Post by Batch on Feb 6th, 2015 at 10:37pm
Aquaval, Peter,
It appears you are both a little above the tipping point with your 25(OH)D serum concentration, no major head bangers... but still having low level CH.
You both can speed up the 25(OH)D reserve building process and hopefully going pain free a little faster by taking a 50,000 IU loading dose of vitamin D3 for two days instead of your regular dose. Be sure to keep your magnesium intake up between 500 and 750 mg/day for the next week. The other cofactors are also essential.
What to expect and why... It takes 24 hours for a given dose of vitamin D3 to be absorbed and reach a maximum serum concentration in the blood stream.
Although it takes the liver 6 to 7 days to metabolize that amount vitamin D3 into 25(OH)D, there is usually sufficient 25(OH)D available in the bloodstream after a couple days for a therapeutic effect on CH.
After that we get to the interesting part of vitamin D3 metabolism where roughly 20% of 25(OH)D gets metabolized in the kidneys into 1,25(OH)2D3 in order to pull calcium from the gut to build bone mineral density.
The other 80% of the 25(OH)D gets metabolized extrarenal (outside the kidneys) in the periphery at the cellular and genetic level into 1,25(OH)2D3.
This 20/80 split can vary and is controlled by the parathyroid glands. If serum calcium is within it's normal reference range but at the low end of the scale, the parathyroids dump more parathyroid hormone (PTH) into the bloodstream and that signals the kidneys to metabolize more 25(OH)D into 1,25(OH)2D3. This serum level 1,25(OH)2D3 travels to the gut to pull more calcium into the blood stream to build bone mineral density.
If the serum calcium concentration is near the high end of its normal reference range, the parathyroids sense this condition and stop making PTH. This makes more of the 25(OH)D substrate available to the periphery for the extrarenal metabolism.
It's this extrarenal path of vitamin D3 mtabolism where 25(OH)D is metabolized to 1,25(OH)2D3 at the cellular and genetic level that supports the autocrine/paracrine signaling and genetic expression within the cells of the trigeminal nerves... and hopefully... this prevents our CH attacks.
The following graphic illustrates the two paths of vitamin D3 metabolism
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or 
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One of the interesting parts of all this is where a molecule of 1,25(OH)2D3 combines with retinoic acid (from vitamin A (retinol) and the vitamin D3 end of this molecule attaches to a gene at a vitamin D receptor (VDR) site while the retinoic acid attaches to an Retinoid X Receptor (RxR) as illustrated in the graphic below.
START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to or END PRINTPAGE
* Amended to clarify the above graphic illustrating a mechanism of action in preventing CH is one of many possible scenarios and may not be the actual mechanism that enables the anti-inflammatory regimen to prevent CH.
That said, CGRP is a powerful vasodilator and pain transmitter generated in the trigeminal ganglion during CH and migraine attacks.
The vitamin D3 metabolite, 1,25(OH)2D3, calcitriol, has also demonstrated the capacity to down-regulate/suppress CGRP production in the trigeminal ganglion. PLB
The simple explanation at this point is this is where genetic expression takes place. The molecules of 1,25(OH)2D3 and retinoic acid attach to a gene and this process unlocks the cell's genetic library of instructions. These instructions signal the cell to do any one of a number of things like divide, differentiate, produce more or less of certain products like peptides, or die.
Were it that simple, and in a perfect case, we would all be pain free in less than 3 days... Unfortunately life is never perfect and the law of supply and demand goes into effect.
It turns out that nearly every cell in every organ and tissue throughout the body needs vitamin D3 and has genes with VDR so they compete with the cells in our trigeminal nerves for available 25(OH)D.
On top of that, the friendly colonies of bacteria in our GI tract that make up most of our immune system take first dibs on the available 25(OH)D and the 1 alpha-hydroxylase enzyme that's needed to metabolize 25(OH)D into 1,25(OH)2D3.
Our immune systems run 7X24 to keep us healthy so this is not necessarily a bad thing... it's just a fact of life. What we've found over the last four years is when we have an immune response to a viral infection, bacterial infection, allergy, surgery or trauma, our immune systems consume even more 25(OH)D than normal leaving even less of this substrate for our trigeminal nerves.
Accordingly, the only way to ensure sufficient 25(OH)D and the 1 alpha-hydroxylase enzyme are available within our trigeminal nerves is to increase the supply of vitamin D3...
There are two other footnotes to this saga... The vitamin D3 binding proteins that transport vitamin D3 through the bloodstream consumes magnesium. The process of producing the parathyroid hormone also consumes magnesium.
Moreover, the enzyme that adds the [OH] radical to vitamin D3 at the 25th position on the vitamin D3 molecule in the liver in order to metabolize it into 25(OH)D3 consumes magnesium. The enzyme, 1 alpha-25-hydroxylase that adds another [OH] radical to the 1st position on this molecule metabolizing it to 1,25(OH)2D3 and it too requires magnesium.
Although the body tries to recycle this magnesium, a lot of it is filtered out in the liver as bile salts and eliminated in the GI tract. The rest of the magnesium is filtered out in the kidneys and dumped over the side in urine...
Sooo... the process of metabolizing vitamin D3 consumes magnesium, lots of it. It also consumes zinc, boron, vitamin A (retinol) and in the process it also moves calcium from the gut to the bones.
That's why all of the cofactors are so important. If any one of these cofactors are in short supply or missing, this whole contraption slows down or stops. When that happens... the beast jumps ugly, you get hit... and there's no pain free time...
I know you just wanted to know the time and not how to build a Swiss watch. That said, knowing how vitamin D3 and the cofactors work to prevent our CH makes it a little easier to understand why some of us experience a rapid pain free response to this regimen and others can take a lot longer.
Understanding this process also helps us decide what to do or try next to get pain free. The key thing here is knowing your 25(OH)D serum concentration... If it's below 80 ng/mL... load more vitamin D3 and the cofactors.
If the serum concentration of 25(OH)D is up near or above 100 ng/mL, then you need to look elsewhere for another medical condition that's triggering an immune response or driving your arterial pH too low, (too much acid).
Hope this helps.
Take care and please keep us posted.
V/R, Batch
It appears you are both a little above the tipping point with your 25(OH)D serum concentration, no major head bangers... but still having low level CH.
You both can speed up the 25(OH)D reserve building process and hopefully going pain free a little faster by taking a 50,000 IU loading dose of vitamin D3 for two days instead of your regular dose. Be sure to keep your magnesium intake up between 500 and 750 mg/day for the next week. The other cofactors are also essential.
What to expect and why... It takes 24 hours for a given dose of vitamin D3 to be absorbed and reach a maximum serum concentration in the blood stream.
Although it takes the liver 6 to 7 days to metabolize that amount vitamin D3 into 25(OH)D, there is usually sufficient 25(OH)D available in the bloodstream after a couple days for a therapeutic effect on CH.
After that we get to the interesting part of vitamin D3 metabolism where roughly 20% of 25(OH)D gets metabolized in the kidneys into 1,25(OH)2D3 in order to pull calcium from the gut to build bone mineral density.
The other 80% of the 25(OH)D gets metabolized extrarenal (outside the kidneys) in the periphery at the cellular and genetic level into 1,25(OH)2D3.
This 20/80 split can vary and is controlled by the parathyroid glands. If serum calcium is within it's normal reference range but at the low end of the scale, the parathyroids dump more parathyroid hormone (PTH) into the bloodstream and that signals the kidneys to metabolize more 25(OH)D into 1,25(OH)2D3. This serum level 1,25(OH)2D3 travels to the gut to pull more calcium into the blood stream to build bone mineral density.
If the serum calcium concentration is near the high end of its normal reference range, the parathyroids sense this condition and stop making PTH. This makes more of the 25(OH)D substrate available to the periphery for the extrarenal metabolism.
It's this extrarenal path of vitamin D3 mtabolism where 25(OH)D is metabolized to 1,25(OH)2D3 at the cellular and genetic level that supports the autocrine/paracrine signaling and genetic expression within the cells of the trigeminal nerves... and hopefully... this prevents our CH attacks.
The following graphic illustrates the two paths of vitamin D3 metabolism
START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to
or END PRINTPAGEOne of the interesting parts of all this is where a molecule of 1,25(OH)2D3 combines with retinoic acid (from vitamin A (retinol) and the vitamin D3 end of this molecule attaches to a gene at a vitamin D receptor (VDR) site while the retinoic acid attaches to an Retinoid X Receptor (RxR) as illustrated in the graphic below.
START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!! You need to
or END PRINTPAGE* Amended to clarify the above graphic illustrating a mechanism of action in preventing CH is one of many possible scenarios and may not be the actual mechanism that enables the anti-inflammatory regimen to prevent CH.
That said, CGRP is a powerful vasodilator and pain transmitter generated in the trigeminal ganglion during CH and migraine attacks.
The vitamin D3 metabolite, 1,25(OH)2D3, calcitriol, has also demonstrated the capacity to down-regulate/suppress CGRP production in the trigeminal ganglion. PLB
The simple explanation at this point is this is where genetic expression takes place. The molecules of 1,25(OH)2D3 and retinoic acid attach to a gene and this process unlocks the cell's genetic library of instructions. These instructions signal the cell to do any one of a number of things like divide, differentiate, produce more or less of certain products like peptides, or die.
Were it that simple, and in a perfect case, we would all be pain free in less than 3 days... Unfortunately life is never perfect and the law of supply and demand goes into effect.
It turns out that nearly every cell in every organ and tissue throughout the body needs vitamin D3 and has genes with VDR so they compete with the cells in our trigeminal nerves for available 25(OH)D.
On top of that, the friendly colonies of bacteria in our GI tract that make up most of our immune system take first dibs on the available 25(OH)D and the 1 alpha-hydroxylase enzyme that's needed to metabolize 25(OH)D into 1,25(OH)2D3.
Our immune systems run 7X24 to keep us healthy so this is not necessarily a bad thing... it's just a fact of life. What we've found over the last four years is when we have an immune response to a viral infection, bacterial infection, allergy, surgery or trauma, our immune systems consume even more 25(OH)D than normal leaving even less of this substrate for our trigeminal nerves.
Accordingly, the only way to ensure sufficient 25(OH)D and the 1 alpha-hydroxylase enzyme are available within our trigeminal nerves is to increase the supply of vitamin D3...
There are two other footnotes to this saga... The vitamin D3 binding proteins that transport vitamin D3 through the bloodstream consumes magnesium. The process of producing the parathyroid hormone also consumes magnesium.
Moreover, the enzyme that adds the [OH] radical to vitamin D3 at the 25th position on the vitamin D3 molecule in the liver in order to metabolize it into 25(OH)D3 consumes magnesium. The enzyme, 1 alpha-25-hydroxylase that adds another [OH] radical to the 1st position on this molecule metabolizing it to 1,25(OH)2D3 and it too requires magnesium.
Although the body tries to recycle this magnesium, a lot of it is filtered out in the liver as bile salts and eliminated in the GI tract. The rest of the magnesium is filtered out in the kidneys and dumped over the side in urine...
Sooo... the process of metabolizing vitamin D3 consumes magnesium, lots of it. It also consumes zinc, boron, vitamin A (retinol) and in the process it also moves calcium from the gut to the bones.
That's why all of the cofactors are so important. If any one of these cofactors are in short supply or missing, this whole contraption slows down or stops. When that happens... the beast jumps ugly, you get hit... and there's no pain free time...
I know you just wanted to know the time and not how to build a Swiss watch. That said, knowing how vitamin D3 and the cofactors work to prevent our CH makes it a little easier to understand why some of us experience a rapid pain free response to this regimen and others can take a lot longer.
Understanding this process also helps us decide what to do or try next to get pain free. The key thing here is knowing your 25(OH)D serum concentration... If it's below 80 ng/mL... load more vitamin D3 and the cofactors.
If the serum concentration of 25(OH)D is up near or above 100 ng/mL, then you need to look elsewhere for another medical condition that's triggering an immune response or driving your arterial pH too low, (too much acid).
Hope this helps.
Take care and please keep us posted.
V/R, Batch