickly.
So now AI is being taught to put out fake medical data just like humans have been doing for years.
But AI can do it so much faster. My partner was trying to show me how AI can be used by a writer. I gave a request for Shakespearean iambic pentameter quatrains on the subject of a battle 30 bc between a Roman general and the sythian hordes which the Romans lost. In one minute I had 6 quatrains of iambic pentameter poetry which was not too bad. I have since edited it into even better poetry and story telling, and may use this method to write more of the story once I get all my other work taken care of. Cheers. ;-)
I have a niece who has breast cancer, and is currently receiving chemotherapy and looking at surgery sometime soon. She may find this info useful.
Thanks for putting it out there.
There was another post about Vitamin D levels reducing chemotherapy side effects - hope you saw that one too.
Yes I did. Thanks.
“re-habbing” the CDC...as with most Federal Agencies , is a waste of money. There is an entire multi-generational mindset of entitled bureaucratic prerogative that refuses to acknowledge they are employees of the American people
way past time to shut down and devolve centralized functions out to the states...
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