Hey Jul059,

Thanks for the headzup you're starting the anti-inflammatory regimen...

You've done a fantastic job of meeting requirements for the supplements and doses... so you're off to a good start with this regimen. 

A handful of almonds, hazel nuts, dates or a teaspoon of honey a day will give you all the boron you need...

Now that you've a day of this regimen under your belt, be sure to start the accelerated vitamin D3 loading schedule.  You'll need 600,000 IU of vitamin D3 during this loading...  You can take this much vitamin D3 in a single oral dose, over a 4 day period or over 28 days.

The vitamin D3 loading schedule that's been working for the last year for most CH'ers starting this regimen involves the following:

Two weeks dosing at 20,000 IU/day vitamin D3 plus two 50,000 IU doses of vitamin D3 taken one each a week on top of the daily 20,000 IU.  For the second two weeks, take 15,000 IU/day vitamin D3.  Be sure to take all the cofactors each day. 

At the end of the 4-week loading schedule, drop your vitamin D3 intake to a maintenance dose of 10,000 IU/day and see your PCP or neurologist for the 25(OH)D lab test.

Magnesium is the most important cofactor as vitamin D3 at these doses consumes magnesium rapidly.  If you don't get enough magnesium, hand, foot and leg cramps will be an obvious signal... A small number of CH'ers experience heart palpitations if they don't get enough magnesium...

Taking as much as 500 to 750 mg/day magnesium will make sure there's no calcium-magnesium imbalance.

The above vitamin D3 loading schedule should elevate your serum 25(OH)D by 60 ng/mL...  If your serum concentration of 25(OH)D was 25 ng/mL before starting this regimen... your lab test after 30 days should come back between 80 and 85 ng/mL.

Take care and please keep us posted...

V/R, Batch

Hey Jul,

As long as you're not in cycle and not scheduled to be so for at least 3 weeks to a month, there's no need for an accelerated vitamin D3 loading schedule.  You've also time to get a lab test for your 25(OH)D, a.k.a., 25-hydroxyvitamin D serum concentration after you've been on this regimen at least a month.  All of us should know the concentration of this vitamin D3 metabolite that keeps us CH pain free.

Unfortunately, bureaucrats at your publicly funded National Health System in Canada have ruled that vitamin D testing is no longer a benefit of the Medical Services Plan for patients over the age of 18, unless ordered by a specialist. Accordingly you'll likely need to find a local diagnostic lab and pay for this test out of pocket.  These tests cost between $50 and $65 here in the US.

The rationale for taking a vitamin D3 loading dose is simple.  As you correctly pointed out, it's the fastest way of elevating serum 25(OH)D from deficient, i.e., less than 30 ng/mL, (75 nmol/L) up to the desired serum concentration... In our case as CH'ers, the target 25(OH)D serum concentration is 80 ng/mL, (200 nmol/L).  The following chart illustrates the time savings made possible by vitamin D3 loading.

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Regarding 10,000 IU/day vitamin D3 as the suggested maintenance dose, see the following chart.

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The 25(OH)D response curves per the doses illustrated in this chart were developed by Dr. Robert Heaney, M.D., a professor of endocrinology at Creighton University School of Medicine.  He compiled data from several vitamin D3 studies with hundreds people taking vitamin D3 at these doses while being tested for 25(OH)D to come up with these response curves.

I've added the color bands to represent data collected from the online survey of CH'ers taking the anti-inflammatory regimen to prevent their CH as well as lab tests for 25(OH)D reported in posts here at CH.com. 

From what I've observed, Dr. Heaney's 25(OH)D response curves are quite accurate.  The average 25(OH)D response to a dose of 10,000 IU/day, reported to date by CH'ers experiencing a pain free response, is 78.5 ng/mL, (196.3 nmol/L).

You'll also note that a dose of 5,000 IU/day vitamin D3 results in a 25(OH)D serum concentration response of 60 ng/mL, (150 nmol/L).  This 25(OH)D serum concentration appears to be the tipping point at which half the CH'ers are pain free and the other half are still getting hit.

Regarding the the strength of vitamin D3 capsules available in Canada without a prescription...  The government bureaucrats in your healthcare system have done it again... You're not alone... We've the same kind of idiot bureaucrats and politicians here in the US who would also like to limit the size of over the counter vitamin D3 to 1,000 IU.

Fortunately you can order 360 of the 10,000 IU vitamin D3 liquid gelcaps over the Internet at the following link from iHerb.com for $20 USD or 5.5 cents a day.  I just checked Costco Canada and 10,000 IU worth of the 1,000 IU tablets costs 20 cents a day...

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There's no shipping charge on orders over $40 so if you order a years worth of LEF Super K with advanced K2 Complex 4 X $22.50 less a 10% discount or $81 USD:

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With a 5% discount for orders over $40, a 10% discount for the first iHerb order, and a quantity discount for the super K, the bill including the international charge comes to $102.35 or 28.4 cents a day for a year's supply of vitamin D3 @ 10,000 IU/day and the Super K.(USD).

I just sent the exact same order above to a friend in Kelowna, BC, Canada.  She's recovering from breast cancer surgery.  Based on the advise of her Integrative physician and Carol Baggerly, the President of Grassroots Health and a breast cancer survivor, she decided not to go through chemo and radiation therapy... (There's no real evidence that chemo and radiation therapy actually improve the 5 year survival rate).   

Instead, she's cut out sugar, refined starches, processed foods and switched to a whole food anti-inflammatory diet.  She's also taking the anti-inflammatory regimen... just like we're taking to prevent our CH...

The bill from iHerb came to $102.35 (USD).

I made the mistake of FedExing a similar order to her last year at this time.  The FedEx bill for second business day delivery was over $100 for a 2 lb package and I had three pages of US and Canadian customs forms to fill out.

Take care and please keep us posted.

V/R, Batch