Low Vitamin D level appears to cause sleep apnea

[DrowsyDan]

"There are plenty of quacks with peer-reviewed papers"

Not every hypothesis or study result which appears in the medical literature is flawless or pans out, but I can tell you as someone who has spent a good deal of time around that literature professionally that the notion that there are "Plenty of quacks" appearing there as the term "quack" is generally defined is simply nonsense.

[sgominak]

One of my patients just turned me on to this site and I appreciate the quoting and want to answer the understandable comments about quackery as I also find most vitamin sites rather "quacky". I am not the least bit interested in vitamins but I am very interested in sleep and got there through my patient who forced me to do a sleep study and I found that her headaches were cured by her CPAP device. I was a very avid CPAP advocate for 7 years and and I still am. I have done sleep studies on any of my patients who would let me for the last 6-7 years but I began to wonder, why does everyone have sleep apnea?
Why would every other mammal get paralyzed in sleep and not need CPAP? Why do I have 8 year olds with sleep apnea who are not overweight? Why do we only need CPAP while sleeping if fat neck is really the answer? Why don't the squirrels have to wear CPAP? If the dinosaurs got paralyzed in sleep so they could repair moving parts and dream without acting out their dreams why is the entire developed world reporting sleep apnea epidemics starting in the 1980's? Fat comes from or as a parrallel development to the sleep disorder it is not the cause. The sleep disorders come in many flavors, why would this 12 year old stop breathing some and kick her legs also? Does she have two separate sleep disorders, why would a young healthy preteen have two sleep disorders? God or Biology ( depending on your religious beliefs) has gotten this absolutely right for millions of years and then all of a sudden all around the planet this is happening. For about 2 years I wondered if it could be a toxin from the internal combustion engine because it's not epidemic in the "undeveloped" countries where they're still plowing behind a water buffalo. So my supposition that sleep apnea can be cured comes from the observation that it is not an all or none phenomenon, REM related apnea is a milder "beginner sleep apnea" form. In order to understand better I've read alot about how we get paralyzed in sleep, I've thought alot about why we might have to get paralyzed in sleep.

[apneawho]

My internist is testing all patients lab work for Vit D levels. He said he finds more people are deficient than not and below normal levels can cause fatigue and depression. He placed me on 2000 IU of D3 per day for 2 weeks and then I will drop back to 1000 IU per day and have blood drawn in 1 month.

[sgominak]

Part 3 : If sleep apnea develops slowly over time as the cells that are supposed to be beating regularly supplying a steady, consistent, never varying, message "stay paralyzed... stay paralyzed" start to goof up a little then if we can get the raw materials back to that area to get it operating well again, then sleep apnea is not permanent. I also happen to have a patient with a totally different disease, a parkinson's-like disease, (multiple system atrophy) who had terribly severe sleep apnea to the point of using BiPAP with the highest pressures sitting up in a chair, to slowly over 2 years being able to lie down and then no apnea at all,therefore the idea of the possibility that sleep apnea was not permanent was placed in my head by that patient.
The most important take away point of this post: D is not a vitamin. It is a hormone. It is as powerful and dangerous as cortisosteroids. Do not mess with it if you don't know what you're doing. It can give you back your life, but it can also kill you. The sleep disorder caused by low D comes back at D levels over 80, that means I can potentially kill you by running your level up and ignoring it. The most horrible, insidious part is you'll never know it's the D because your sleep apnea will just get worse, you'll get more back pain, you'll get hypertension and diabetes your feet will hurt, we doctors will be happy to tell you that's because you're fat, then you'll come in to the hospital with a blood clot or a heart attack or a stroke and everyone but me will say "Oh, (s)he has high cholesterol, hypertension, obesity, and sleep apnea, no wonder (s) had a stroke". While it turns out I just stole away your ability to heal your body in 50 different ways by taking your sleep away with a D over 80. Follow the level, always. keep it between 60-80, be patient and CPAP definitely helps, just open your mind to the concept that the body was not originally made to need pills or CPAP (that was a rather shocking concept for me also, remember I'm your doctor who's giving you that mask)>SGominak

[hugho]

Intersetinf reading but I wonder why the prescription isn't to spend some time everyday outside in the sunlight instead of take another pill?

[Emilia]

Intersetinf reading but I wonder why the prescription isn't to spend some time everyday outside in the sunlight instead of take another pill?

For many, getting enough sun is enough; however, suncreen, statins meds, and for some, just not being able to absorab it are reasons it doesn't always work. I know a person who is an avid outdoor athlete getting tons of sun exposure and he is so deficient in D3, he has to take 20,000 IU's to maintain a normal level. It just isn't as black and white as you might think.

[Lizistired]

Dr Gominak, thanks for dropping in. I found the video very interesting. I'm thrilled anytime someone looks for a cause instead of treating symptoms. Could you post the link to your website you mentioned in the video?
I had a chance to watch it carefully this morning and I am still processing.
I worked shift work for years, mostly nights, but it occured to me that the first time I went to the doctor complaining of fatique was shortly after getting my first indoors all day/night job, 25 years ago. Next came chronic joint pain.
My apnea was also mild REM related, but I had the sleep study last year because I wasn't sleeping well and never felt rested. Not because I snored or was told I stop breathing.
I'm still trying to process the part of the video that discussed the paralysis switch, and that "it's not the O2". So I guess I'll be watching it again.

[hugho]

Thanks
I'm one who takes statins so that probably messes up the sun exposure idea.
probably try both sun and supplements

[Lizistired]

So it seems that you would need your D tested every 2 months to track supplement effects and account for seasonal changes.

[sgominak]

Sorry about my posts being incomplete, I can't get the middle section to post. My web site is http://www.drgominak.com. I'm not selling anything just wanted to find a way to get these ideas out there to the many people who might be helped while the large slow, medical knowledge machine finally gets on board with the idea that we all heal in sleep.

[Muse-Inc]

...don't start taking huge amounts of Vit. D3 without a doctor's supervision, as D can be toxic at levels higher than 100 nanograms...

Only the D2 form becomes toxic at high levels and no one should be taking it as it must be converted to D3 for humans to use it.

Took me 18 months of slowly increasing my doses of D3 to go from 17 to 68 in lab tests. I currently take 15,000 IU D3/day to maintain these levels but I am obese and those of us in that category must take large amts to raise & maintain our D levels. As we age, we lose the ability to convert cholesterol to D3 via sunshine on our skin...just thought y'all like to know as sunshine might not work well to increase D levels.

[ozij]

Muse, Dr. G. is talking of the toxicity of higher D3 serum levels, not of the dosage taken.

[Muse-Inc]

Muse, Dr. G. is talking of the toxicity of higher D3 serum levels, not of the dosage taken.

Thanks Ozij, will watch her videos when I get some time. It would take a lot to convince me that high levels of D alone are toxic as everything I've read says that only supplementation with D2 can become toxic but not so with the D3 form because the D3 form is the kind the human body uses. At one time my bloodwork showed a level of 144 but I was following the European Stoss protocol fighting a viral infection & had taken a huge amt during the week before my blood draw.

[grumpygirl]

Dr. Gominak- Can use of Vit. D3 cause any other side effects other than the more severe ones you have noted? For example would increasing your dose cause insomnia or anxiety? I am fascinated with your theory and cannot wait to see my GYN next week to have my D levels checked. I want to be sure that he will not have a problem checking my levels more often than the once a year I currently do. I have often thought that the very low stats I get on my cpap machine in the mornings indicate that I am not reaching a deep level of sleep. With numbers like 0.0 for leak and 0.0 for AI and 0.6 for HI I should feel great but instead I continue to struggle with fatique, fibromyalgia like symptoms, along with depression etc. I think your theory might be an answer for me. I am going to do my best to follow through with increasing my D levels and getting blood tests more frequently. Thanks for contacting us directly on cpaptalk, I know I appreciate it very much.

[Lizistired]

Muse, Dr. G. is talking of the toxicity of higher D3 serum levels, not of the dosage taken.

Thanks Ozij, will watch her videos when I get some time. It would take a lot to convince me that high levels of D alone are toxic as everything I've read says that only supplementation with D2 can become toxic but not so with the D3 form because the D3 form is the kind the human body uses. At one time my bloodwork showed a level of 144 but I was following the European Stoss protocol fighting a viral infection & had taken a huge amt during the week before my blood draw.

Muse, You will see in the videos she gives a target level of 60-80 and has found that going over the 80 will cause the same problems/return of symptoms as being below 60.
How often do you have your level tested?