- Reactions to vitamin D3 are very rare as skin exposed to the UVB in direct sunlight produces vitamin D3 naturally. It is generally considered to be one of the safest vitamin supplements you can take. However, if you are allergic to sunlight, do not start this regimen without contacting your PCP or neurologist first. If you experience a reaction to this regimen including and not limited to, an upset stomach for more than a day, swelling in and around the mouth or face, or an obvious allergic reaction, discontinue the entire regimen and contact your family physician. The best course of action if this occurs is to start taking the vitamin D3 and if there’s no reaction, add each of the other supplements one at a time, every 3 to 4 days to use the process of elimination to determine what is actually causing the reaction.
** If you are presently taking verapamil as a cluster headache preventative or for a heart condition, studies have shown that after repetitive dosing with verapamil, the serum half-life can be in a range from 4.5 to 12 hours. Other studies indicated calcium supplements interfere with calcium channel blockers like verapamil. Calcium gluconate is also used to treat reactions to oral verapamil. Accordingly, in order to minimize a possible interaction with calcium that may limit verapamil effectiveness, separate the verapamil and calcium doses by at least 8 hours. Discus this regimen with your PCP, neurologist, or cardiologist in order to work out an optimum dosing schedule.
*** If you are presently using blood-thinning drugs such as Warfarin or Coumadin for cluster headache or for a heart condition, vitamin K is generally contraindicated. However, studies have found vitamin K2 to be an effective stabilizer in anticoagulant therapy, proving beneficial in situations of over-anticoagulation or when the response to therapy has been variable. See your PCP, neurologist, and or cardiologist.
**** Vitamin A is an important part of this regimen as long as it’s not taken in excess of the RDA… Taking too much vitamin A can be harmful. A daily serving of carrots, spinach, or squash are a great source of beta carotene, a precursor to vitamin A. A serving a day will meet your RDA. A serving of chicken or beef liver a week will also meet your vitamin A needs. The rationale for taking vitamin A is important. It’s essential for the second mode of vitamin D3 metabolism from the 25(OH)D in the blood serum into 1,25(OH)2D3, (calcitriol) that takes place in all the different types of body cells. These cell types include heart muscle, skeletal muscle, smooth muscle, bone, skin, brain, nerve, and the list goes on. We’re not sure at this point, but this mode of cellular metabolism of vitamin D3 into it’s active metabolite may be responsible for the prophylactic effect on cluster headache.