Replied by Art (Tustin, California, USA) on 04/04/2013
In Reply to Patty from Olympia, Wa: Given your location (Latitude 47° 2' 17" N ), the time of the year and the fact that you shield your son from sufficient sun exposure through the use of hats and sunblock, chances are your son is vitamin D deficient even if he is taking a multivitamin with vitamin d in it. Vitamin d is a natural anti-inflammatory and while there are no studies to suggest that it may be useful in the treatment of discoid lupus, it has shown to be deficient in SLE patients and has also shown benefit in same. Lower 25 OH d serum levels are associated with higher disease activity and prolonged supplementation with vitamin d was associated with improvement in disease activity in the following abstract. They only used 2000iu per day in the study over a one year period. Some people have both DLE and SLE.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23204220
You cannot produce any relevant amount of vitamin d from sun exposure until your shadow is shorter than you are tall. You state that your sons symptoms are at their worst in springtime, which would likely correspond with his lowest serum vitamin d levels (25 OH d level). The sunblock and hats will likely bring vitamin d production to near zero which means the only way to get enough vitamin d is through supplementation at probably higher than the RDA in order to be of benefit, but you would have to discuss vitamin D supplementation with your doctor and get approval from your doctor for health safety. It sounds like uvb sensitivity is an issue with your son and he will need to get vitamin d somehow for general health alone. If your son is not currently supplementing with vitamin D, it may be a worthwhile discussion to have with your doctor along with a 25 OH d serum test to determine where his current level is. If he is already supplementing with vitamin d, the serum test will be useful to determine wether he is taking enough vitamin d or needs to take more to reach an optimal level.
Having a serum 25 OH d level in the optimal range will have an antinflammatory effect as well as allow the body to produce cathelicidin on demand, a natural antimicrobial produced by the body to help fight infections and possibly help skin damage to heal more robustly while fighting infection in the area. There are many more health benefits to having a serum 25 OH d level in the optimal range other than just strong healthy bones, including anticancer activity and antiviral activity.
Best wishes.
Art
