Vitamin A , whats safe and how much do we need a day

[christina]

my dry eyes are getting worse , im underactive thyroid , and still got to increase to 150MG ( hennings brand) im low in vitamin D , iron, vitaminB12, folic acid, and i have dry eye sydrome , but im wondering if its due to low vitamin A , whats your thoughts ? any advise welcome

[gabkad]

christina, there is a blood test for vitamin A. My endo ordered it. You can ask and find out if you are low. Since it is a fat soluble vitamin and people with Hashimoto can have dysfunction in production of bile acid, this is something that ought to be tested routinely but is not.

Generally it's about 3,500 IU per day. People think that beta carotene is the same thing as retinol but it isn't. Ideally a person could make 1 retinol (vitamin A molecule) from 2 beta carotene molecules, but this is not universal. There are people who need orders of magnitude more beta carotene to get enough retinol manufactured by their bodies.

[christina in reply to gabkad]

hi ,

thank you for your reply , where can i get tested for vitamin a and do you know how much ?? im at the endof my thether with my eyes , they are driving my funny even worse at night

[gabkad in reply to christina]

Ask your doctor or endo.

[shaws Administrator]

I believe Vitamin A is very helpful for eyes

hypothyroidmom.com/300-hypothyroidism-symptoms-yes-really/

Also Eyebright (herb) is also good for eyes.

[aldebaran3003]

Do you have Sjogren’s syndrome?

[christina in reply to aldebaran3003]

no , i was tested for sjogrens , and it came back that i didnt but i do have a very dy mouth aswell as eyes

[aldebaran3003 in reply to christina]

do you know if the Dr did an ANA and an ENA? If there is a high clinical suspicion of any of the gammut of autoimmune diseases that fall under the Lupus or Scleroderma banner, then an ENA should be done if the ANA is negative. What that means is, if it's likely you have Sjogren’s syndrome, then an ENA should be done if the ANA didn't show anything.

[christina in reply to aldebaran3003]

hard to say as my dr just did some blood tests , they not very clued up tho , and i have tell them what to test for

[helvella Administrator]

Be careful to distinguish between pre-formed vitamin A and, what is often called vitamin A, beta-carotene.

You must be very careful with pre-formed vitamin A.

Beta-carotene is very safe but needs to be converted in the body to the active substance. In people who are hypothyroid, that conversion can be impaired. It is available in considerably quantities in many foods such as carrots.

[galathea]

Not allergic to pollen are you? Only some versions of levothyroxine contain acacia as a filler, which is heavy pollen and can can affect people. ....

thyroid.about.com/od/synthr...

Xx g

[christina in reply to galathea]

no , i allergic to a lot of things lke fillers in tablets , but not pollen thankfully because of this im on german brand henning

[christina]

does any body know where i can get a test for vitamin A done ?????????????

[Ctb567]

Hi Christina, I don't have thyroid problems but my mum does and I have pernicious anemia and dry eyes. Over the last year it seems like dry eyes is being officially recognised as a symptom.of vitamin A deficiency however its uncommon and most drs are not willing to test it. However I managed to get mine tested the other other day at the endocrinologists but it was a bit of a battle to get it done. The test takes 4 weeks and as its seeming like I have absorption problems I'm really hoping that the vitamin a is deficient, it sounds weird but I will just do anything to get rid of these dry eyes!! I was also low in vitamin d a while ago and obviously my b12 was low. From what i've read its worth getting vitamin a tested but there will be a specific reason to be deficient, if you look on vitamin a defiency on patient.co.uk then you'll see what I mean.

I got mine done in the NHS but you can get it done at any private hospital, just ring your local one up and ask the receptionist, they are usually £120 or a bit more.

[christina in reply to Ctb567]

hi thank you for your reply carly ,

i know exactly what you mean with the dry eyes , its driving me mad , im seeing a eye specialist , who just seems to give me drops , its go so much worse in the last 4 moths and at night as i try to sleep , my eye ball sticks to my lid , it makes me panic and sit up , its a horrible sensation to have , i will pay if need be , but just need to get some thing sorted and soon , let me know how what your results are x

[Ctb567 in reply to christina]

What do you use at night? You need to use some kind of ointment instead of drops, I use VitA-pos which you can get from boots otc, its really thick and stays in your eyes longer. I tend to use an ointment during the day too as drops do nothing for me. Also have you got a humidifier? They can help quite a bit, i got a portable one from john lewis for £35. I'll let you know what my results are when I get them, they also tested my vitamin E so that will be interesting to see if that's low too.

[christina in reply to Ctb567]

ok , hope its the results u want , ive just bit the bullet and rung the local private hospital up and made an appoitment , 55 to see the private dr and 45 for the blood test , so money well spent if i get some help, my appt in a couple of weeks , althought they had one tomorrow , i dont get paid for another 2 weeks lol , keep in touch Christina x

[shaws Administrator in reply to christina]

This may be helpful. I read it on a site for blepharitis.

If you put a face cloth in quite hot/warm water, wring, then wipe eyelids gently: rinse facecloth in the hot/warm water, wring and place over eyelids till it cools and repeat several times, up to about ten minutes.

It's particularly helpful first thing and before bed.

[christina in reply to shaws]

thank u , will try that tonight

[Ctb567 in reply to christina]

Actually doing a warm compress is a very good idea, I've been doing them for years now everyday and it does improve dry eyes. However I use a proper eye mask for this that you heat up in the microwaves as these hold heat more much longer, the eye bag I use is this: amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B001U7...

Then do a bit of an eye massage to unblock your tear ducts

[BeansMummy]

I'm low or deficient in lots of things too, some of which are slowly (at long last) being treated by my doctor (or me). I have wondered about vitamin A deficiency too, as I also have eye problems, and also have skin problems. My endocrinologist and GP both acknowledge that I clearly have a problem with absorption, so it would make sense that I am low in other vitamins that haven't been tested. I wish it was just routine that these things were tested for people who clearly have absorption issues.

Unfortunately, I just feel so dejected about continually visiting the doctor for everything, and requesting yet more tests, so haven't bothered. I was worried about buying something over-the-counter as I was pretty sure that I read that supplementing if you don't need it wasn't a good idea (I think I might have to google again to check though).

I shall follow your thread with interest.

[christina in reply to BeansMummy]

hi beans mummy ,

its so flustrating isnt it , ive made an app to see a private dr and getting the vitamin a tested , you are right if you arnt low , it can b dangerous to take , thats why im having it tested will keep you posted

[BeansMummy in reply to christina]

Good luck

[mstp]

I've suffered from dry eyes and have used various things quite successfully while treating other health problems but my recent dry eyes are, I think, due to the heating being on and the air drying out. The first time I thought of this I went into our small shower room and filled the sink with very hot water, put a towel over my head and breathed in the steam. It eased my eyes a lot, so now I put bowls of water on radiators, fill sinks with hot water and generally try to make rooms more humid. This seems to be working. It might be worth a try.

[christina in reply to mstp]

thank u will give it a try