Vitamin D for Flu Prevention

I've read multiple times over the years how good Vitamin D is for flu prevention. While everyone around me has had colds that last for weeks, as well as flu, I'm still healthy as a horse. (Where does that saying even come from?) Currently, the severity of the flu epidemic around the country is the most popular topic of discussion everywhere you turn. Our state is one of the worst, and I keep hearing of people who were hospitalized and even died from influenza (or influenza related illness). Why am I still so healthy?

I'll get to that in a minute, but first I want to share something I just learned. In the article I wrote (link below) about Vitamin D, I mention the low Vitamin D status of myself and my kids. My mom told me years ago that her Vitamin D is always low, despite working outside in her garden everyday. I filed it in my brain, but didn't think anything of it. Then my kids and I tested low, and I thought it was curious. I recently  found out why. I'll make a really long story short and say that my kids have a connective tissue disorder, and I'm almost certain my mom does as well, and I'm figuring out that all the odd symptoms I've had in the past lead toward the same diagnosis (it is hereditary).

Connective tissue disorders are weird, because they can be mild or very debilitating; you can live to be 80 or die in infancy. They are quite rare (until you start researching, and then it seems everyone has one!) Some examples are Marfan Syndrome, Ehler's Danlos Syndrome (there are many forms), and Loey's Dietz Syndrome. One of the main symptoms is hypermobility, and one of the most serious symptoms is found in the heart (aortic root enlargement).

If you are "bendy" or people have called you "double jointed," AND you have mitral valve prolapse, and problems with other connective tissue (dislocations/sublexations, retinal detachment, collapsed arches, etc) then you fit somewhere on the spectrum of hypermobility syndromes. This is important because...

Another symptom is chronically low Vitamin D.

I don't know why this is, but it's been discussed on facebook groups that people who have connective tissue disorders also frequently have chronically low Vitamin D. This explains why I have been getting sick in summer- because I've been relying on the sun for Vitamin D, but it hasn't been working that way in me. From now on, I will be taking Vitamin D all year.

I suggest getting your Vitamin D level checked in August. That will determine if you are getting enough Vitamin D during summer. If you don't spend much time outside in summer, then by all means, take a supplement!

I posted about Vitamin D on my facebook page recently and many friends spoke up about how healthy they have been as well, from taking 10,000 IU Vitamin D each day. It works!
Here's my original article on it with more info:

Preventing Colds and Flu

Optimal Vitamin D levels also help prevent cancer, so there's a bonus. Just take it!