Vitamin D3 For Viruses.

[smurfchops]

Doctor has prescribed me 1000 mg per day as I get persistent viruses and colds. My thyroid is borderline . Any thoughts anyone ? Does it work ? I have yet another cough and cold as we speak ...

[Sqad]

I have seen nothing in scientific studies that has convinced me that VItamin D3 or for that matter any other vitamin plays any part in the immune system concerning viruses. Your GP however clearly doesn't agree.

[smurfchops]

Sqad I thought it was odd as did my pharmacist, We always thought it was vitamin C but there are some sites on the Internet now that say Vit D3. Sqad is there anything you could recommend , I can't take echinacea all the time although it seems to help if I am near air conditioning or take it quickly enough when someone near me keeps coughing or sneezing ...

[Sqad]

smurfy...what ar you MAIN problems?

Blocked nose?
Discharge from your nose...watery?, thick? coloured?
Attacks of sneezing?
Itchy nose?

[LazyGun]

@ Smurf - I would agree with Sqad. Evidence for the efficacy of Vitamin D when it comes to Upper Respiratory Tract Infections is poor.

From a recent study, well controlled Randomised Controlled Trial carried out between 2010 and 2012 on 320 or so people

"In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Jeffrey A. Linder, M.D., MPH, an expert from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, wrote that the "results suggest that vitamin D should join the therapies listed in the Cochrane reviews as being ineffective for preventing or treating upper respiratory tract infections in healthy adults."

The only caveat is that for those people who are actually deficient in Vitamin D then supplements may possibly prove beneficial. All of the participants in the study, above, had normal levels of Vitamin D.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/vitamin-d-colds-upper-respiratory-tract-infection_n_1932922.html

[neodarwinian]

What type of physician was this?

He could have given you a placebo just as well as given you this treatment with no known efficacy.

[nungate]

I was coming down with colds every couple of weeks or so, and I mentioned it to my GP who put me on a soluble zinc supplement for a few weeks (tasted foul) but after that little boost I rarely have colds these days.

[smurfchops]

Sqad, if someone sneezes, coughs etc. near me, three days later I get a sore throat for three days (I have started gargling with TCP which has sometimes helped), this then goes into a cough, quite chesty although touch wood no actual chest infections. Bad tickly coughs, can last for a couple of weeks. This one seemed to start as a head cold but now I have the cough again, although today is better than yesterday so maybe its on its way out now. So you all suggest zinc, not Vit D3? I have a wonderful doctor, she's never usually wrong, but may be this time ... I also find that echinacea helps me but as mentioned I can't use it too often.