So IBS is apparently linked to Vitamine D defiency?!
I know for some time that my vitamin D levels aren't optimal (with 20 nmol/L or even below that during chilly seasons) and I recently found out that this condition runs in my family (my mum wasn't at all surprised and told me that she's taking D3 supplements for years now).
The last gastro. who took my vit. D levels acted rather strange ("well that's low but vitamin D is overrated" - something along those lines). That was 2 years ago and all my bloodtests since then showed low levels. I was on and off with vit. d3 tablets because often times I simply saw now change taking them and they didn't go down well for me for longer periods of time (because of all those added chemicals I suppose).
Fast forward to a week ago when my latest internal specialist acted totally different to that gastro. (whom I mentioned above) after she saw my current 20 nmol/L Vit D level. She told me to supplement asap and use liquid drops this time.
So this time I did my research and what I found was crazy for me:
a) Vit. D in liquid form is absorbed by the muccous barrier in your mouth and (according to studies) in doing so bypassing the tablets way through your stomach/intestines and gets absorbed much faster and - more importantly - is divided much better through your entire body. Researchers found out that liquid supplementation works for the body more like vit. D produced by sun-exposure whereas tablets are distributed less equally throughout the body.
b) This is actually important because almost all people with IBS symptoms that were tested for Vit D3 actually had a defiency (probably because of our rather bad fat absorption) and a lot of studies have now shown that supplementation in D3 indeed relieves IBS symptoms for a lot of people. Why is that you ask? I delved in deeper and aside from all the commonly known benefits of good vit D levels (bone/skin) this vitamine actually fights inflammation and supports the intestinal muccous barrier (screw that stupid gastro 2 years ago, doctors in Germany are seriously the worst).
and now the kicker:
c) Depending on Vit. D levels, it takes 4-6+ weeks (and even up to months) to see ANY benefits (because the body can only slowly raise nmol/L Vit D-levels) so eventhough I started taking D3 a few times, it couldn't have worked anyways because I was never taking them for long enough.
This is all really interesting I think. I'm now supplementing with drops (3000 units D3+added K2) every morning and will let you guys and gals know if I notice any difference (roughly 5 days in as of today). Worst case scenario: My skin might becomes less dry. But who knows? Maybe this change can actually help with some of my discomfort in the long run.
Thank you for sharing. Vitamin D is so important. I take it in liquid form thankfully, I had a great Dietician who told me about it's importance and suggested the brand to use. I take it daily. Keep us posted with your progress. Best of luck, Elizabeth (team member)
Yeah, I really have to be careful, I noticed. Almost a week in and when I started taking high doses (4-5 drops) I actually showed symptoms like crazy urges to pee all the time (calcium in blood to high is what I read). That being said it has been sunny here so high amount of drops+sun exposure might have been to much. Yes, be careful. Glad you are aware though and doing what is necessary to be on top of it. -Elizabeth (team member)
That's interesting. I remember last summer when we had a long dry period with lots of sunshine (and I spend most of my day outside) my gut was so much better. I had a period of about 6 weeks or so with normal bowel movements and few other symptoms, and found I could expand my diet slightly.
(30 minutes of initial sun exposure while working outside without suncream, then put cream on after that time.)I have heard fairly high doses of vitamin D3 supplementation CAN cause constipation sometimes, so I wondered if getting all that sunshine worked in the same way or not. But I had a really good remission of symptoms. (I have IBS D.)
I noticed that starting around late May or sometime towards the end of May. By that time I'd already been getting some weeks of sun exposure. So it's interesting when you say it takes a few weeks for the benefits of vitamin D to be noticed.
However, I'm not sure, because this year I am much more up and down, so last year may have been coincidence.
Well, it's not just weeks, it's months actually. I looked it up again and the studies on IBS have sometimes been going on for up to 3 months - just "getting some sun" wouldn't be enough, what you need is a good baseline of D in your blood. Yes, a good summer could help there but IF you have some sort of deficiency (and I used to be/am IBS-D and I know that I have had bad D levels for years), sitting so much in the sun that your level rises, is counter-productive (skin cancer to name one problem).
It's worth taking a test for vit. D in your blood, they are very common and actually very cheap (I think around 15-25€ here in Germany f.e.).
That's interesting! I also notice that my IBS symptoms get better when I get some sun, but I think that in my case, it's because being outside helps with my anxiety. And when I'm less anxious, my gut feels better. How have you been feeling lately? Karina (team member)
