Help with Lupus patient

[Guest guest]

I am not an expert here.  Where do I start?

Dawn Privett, RDLD, CLT

http://www.symmetrydirect.com/dprivett

[Guest guest]

Hi Dawn....... there seems to be an inverse relationship between Lupus and

Vitamin D, so it would be worth checking vitamin D levels.   As with anything

autoimmune, rule out celiac disease.   LEAP has helped one of my lupus

patients.... her lupus is no longer active. 

 

Page 1 of a Medscape article on Vitamin D and Lupus below.   To see the whole

thing, you have to create a free username and password if you don't have one

already.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/579395

 

From Current Opinion in Rheumatology

Vitamin D in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Diane Kamen; Aranow

Authors and Disclosures

Posted: 10/06/2008; Curr Opin Rheumatol. 2008;20(5):532-537. 

Abstract and Introduction

Purpose of Review: There is growing interest in the contribution of vitamin D

deficiency to autoimmunity. It is therefore timely to review the immunologic

actions of vitamin D and the evidence linking vitamin D deficiency to autoimmune

disease in animal models and to systemic lupus erythematosus in epidemiologic

studies.

Recent Findings: A number of recent studies have highlighted the association

between systemic lupus erythematosus and vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D

deficiency skews the immunologic response towards loss of tolerance. Adding

vitamin D in vitro reverses immunologic abnormalities characteristic of systemic

lupus erythematosus.

Summary: Multiple systemic lupus erythematosus cohorts have low vitamin D

levels. The physiologic and clinical consequences of vitamin D deficiency in

systemic lupus erythematosus are not entirely known. Prospective studies of

vitamin D in systemic lupus erythematosus are limited, but most cross-sectional

studies show an inverse relationship between levels of vitamin D and disease

activity. This suggests that repletion of vitamin D may have benefits beyond

bone health for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Introduction

Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that plays a crucial role in calcium metabolism

and bone homeostasis. It is increasingly recognized that vitamin D also has

important roles in multiple other systems, including effects on muscles,

vasculature, reproduction, cellular growth and differentiation, malignancy and

the immune system. Vitamin D's regulatory role of vitamin D in modulating the

immune response includes inhibitory effects on T cells, B cells and dendritic

cells. These suppressive immunologic properties have led to considering its role

in autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The

consequences of vitamin D deficiency on disease susceptibility and severity, as

well as vitamin D's potential as an immunomodulatory therapeutic agent, are

areas of growing interest among rheumatologists.

 

 

Subject: Help with Lupus patient

To: " LEAP RDs " <LEAP_RDs >, " RD USA " <rd-usa >

Date: Friday, March 11, 2011, 3:27 PM

I am not an expert here.  Where do I start?

Dawn Privett, RDLD, CLT

http://www.symmetrydirect.com/dprivett