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Dear Community,
My doctor put me on a prescription for 50,000 units of Vitamin D 2 x a week due to very low Vitamin D bloodwork.
Anyone taking that much vitamin D?
Any side effects?
Also, if you are taking OTC calcium, what type are you taking and does it have Vitamin D in it?
Thank you in advance for any info you are comfortable in sharing. Becka
Asthma Cancer Surgery Melanoma Fever Kidney stones Reclast Skin cancer Osteopenia Hay fever Chemotherapy Osteoporosis
Hi Becka:
That is a very common Dr. supervised dose. Side effects are very, very rare. Too little D is a much bigger problem. The best website that fully describes the literature and current research on vitamin D is run by Dr. Cannel. The web address is www.vitmindcouncil.org.
He gives amounts to take based on your body weight. Expect it to take 6 months to increase values to normal unless you do a Dr. supervised high dose program.
The calcium is best through food sources. We have not seen significant differences in supplemental calcium type. The vitamin D is much more important.
Hope this helps.
Woody McMahon
Northern Virginia Osteoporosis Support Group Leader
Dear Becka:
SequoiaHealth wanted to share this web address with you: http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/ I would agree with the Vitamin D Council's advice but only for people with moderately severe osteoporosis: "...take 5,000 IU per day for three months, then obtain a 25-hydroxyvitamin D test. Adjust your dosage so that blood levels are between 50-80 ng/mL (or 125-200 nM/L) year-round." I strongly disagree with both the Vitamin D Council and with Dr. John McDougall (a person whom I agree with on almost everything else) to get a large percentage of your vitamin D from solar exposure. I think it's insane to get overexposed to the sun, thereby wasting your time now, damaging your skin now, and greatly increasing your risk of dying from skin cancer or needing surgery and chemotherapy in the future. For people without moderately severe osteoporosis, the advice from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University is to get 2,000 IU of vitamin D per day. That's up from their recommendation of only 800 IU per day several years ago. Most reputable vitamin pill manufacturers are still going by the old 400 IU per day Recommended Daily Allowance. The Linus Pauling Institute warns that people taking more than 10,000 IU of vitamin D per day need to be alert for the possible toxic side effects of getting too much vitamin D: calcification of your heart, calcification of your kidneys, kidney stones, abnormally high blood calcium levels, and loss of bone mineral density. People with very unusual medical conditions can develop these symptoms of vitamin D overdose at levels below only 3,000 IU per day. http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminD/
Dear Becka:
Please don't waste too much time studying or agreeing with what Dr. John McDougall says about vitamin D. I don't agree with him that we can rely on sunshine to get all that we need. http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2005nl/may/050500pusunshine.htm http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/sep/vd.htm I think that getting our vitamin D from the sun is both unreliable (because of clouds, seasons) and inexact (how many IUs did I get today?). It's much better to avoid too much solar exposure (remember to protect your eyes to avoid cataracts) and to know our exact dosage (from pills or high-fat fish) so that we can play this game more optimally. I also disagree with Dr. McDougall on fish fat. I think that his healthy vegetarian diet would become even healthier if he allowed a half pound of high-fat fish or one or two fish oil pills or krill oil pills per day. However, Dr. McDougall is one of America's most successful nutritional advisors and I have listened to him many times advocating his vegetarian diet on talk radio, TV, magazines, and newspapers since the early 1980s. Your doctor has prescribed 14,286 IUs of vitamin D per day. I imagine that he will be testing your blood for calcium and vitamin D. He is aiming to earn a slight health benefit for you and taking a small risk of harming you greatly. Good luck. I personally am quite happy with my 2,000 IU vitamin D softgels which I bought from Sam's Club at a very good price.
Hi rmchavin:
Thanks for fixing my bad link.
They are both correct. It is best to get vitamin D through sun exposure because the skin has a protection mechanism making it impossible to overdose. But most latitudes make it impossible to produce vitamin D in the fall and winter because of the angle of the sun and the lack of UVB.
The amount of sun you need to produce vitamin D is less than 15 minutes and much shorter if you have very fair skin. You need full body exposure and at 12 noon for best results. Note that this limited time in the sun will not hurt your skin. We were meant to be in the sun. Dermatologists have falsely scared people into sunscreens and covering-up.
It is actually worse for your skin to have sunscreen on it and be in the sun for 1 to 2 hours which is the typical case. That will hurt your skin and can lead to cancer.
Vitamin D values for HEALTHY ADULTS should be in the 50–80 ng/mL (or 125–200 nM/L) year around confirmed by 25-hydroxyvitamin D testing. Not just people with osteoporosis or osteopenia. Most people will take at least 5000 a day (some more) to build up sufficient reserves. It is best to get tested and then either supplement based on weight (Cannell method) or go with a Dr. supervised mega dose 50,000 until your values are normal. You should be rechecked in 6 months either way.
A good book to read on this subject is by Dr. Michael Holick called The UV Advantage. http://www.uvadvantage.org/
Hope this helps.
Woody McMahon
NOVA Osteoporosis Support Group Leader
Dear SequoiaHealth:
Thanks for that high-quality web address http://www.uvadvantage.org/ I've bookmarked it into my "Vitamin D Prevents Cancer" folder, which is inside my "Cancer Prevention Studies" folder. Let me take this opportunity to warn everybody that although vitamin D probably prevents several cancers, sunlight very definitely causes various skin cancers: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15556744 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11684447?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem 2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery _RA&linkpos=4&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9178117?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2 .PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_ RA&linkpos=4&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18348450?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem 2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery _RA&linkpos=3&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9627707?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2 .PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DiscoveryPanel.Pubmed_Discovery_ RA&linkpos=5&log$=relatedreviews&logdbfrom=pubmed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16904314 http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/97/3/161
I would like to give an example of Vit D through sunshine. We live in Upstate NY where for at least 7 months of the year, we don't get enough sun to keep Vit D levels at the required amount. We also live within 30 miles of the one of the top 10 cities with the LEAST amount of sunshine ine US....sounds horrible but actually it is beautiful here.
My husband has been a sun lover since before I knew him and has continued to spend hours and sometimes whole days with no shirt and no sunscreen..he was in the Seabees on Saipan in WW 2, worked in construction for 45 years and retired 18 years ago. He is of English, Scots and Swiss ancestry and has fair skin. He is tan from the waist up all year round. His legs are always tan by the end of July.. He has very few wrinkles and is in better shape than most 65 year olds. He will be 81 next week and does not have osteo, cancer, any metabolic problems or heart problems and still weighs what he did when we were married 60 years ago.
To date he has had 1 small skin lesion, precancerous, on one ear and it was removed a few years ago.
I know..he is a perfect candidate for melanoma as well as basal and squamous skin cancer but he refuse to use any skin screens and has always sprayed himself liberally with vinegar.
No one will believe that he is 80..will be 81 next week and still has to beat the ladies off with a stick..[well, I carry the stick...] but the sun has helped to bless him with good health. He takes the usual 400 units of D in his multi Vit/Mineral and gets about 2 cups of Vit Fortified milk daily..we should all be so healthy!!!
Hi, I am also on 50,000 units vit D per week. I have had no side effects in the 3 weeks I have been taking it.
I use OTC Calcium with D but will not buy more with D as that might be too much. I also take several meds for asthma and hay fever and have a thyroid deficiency. So far all is well but of course we all have concerns with using a lot of meds. I will also soon be on Reclast as well. I am 72 and thank God still very active with no broken bones so far.
Hi, I am also on 50,000 units vit D per week. I have had no side effects in the 3 weeks I have been taking it.
I use OTC Calcium with D but will not buy more with D as that might be too much. I also take several meds for asthma and hay fever and have a thyroid deficiency. So far all is well but of course we all have concerns with using a lot of meds. I will also soon be on Reclast as well. I am 72 and thank God still very active with no broken bones so far.
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