Heather Olmer was desperate for relief from the head-to-toe, round-the-clock chronic hives she had faced each fall and winter for the past 10 years.
An allergic skin condition, chronic hives create red, itchy welts on the skin and sometimes swelling. They can occur daily and last longer than six weeks, even years.
“I was miserable,” said Olmer, of Norfolk, Neb. “My skin felt like it was crawling. I couldn’t sleep. I was depressed.”
She sought help from two physicians before meeting with Jill Poole, M.D., associate professor of internal medicine. Dr. Poole tried about 10 therapies. All failed to get rid of the hives.
In desperation, Olmer turned to the Internet where she found references to vitamin D deficiency and hives.
She asked Dr. Poole to test her for a vitamin D deficiency. When the results came back positive, Olmer decided to take a daily dose of 8,000 to 10,000 international units (IU) of over-the-counter vitamin D3 supplement.
It didn’t cure her, but instead of having hives 24 hours a day, she’d get them when she got home from work or in the morning.
“She was adamant and passionate about the benefit of vitamin D3,” Dr. Poole said. “She suggested that I do a study. I don’t know if I believed it, but I like to listen to my patients and didn’t think it was far-fetched.”
Dr. Poole conducted and ultimately published a small study in 2011, and just recently, published a second study in the national journal, Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, which looked at the role of vitamin D3 as a supplemental treatment for chronic hives.
Over 12 weeks, 38 study participants took a daily combination of allergy medications and vitamin D3. Half of the patient’s took 600 IUs of vitamin D3; the other half took 4,000 IUs.
After one week, the severity of symptoms decreased 33 percent for both groups. After three months, those taking 4,000 IUs had a further 40 percent decrease in the severity of their hives. The 600 IU group had no further improvement after the first week.
“The results are significant,” Dr. Poole said. “The higher dosing of vitamin D3 shows promise without adverse effects. As an add-on therapy it could provide some relief for a condition with no cure and few treatment options, some of which are expensive with adverse side effects.”
The daily dose of 4000 IUs of vitamin D3 is what Dr. Poole continues to recommend.
The study didn’t include patients with kidney disease or those with calcium disorders. Dr. Poole said a larger and longer study is warranted to determine if vitamin D supplements taken long-term could further improve health outcomes.