Just loved writing this headline

Testing for vitamin D deficiency skyrockets

Testing for vitamin D levels, once uncommon, has skyrocketed as medical studies raise awareness about vitamin D deficiencies, according to three of the USA’s largest medical diagnostic labs. Physicians agree that they’re increasingly using the blood test to find out whether their patients are low on the vital vitamin.

I thought that this headline was pretty exciting:

Mad Rush At Labs For Vitamin D Tests

That headline corroborates what we see locally. The lab that we use for our D testing has just installed their own machine to do their vitamin D testing in-house. (they use to send them to another lab) Our rep for the lab also told me that they’re planning on adding a second machine within the next month or so. I think that each machine is something like $100 K.

This also means that we’ll be getting the results faster now. It use to take about 5 business days, now they’ll be done in about 24 hours. All of this is really great to hear! The need for more vitamin D testing machines means that doctors are hearing the news and getting the message that it’s important to check their patients vitamin D levels.

That’s all for now,
Darcy

As I look at the pink tint of my skin from sitting at a mostly cloudy baseball game last night, I’m reminded about how darn easily I burn and how I just can’t get away without wearing sunscreen. But us pink folks are not alone!

Although it’s been a very cold and cloud covered spring here in the Pacific Northwest, I felt compelled to post an important reminder for those who are currently (or hopefully will be soon) out in the warm summer sunshine. This is a quote from one of the biggest vitamin D researhers out there:

“My message is very clear, YOU SHOULD NEVER BURN and always use sunlight in moderation for the beneficial effect which is the production of vitamin D.” Michael Hollick MD

Hollick MD recommends 15 minutes of mid-day sun without sunscreen, that’s it. Other than that you’re looking at oral vitamin D supplementation.

From what we’ve seen with numerous vitamin D lab tests done at our clinic in the middle of last summer, it’s very difficult to get enough vitamin D in the Pacific NW summer sun. So don’t think you’re doing yourself a favor by getting extra (likely harmful) sun exposure! Chances are that you’d be getting too much UVA (burning rays) and not enough UVB (vitamin D rays).

To be sure that you’re on the right track with proper vitamin D testing and treatment, check out some of the information in our vitamin D learning center.

I just found this at-home test for vitamin D deficiency.

I have a couple of initial thoughts about it. At first I was very excited to see it! I guess my enthusiasm was quickly tempered by the skeptic in me. I’ve done some at-home tests before for things like blood sugar and cholesterol and have had conflicting results when compared with regular lab testing. With this particular test, you basically collect a spot of blood on a special piece of paper and then mail it off to the lab for processing. Could this really be as accurate as the mainstream testing? I admit that I don’t know anything about the science behind the testing. The other reason for my hesitancy is that the test costs $112.00, it seems too expensive. I’ve reported that you can now get regular vitamin D testing done by one of our local labs for $70.00. Granted, that doesn’t include the doctors visit fee that most people would have to pay. It just seems to me that for an at-home test to have a good impact, it’s going to have to be substantially less expensive.

I guess the thing to do is to try one of these at-home tests out and compare it to the standard D testing to see how the results match up. If this test is accurate it could be a very cool way for people to do the critical re-checking of their vitamin D levels if their physicians are unwilling to. (You’ll remember that I’ve mentioned that although more doctors are willing to do the initial D testing they often fail to follow-up with re-checking levels to see if the treatment dose is doing the job.)

If anyone out there does one of these please let me know how it goes - ideally you’d have a standard test done at the same time.

A representative from one of the local laboratories (NW Regional lab) stopped by today with some literature about their new in-house vitamin D testing. So now instead of them having to ship the blood out and wait several days for results, they will now conduct the vitamin D tests locally and be able to rapidly (24 hrs.) provide results. He informed me that the reason they’re doing this is due to the sheer volume of vitamin D test requests they now receive. This is really great news!

Another surprise to me was that the charge for the test will be a mere $70.00. Now, that might sound like a lot, but it was not long ago that these tests ran more in the range of $275.00. I’m guessing other local labs will follow with their own in-house testing which hopefully will drive the price of this test down even more. My opinion is that this test should be readily available and financially accessible to everyone so I hope the price continues to come down!