Convinced by experience, confirmed by the research, I
now know that vitamin D was the missing ingredient in the treatment of my
asthma and underactive thyroid.
Here in the Northeast, as summer fades away and fall and
winter unfolds, most people look forward to the holidays and the season of colder
weather, snow angels, snowmen, snowballs, skiing, and snowmobiling. They look
forward to the competitions for the Stanley Cup, the basketball championships,
March Madness, and Super Bowl. I could enjoy the wintertime too, but with the
season brings cold, dry weather that increasingly has become hell on earth.
Why?
During the winter months high heating costs makes it difficult to keep costs down, heat my home and keep warm. I use a space heater in one room for warmth, but the rest of my home is pretty much without heat.
Beginning in late fall, around the holidays, the severity of my asthma increases, and at some point I will become afflicted with severe bronchial asthma that lasts off and on until spring.
An underactive thyroid, hypothyroidism, produces many symptoms. One of those symptoms is an increased sensitivity to cold. So without precautions and treatment, my underactive thyroid causes my fingers and toes to become numb, cracked, and very painful.
Over time they both came together to make life very difficult and even perilous.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Over the course of a few years prior to retirement, it became increasingly difficult to breathe. When I retired, my doctor’s diagnosis was persistent asthma. He prescribed an inhaler for maintenance and an inhaler in case of an emergency that I often use to pre-medicate.
About a year later, I received my first complete physical exam. A blood test revealed that I was hypothyroid. My doctor prescribed a daily intake of a synthetic thyroid hormone.
Although my symptoms did improve, to one degree or another they persisted. Primarily, asthma required more medication from my emergency inhaler than should have been necessary and I continued to be afflicted with bouts of depression, memory loss, lack of concentration, fatigue, weakness, aches and pains in my neck and shoulders, tingling, hoarseness, leg cramps, and difficulty sleeping..
I discussed these lingering symptoms with my doctor. He ordered another blood test. The result was low levels of vitamin D. He prescribed a daily intake of 2000 IUs of vitamin D.
Now I feel like a new man
There has been a reduction in the severity of my asthma and other symptoms have not returned. It takes a while before vitamin D, not acquired from sunlight, to become optimal, so things should only improve.
Subsequent to this diagnosis, I did some research and found that vitamin D deficiency plays a role in many medical conditions. Specifically, the research shows that a vitamin D supplement can reduce the severity of asthma, and vitamin D plays an indispensable role in thyroid hormone function -- an underactive thyroid may actually play a direct role in asthma.
Copyright © 2014 Horatio Green
Why?
During the winter months high heating costs makes it difficult to keep costs down, heat my home and keep warm. I use a space heater in one room for warmth, but the rest of my home is pretty much without heat.
Beginning in late fall, around the holidays, the severity of my asthma increases, and at some point I will become afflicted with severe bronchial asthma that lasts off and on until spring.
An underactive thyroid, hypothyroidism, produces many symptoms. One of those symptoms is an increased sensitivity to cold. So without precautions and treatment, my underactive thyroid causes my fingers and toes to become numb, cracked, and very painful.
Over time they both came together to make life very difficult and even perilous.
Symptoms and diagnosis
Over the course of a few years prior to retirement, it became increasingly difficult to breathe. When I retired, my doctor’s diagnosis was persistent asthma. He prescribed an inhaler for maintenance and an inhaler in case of an emergency that I often use to pre-medicate.
About a year later, I received my first complete physical exam. A blood test revealed that I was hypothyroid. My doctor prescribed a daily intake of a synthetic thyroid hormone.
Although my symptoms did improve, to one degree or another they persisted. Primarily, asthma required more medication from my emergency inhaler than should have been necessary and I continued to be afflicted with bouts of depression, memory loss, lack of concentration, fatigue, weakness, aches and pains in my neck and shoulders, tingling, hoarseness, leg cramps, and difficulty sleeping..
I discussed these lingering symptoms with my doctor. He ordered another blood test. The result was low levels of vitamin D. He prescribed a daily intake of 2000 IUs of vitamin D.
Now I feel like a new man
There has been a reduction in the severity of my asthma and other symptoms have not returned. It takes a while before vitamin D, not acquired from sunlight, to become optimal, so things should only improve.
Subsequent to this diagnosis, I did some research and found that vitamin D deficiency plays a role in many medical conditions. Specifically, the research shows that a vitamin D supplement can reduce the severity of asthma, and vitamin D plays an indispensable role in thyroid hormone function -- an underactive thyroid may actually play a direct role in asthma.
Copyright © 2014 Horatio Green
