Wednesday, June 03, 2009
If by sharing this experience with you, if I can help just those few who's reasons for there suffering are the same as mine, I hope other sufferers will forgive my pleasure.
I am new to your website tonight after searching the results of a test I carried out on one side affect I suffered. After associating itchy calcium spots on my fingers with the joint pain days after family parties and barbeques when double cream and ice cream desserts are rampant, I indulged this weekend after a year of no symptoms of joint pain and itchy spots. I can say while scratching my fingers, I am now certain. From the point of diagnosis, this time last year, when all my joints became affected and I could hardly walk, I studied the possible imbalance of calcium, magnesium and more recently the probable original cause, vitamin D deficiency. After eventually persuading my general practitioner to test for para-thyroid problems he declared my vitamin D levels were also low. I note Sara's post, (from Sudan), who for her own reasons avoided milk and high calcium foods and other comments such as lactose intolerance from other members, which I thought I had 20+ years ago for other reasons. Constantly testing my theory during this past year that my joint problems were caused by calcium deposition due to a magnesium deficiency which is essential for calcium transport, I originally cured my joint pain within 5 days, by taking magnesium citrate, drinking plenty of water and avoiding any calcium rich foods. (However, our drinking water has a higher calcium content than milk.) Gout and pseudo-gout sites explain why calcium deposition could also cause my high CRP, RF and ESR levels, which also returned to normal within a few weeks if not in those first five days.
I could re-write all my findings here, but perhaps it would be better to start a dialogue instead.
I am a support specialist for instrumentation for DNA extraction and testing, and as a trouble-shooter, I was not going to accept the definitions on most sites that the cause of RA is unknown. Even though I believe that it was a misdiagnosis in my case, I do accept I had overwhelming symptoms for RA, which is probably why the last angry word from my rheumatologist was that I have palindromic rheumatoid arthritis. After symptoms in the build up were coming as frequent as every 3 months before they effectively became permanent, I am hoping a clear year may prove him to be wrong.
Hello Ellen, I re-read my post and realised it was pretty hard work grammatically to get through, so I admire your patience to read it. I have to agree with a lot that you say and has made me think more about observations I have made in this past year. My investigations will continue as I still want to be able to help my daughter, as you have made me realise how this may affect her in the future. I originally put in my post in an attempt to catch people like me who I believe have been misdiagnosed, but now you have point out to me how a salt/mineral imbalance may affect women differently to men. (Please bear with me a little as I seem to have gotten carried away with this and you may want to skip over the more self indulgent first bit.) Firstly, I can understand that everyone is different and these metabolic pathways are more complicated than my post might suggest. The most frustrating thing about my investigations into this is that trying to get tests done in the UK is like getting blood out of a stone, and worst of all the blood levels may not accurately reflect the intracellular levels. So my self prescribed doses of magnesium have been worked out from various reactions in my body, so I do have reservations as to whether I may be causing other damage and perhaps may be displacing calcium from where it should be going. You have prompted me to look further into this as I still would like to know the full story. With that in mind, I can see how excess vitamin D could have an adverse affect, but also, during my investigations I have seen studies where higher intracellular magnesium levels, (Oh! If only that test was readably available), help improve weight loss in dieting. This is no surprise as it is essential for the breakdown of fat stores as well as laying them down. On the other hand higher levels of calcium also improve weight loss but only in men. So straight away there are differences between males and females. It may be regarded as lucky that I have easy indicators to follow without getting the joint pain; heartburn and I increase magnesium, itchy skin and I reduce calcium and get more sunshine. When I talk about vitamin D, although I have taken supplements, I really mean sunlight, as no supplement can replace the natural forms produced in the body by UV. I have easily tanning skin which is accepted as a reason for low vitamin D levels and it runs in the both my parents families. My uncle suffered from intense calcific tendonitis, (exactly as I did during the build up to my diagnosis) and died of a heart attack, my father who I feel most guilty about went through the same intense rheumatic pain, but accepted the diagnosis and died of a sudden heart attack. From my experience and studies, I believe their heart attacks were almost certainly caused by magnesium deficiency and or calcification of the arteries and the rheumatism was a by-product of this condition. If I had put the same effort into looking into my fathers illness as I did my own his death, for that reason at least, may well have been avoided. This is why I am so ready to share my story. We have now worked out that my daughter's psoriasis is related to this imbalance as we have now realised this is caused by calcium deposits in the skin. What may be interesting to you though, her doctor diagnosed her as going through an early menopause due to her bone density and she is only 25. Perhaps I have gone on to much about my history, so back to your comments.
I can certainly agree with our comments about meat, as I contemplated it could be something to do with the meat feast BBQs, and even more so the hog roasts which appear to be a trend in the UK at the moment as it was two days after these that I was most affected. At the time, I could not decide whether it was meat, red wine or cream desserts. With what I know now and from your information, I can now say it was all three. When I was in Texas last year, I was working on the medical campus in Houston just after my discovery, and my work colleagues and a nurse practitioner I happened to meet were fully knowledgeable about magnesium deficiency so I immediately assumed the US were far ahead of the UK in health care, but from some posts I have read, it seems that you may also have a problem with exchange of knowledge between specialisms. I am so frustrated with our health service and the trend to use very bad statistics to try to diagnose everybody in the same way. No effort is made to diagnose people individually using the results of age old research, I am using in biochemistry books. Then if one is diagnosed to the wrong specialist having similar symptoms, the symptoms are treated with drugs rather than searching for the real cause. I do not blame the doctors or specialist, but the trend influenced by our politicians. None of these doctors seem to work from first principals, such as facts known about essential minerals and vitamins. What is most frightening, all the health advice we get is detrimental to people like me. They have overplayed the salt reduction advice and forced companies to remove salts from processed foods to the extent that if we are not careful we are actually on a salt FREE diet which is fatal, and concerns about skin cancer.... need I say more.
I have already started to look into this and yes Vitamin D3 promotes resorption of calcium for remodelling bones as well as promoting absorption in the intestines. There are obviously other factors which need to be taken into consideration, as this remodelling is dependent on weight bearing bones, so another enzyme/hormone must be involved. I have seen another interesting thing in this process, in that 7-Dehydrocholesterol is involved with this process and need to work out if this has anything to do with good and bad cholesterols of which our family always has slightly high levels.
martin.sanderson@qiagen.com or martin@martin-sanderson.com in case this is getting to much for this website.
Hi Martin,
I just read through your reply very quickly to get the gist of it, and you mention a couple of things that are interesting to me, re itchy skin for instance. There are so many things that cause this, but here are a few more ... Lately, I've been so overwhelmed with too much info about various supplements that I tend just to stick to what I know has worked in the past, but - that doesn't always work now. So it's hard to know what to do.
Don't take anything I mentioned about possible "Too much vitamin D" as gospel truth because it's not proven. But it was an interesting hypothesis and worth checking out. If nothing else, my test showed that it did not apply to me, so the heck with the supplements anyway, since it wasn't helping my bone density. (Am due for a bone density test this summer, but not sure if I want to bother, since I wont go on meds for it. But - maybe I should at least know if I HAVE osteoporosis!
Everything interacts with everything else, in one way or another, so it's like the cartoon, you get rid of one problem, you take on another. For instance, with Prilosec (omeprazole) for heartburn & GERD, it decreases your risk of esophageal cancer but may increase the risk of stomach cancer down the road. But - you can have the stomach removed, but not the esophagus very well!
Sorry to hear about about English medicine, we still do have a lot of freedom in my particular insurance plan, the the HMOs ("health maintenance organizations") run more like yours. Canadians are complaining about their health care, and it seems with good reason -- 5 months to get an MRI for cancer diagnosis and die in the meantime, whereas here, you might have to wait a few days, and if emergency dictated, you can get it very soon.
And of course, our new president is trying to move toward universal health care, because some people are not covered at all, which is awful!
I wish you well with your search for continuing health!
Ellen
Julie - 38 yrs. old with total body Rheumatoid Arthritis for 20 yrs. I've read many books, spend thousands on supplements, Infrared Sauna, chelation IVs, hydrogenproxide IVs etc. with some relief intermittently.
Lately I started with a Dr. that treats with muscle testing. He found parasites are my main issue causing pain in June 2009. I have since been parasite cleansing (with Clarkia tincture, ‘Clear' by Awareness, VRM 1, Cloves, and Wormwood Oil) for 2 mo.
I am eating raw pumpkin seeds first thing in the morning and raw pineapple.
I have seen worms and flukes, maybe tape worm segments (the wormwood oil breks them up before passing)? He also said I have blood parasites - these will take a long time to clear up. He also has a BAX 3000 program that helps eliminate food allergies, chemical issues, and other invadors (you will have to look that up for more info.).
The book "Cure for All Cancers" by Dr. Hulda Clark is VERY eye opening to the ease of which we can pick up all these critters - especially with the chemicals we are around and ingest daily creating an environment they can complete their whole cycle.
She also recommends Milk to restore the calcium in your bones. I avoided Milk, eggs, and milk products for almost the entire 20 yrs. thinking it was very bad and I was allergic to it.
Another book I had - but didn't listen to is "Arthritis & Common Sense" by Dale Alexander. This talks about drinking Milk with meals (2% or Vit D Whole) for eliminating Arthritis pain and reducing the nobs on joints (my hands are bad with nodules) - and NO WATER before or after drinking milk for at least an hour. Water and Milk don't mix..and water prevents the oils from lubricating the joints and hinders digestion. Also drinking milk at room temperature is best. I am trying this with Vitamin D milk - drink a small glass with Breakfast (no Coffee either - and don't put milk in Coffee). I drank the milk yesterday - and my knees seem to be feeling better today. I am pretty achy from the Parasite cleansing - however, the milk didn't hurt me - this is good! I am excited to have something else I can drink that has calories that that can help my joints. I will have to keep monitoring this.
This book recommends super high doses of Vit. D. I tested normal for Vit D. I am taking a D3 supplement daily - unless in the sun. I think concentrating on minerals more will help with pain and energy - such as magnesium (helps calcium absorption) and trace minerals (2 Trace Mineral Tablets by ConcenTrace before bed).
Also, both books talk about phosphates robbing our bones of calcium and acidifying our bodies. This means NO colas, coffee, no water/drinks with meals (only milk), drinking water at other times - I am drinking distilled, taking EPA oil at night.
I highly recommend Parasites cleansing above all else. You will never get better with them robbing you of your nutrients and giving off viral toxins causing pain.
I'm also working on increasing my PH to prevent the acid and create an environment that parasites can't survive in. Currently I'm around 6 in the morning - trying to get to 7.5 consistently. Minerals in the evening help as well as a chorlyphyll supplement.
Hello Julie,
As usual, I feel humbled by extent and length of time you have been suffering and feel quite guilty of jumping to a conclusion that I now need to go back on. As it happens, just today I have updated my website after a relapse has taken me back to my original 'cure' of magnesium supplements. Originally, I registered with this website to try to catch the few who had been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis but were obviously magnesium deficient as I was. However, during the eighteen months since I received this diagnosis and been working through it, I have realised how different everyone is and also the careful balance I have needed to achieve.
I will not re-write my update again here, as you can see this information on my website and the messy history leading to it.
http://www.martin-sanderson.com/health-view.php
This for us, seems to be a family thing, all related and leading to RA, gout, Diabetes 2, and now am conviced is related to polycystic ovaries, from which my daughter is suffering. (With what I have learnt in the past 18 months, I believe this is caused by excess dietary calcium with low Vit D and magnesium also.) She is very concerned due to the relationship to ovarian cancer from which I lost my sister 20 years ago and known to have hereditory relationships.
I still hold with the vitamin D to prevent calcium deposits in soft tissue, but after my relapse realise the calcium intake needs to be controlled, as there is no blocking mechanism for regulating the adsorption of calcium. Straight away, due to hormonal differences, excess calcium in females causes different problems to men as the bone re-modelling process is more susceptable in women, due to availability of oestrogen. My recent searches for articles relating to this, prompted by Ellens comments and my relapse have revealed that high levels of calcium with low levels of magnesium can cause re-modelling abnormalities and osteoporosis, which many of the ladies on this website are suffering. So it does make me wonder, on one hand males such as myself get calcium deposits forming at the joints, and triggering the RH, CRP factors and all the symptoms for RH, which I have corrected with magnesium supplements, but on the other hand, may have been prevented by reducing calcium intake, and many of the ladies here have symptoms that can also be a related to exces calcium in the body tissue. It may be a simplistic view, and I would understand that many would want to shoot me down as a typical ignorant male, but I have not seen any references or explanations on these kind of websites made in the same way. Unfortunately, after many years of suffering without having suitable treatment, I can understand a lot of damage has already been done.
Unfortunately, doctors only test for serum levels of calcium, and when they see that they are low, they prescribe more calcium, which is actually doing more damage, as it only increases the excess calcium around the body. Normally, this will be associated with low vitamin D levels, so they prescribe this together, and are justified because the serum level of calcium will rise. This is exactly what happened to me early this year, except I just took the vitamin D after I realised the floor.
I have for myself a simple enough solution to correct my condition, albeit to carefully balance these minerals, however, it would be wrong for me to assume this would be a solution for everyone. Having said this, if somebody suffering from rheumatoid arthritis has not tried magnesium supplements at 400mg magnesium citrate, twice a day, (or 3x 100mg magnesium orotate twice a day I went for) and restricted their calcium intake for a week or two, it certainly would not do any harm to try it.
As you may see, I have written this as a final chapter in my website as I am confident I have my solution, however, I this does not mean I am signing off, as I still have a interest in this. Anyway, I was wrong before. I am sure there will be many angry people who have looked into this for themselves without a good result and think I am being very simplistic to whom I do apologise, but I'm sure it could help some.
Best Regards Martin
That is flaw and not floor by the way.
After reading you reply again, it is difficult to see how my comments relate to you in terms of excess calcium, though I think one problem we have in our area of the UK is that our tap water ahs a higher content of calcium at 160mg/litre than milk at 140mg, so calcium is difficult to avoid.