HealthBee

OK. I can’t get enough of Vitamin D lately. I’m fascinated learning about it.

One of the questions I had with my doctor was to ask about Boniva. I had been taking it for years, and when my x-rays showed my bone density as improved enough that I no longer had osteoporosis my doctor pulled me off of it.

About a month ago, I went to my doctor and learned that my toe was cracked. I asked her if perhaps my osteoporosis was back. She told me that she wanted to get my Vitamin D levels back to normal before she put me back on Boniva. I asked what her thinking was, and she told me that even if I took Boniva (or any other Bisphosphonate such as Fosamax or Actonel), my body would only build weak bone. Without Vitamin D levels at a normal level, you’re not really helping yourself.

As always, talk to you doctor about what is best for you, but you might want to ask to be tested for Vitamin D.

My friend Trisha at Ideas for Women, pointed out a great article on Scientific American about Vitamin D. It’s a little long — 6 pages of small type — so you might want to print it off.

The article goes into the new studies and developments scientists are finding out about this vitamin and it is much more important than originally thought.

For many years, Vitamin D was only thought to influence bone development. But recent studies have shown that Vitamin D — or rather the lack of it — is actually tied to cancers, autoimmune diseases and infectious diseases. It is showing that the recommended daily allowance needs to be re-evaluated.

The article starts with a historical use of the vitamin to treat rickets and tuberculosis. It then goes into a laymen’s study of what Vitamin D actually is, how it is used in the body and what the different types are. It then talks about various studies that are being done.

I think one of the most interesting things about this Vitamin is that, while it is a fat soluble vitamin, it is difficult to overdose on it. A direct quote from the article

Toxic vitamin D overdose through supplementation is certainly possible, although it is generally seen when doses of 40,000 IU or more of D have been taken daily for an extended period. Sunshine-induced vitamin D toxicity has never been observed, however. To put this in perspective, an adult woman with white skin exposed to summer sun while wearing a bikini generates about 10,000 IU of vitamin D in 15 to 20 minutes. Longer exposures do not generate higher amounts of vitamin D, because UVB light also degrades the vitamin, preventing too much of it from building up in the skin.

It is definitely worth talking to your doctor to be tested for Vitamin D deficiency. All it takes is a simple blood test, and it is estimated that 40% of people are deficient. You are at particular risk if you are Asian, African American or Hispanic — that is, people with more pigment in the skin.

See also: Are you Vitamin D Deficient?

Women, particularly moms in general, have little time, and lots of friends to buy birthday cards for. If you think how many people you know off the top of your head, you probably know a lot more than you realize: the person who boards your dog, your children’s teacher, the Sunday school lady who plays piano in your church group, the soccer coach, and just other moms in general. And all of them have birthdays.

As a mom, you’ve gotta stretch that dollar as far as you can. And birthday cards can get expensive. Think about it. Most cards these days cost around $3.50 to $4.00 apiece if you purchase them in a store. Not to mention the time it takes to pick them out, all while you’ve got kids running around you, or bored to death, or whining that they don’t want to be in the store.

One easy to save money and to avoid the pain of the card store is to buy birthday cards in bulk online and store them until you need them. A tip: look for businesses that cater to other businesses to find the best deal on buying items in bulk.

Cards Direct has a great assortment pack of birthday cards that you can purchase that includes 5 designs of 10 cards each.

AND..here’s the really cool part: you can personalize these cards however you want. So, you can get the return address pre-printed on the envelope to save you even more time. Because CardsDirect is a company that caters mostly to businesses, you can get such great deals on cards.

This kind of out-of-the-box thinking can save you some big dollars. Give it a try.