Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Vitamin D Fights Viruses

Gerry Schwalfenberg, M.D., spoke at the AAEM meeting October 30 about the innate immune system and how it would either prevent or help us fight the H1N1 flu. Then he went into the discussion on the autoimmune disease link and vitamin D. There are at least 12 TLR’s that have various functions not all clearly outlined yet.

Since this is such an important issue at this time, he sent AAEM an article that accurately shows how this system can respond within minutes to fight pathogens and down regulate the inflammatory response in a dose dependant manner. This is huge and may save many lives.

He is using 10,000IU q12 h of vitamin D for five doses and 10,000iu daily for a week in patients who acutely come down with viral symptoms with astonishing results (better within 24hr and well within 48). He does not use as much if they already use vitamin D daily.