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Could someone please tell me where to find Vitamin D3?
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Vitamin D3?
- By karen698
- Posted May 28, 2009 at 11:59 am · 28 replies
- In Vitamins and supplements
- Shared with the public
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- By SequoiaHealth
- Posted May 28, 2009 at 8:24 pm
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Hi karen698:
Any good health food store will have it. I order mine online from Vitacost.com.
Hope this helps.
Woody McMahon
NOVA Osteoporosis Support Group Leader
- By rmchavin
- Posted May 28, 2009 at 9:58 pm
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Dear karen698:
I'm very satisfied with the tiny 2,000 IU vitamin D3 softgels that I bought from Sam's Club at a very good price. I swallow one pill on any day that I didn't eat a lot of high-fat fish, the other good source of vitamin D. Costco may start to carry vitamin D3 soon too, seeing how the demand is increasing rapidly. (Costco's vitamin and medicine section is smaller than Sam's Club's. But Sam's Club doesn't sell krill oil, which I have to buy from Costco). I buy my vitamin C powder by mail order from Puritan's Pride, who sells it as "Pure Vitamin C Crystals." Puritan's Pride is normally the cheapest place to buy vitamin pills but in the case of vitamin D3, Sam's Club was even cheaper than Puritan's Pride and Sam's Club sold me the vitamin D3 softgels instead of the more expensive (at Puritan's Pride) and less absorbable vitamin D3 tablets. I wouldn't worry too much about vitamin D2(less potent) versus D3(more potent). Why? Because I doubt that you can still buy vitamin D2 anywhere. You would need to go to a scientific chemical supplier to buy vitamin D2 at a very, very, very high price. The same is true for vitamin K3(toxic) which has not been sold in any store for decades. Vitamin K1(phylloquinone from green plants) is the best vitamin K for your bone health. Vitamin K1(phytonadione from vitamin pills) is better than nothing but not anywhere near as bone-friendly as eating more green plants. Vitamin K2 is made by the friendly bacteria in your large intestines.
- By verginia
- Posted May 28, 2009 at 11:31 pm
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Hi rmchavin
I just checked my calcium tablets which have Vit K added. It has Vitamen K4 (Acetomenaphthone). Do you know anything about this one.
- By rmchavin
- Posted May 29, 2009 at 1:29 am
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Dear verginia:
I've never heard of vitamin K4(acetomenaphthone). I know that medical doctors in Japan have just begun to prescribe the bisphosphonates Fosamax(alendronate) and Actonel(risedronate) to their osteoporosis patients who cannot tolerate megadoses of vitamin K2(MK-4). Japanese medical doctors still don't prescribe Boniva(ibandronate) or Reclast(zoledronic acid) to their patients. Most Japanese osteoporosis patients are still being prescribed megadoses of vitamin K2(MK-4), which Japanese medical doctors say have side effects about equally severe as bisphosphonates. Here's what the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University says about vitamin K1(phylloquinone), vitamin K2(menaquinone), synthetic vitamin K3(menadione), and vitamin K2(MK-4)(menatetrenone): http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminK/
- By huessysignoret
- Posted May 29, 2009 at 11:13 am
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My primary physician prescribes it for me -- AFTER a simple blood test showed I was low (as are about 50% of American women) I think some health-food stores and pharmacies carry it, but in order to get the dosage you need to correct a serious deficiency, you'd spend a jillion $$. Insurance covers mine.
- By huessysignoret
- Posted May 29, 2009 at 11:16 am
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I should also have mentioned the prescription was for 50,000 U (Yes, that's what the label says, instead of IU. Don't know why.) to be taken once a week for eight weeks, then once every two weeks. My Vitamin D level zoomed to normal right away.
- By jduke100
- Posted May 29, 2009 at 1:35 pm
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You can purchase vit D2 at Amazon.com
pills and oral spray!
- By zoe311
- Posted May 31, 2009 at 12:31 pm
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You can purchase supplements @ iherb & get free samples by going to the sample page and choosing all you'd like. Here's a $5 off coupon code for 1st time customers - MUR731 - and like amazon you can get free s&h with a minimum purchase. I've been a loyal customer for years.
- By karen698
- Posted May 31, 2009 at 5:37 pm
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Once again thank you so much. I had never heard of Vitamin D3 until I read about it here!
Karen
- By millie123
- Posted August 14, 2009 at 5:21 pm
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It's even in my grocery store vitamin aisle.
- By parkers
- Posted August 15, 2009 at 1:58 am
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Karen 698
It is widely available now over the counter in pharmacyand discount box stores. Sometimes a bottle will say vitamin D and when you read the ingredients it may say D3 there. If you have a Costco in your area they have it and carry it now up to 2,000 I.U. dosage. Or you can order on-line at www.Bio-Tech-Pharm.com. Hope this is helpful for you.
Parkers
- By Seerwise
- Posted August 18, 2009 at 1:28 pm
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The Vitamin D prescribed by most physicians is Vitamin D2 made from non-animal sources.
1) D2 is not what humans make from Sunlight, it is D3; 2)The prescription Vitamin is much more expensive than D3 obtained in any health food store; 3) the D2 comes in a 50,000 IU once a week form whereas the D3 I use comes in 2000 IU capsules; 4) The D2 will show your blood level of Vitamin D is O.K. but it masks the level of D3 which is what is more useful to humans.
You need to check what level of D3 your body needs. After a blood test showed my D level was way below normal, I took 4 capsules, i.e. 8000 units daily for a couple of months and then the blood test showed I was slightly above normal.
I went down to an average of 5000 IU D3 daily--two capsules alternating with 3 capsules to get the average of 5000. From that point on all my blood tests have shown a normal Vitamin D level. So the dose needs to be individualized based on what your body needs.
- By LRFL
- Posted August 18, 2009 at 1:52 pm
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Hi Karen, Amazon.com has a Vitamin D3 50,000 IU - that is the amount my doctor prescripbed - the prescription is D2 no D3 - FDA has not approved D3 therefore cannot be sold under a prescription.
I cannot tell you about the quality of the one sold by Amazon, but I went to the lab website and it has the looks of a reputable company, but you never know.
Good luck
LRFL
- By huessysignoret
- Posted August 18, 2009 at 2:00 pm
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Seerwise -- you are absolutely right! I no longer see the doctor who originally prescribed Vit D, but he seemed very knowledgeable and I assumed I was getting D3. My pharmacist, however (who does carry D3, one of the few pharmacies around here that does) told me I'm getting D2. Contrary to what LRFL reported, my pharmacist says the D3 can be sold under a prescription. (He may have been wrong.) Yikes! I called my new doctor and asked to have a prescription called in for D3. For me, the prescription is cheaper because of my insurance. I also made an appointment to get see what level my body needs, but now that I've been taking D2 for so long, won't that confuse the issue? (Your message may have been a lifesaver. )
- By osteochick
- Posted August 19, 2009 at 12:01 am
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My dr told me D2 was just as good as D3 IF you take it every day.
- By huessysignoret
- Posted August 19, 2009 at 2:01 pm
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Dear Osteochick -- that's interesting, about D2 as good as D3 if you take it daily. Hadn't heard that before. But I'd still rather take one pill every other week, than one daily. I'm already freaked out by the number of pills, prescriptions and supplements I take! In a perfect world, I wouldn't be taking any of this stuff.
- By osteochick
- Posted August 19, 2009 at 2:38 pm
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Huessysignoret,
Check out: Michael Holick (the vitamin D guru from Boston University)
He says it doesn't matter if you take vit d2 or d3, or a combination. They are both good. If you take D3, doesn't matter if you take it once a day, once a week, once a mouth, what matters is the the amount.
I am having mine checked next week.....when I tried to add more, 1,000 iu of d3 (to total 1900 iu), gerd, gas, all that crud started. So, I am "exposing" myself to the sun again, and taking the 900 iu's in my liquid cal/mag/boronsupplement. Maybe August is not the month to increase vit d supplements. I will let you know what it is. I think we are all so different.
- By SantaFe
- Posted August 19, 2009 at 3:07 pm
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I am "exposing" myself more to the sun also, and am doing a little experiment at the same time to determine how much D my skin is actually able to make, so I will know in the future.
I have upped my Vitamin D to 2,000 IU., and I have been laying out every day in mid day sun in shorts and swimming suit top for 10 minutes on each side (won't burn that way) which gives me a total of 20 minutes.
Then around Sept. 15 when the sun starts to decline, I will get my D checked which should reflect my "peak" number from summer sun exposure. I will keep taking the same amount of D, but recheck D levels in 4 months after no sun exposure (too cold here) to see how much D was accumulated from the previous sun exposure. It should go down if I was getting any D from the sun exposure.
It won't be exact, but will give me a sense of how much Vit D I can get in the spring, summer, and fall from the sun. And will it tell me how much I need to up my supplemental D in the winter, and if I can actually up my reserves of D in the summer with sun exposure instead of huge amounts of supplements. I guess I like the "natural" way of getting D, but I may now be to old (57) to be getting much help from the sun---hope not! We'll see.....
warmly, Santa Fe
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