Government Vitamin D

[BanksiaRose]

Hi. The clinically vulnerable are being offered free vitamin D for 4 months. The Government email I received today says you have to opt IN to get them. However, one of the contraindications they mention (“how to take vitamin D safely”) is ‘some cancers’ because of raised calcium level. Have any of you ever been advised NOT to take vitamin D? Thanks

[mrstadpole]

An interesting comment. I was wondering the same thing. Next time I have a phone call from oncology I will ask about Vitamin D and PARP inhibitors.Ann

[Manchesterlady]

Can’t take it at the moment as my calcium levels were raised at my last blood test .Being retested in three weeks

[Katmal-UK]

Hi, who did you recieve the email from may I ask?

[BanksiaRose in reply to Katmal-UK]

Hi. The email was from the Department of Health and Social Care. It was a lengthy email with detailed guidance about tiers, advice re festive period, where to get support and vitamin D etc.

[27-359]

Hi. I was about to post asking the same thing. I have been taking vit D for most of this year. Now I wonder if I shouldn't.

Jenny

[Newbie_2020]

The government's proposed Vitamin D dose of 400IU/day is a far too low dose to:

1/ address any deficiencies, noting that most of the population who is not on supplement will be deficient

2/be responsible for an increase in the calcium levels

Usually vitamin D supplementation doesn't interfere with chemo and cancer treatments. In all cases, it is always best to check with your Oncology Team before taking any supplements.

[January-2016-UK]

I'm already on twice that dose (plus calcium) to help treat my osteoporosis.

[Eriksendi]

I’ve been taking vitamin d since the end of chemo in 2019 - never been told not to and have never received any information about this??

[SASSY196]

My oncologist, surgeon, CSN and GP have repeatedly been telling me to take vitamin d3 for some time but obviously check with your medical professionals x

[Summergold2]

I had been taking vitamin D and my calcium levels rose during Chemo so Dr said not to take them been normal since stopping.

[Jacqui1737]

I'm on 1000mg of vit d since Feb and never heard of this. I'm on ometrozole as lot of digestive issues.. Concerning

[Kayadiana]

Please check with medics, especially if you know calcium or other readings are out of balance. That said, I’ve been following the link between low vitamin D and poor Covid outcomes since it was first suggested (I get feeds from people who read the research pre-papers before they are reviewed and published) and the benefits of a normal vitamin D level are very clear. The majority of people who get very ill with Covid have low vitamin D levels.

It’s also clear that, for most people, it’s pretty difficult to take too much: most of us in the UK are deficient in winter. It’s quite difficult to take too much: I’ve been taking very high levels (4,000 iu a day) for a number of months and am still not at the top of the normal range.

I’ve talked to both my surgeon and the very experienced nurse specialist at my GP surgery and they are both supportive: and I know my surgeon takes it himself, as do some of the oncology nurses, because I talked to them about it while I was in hospital for my surgery.

I do hope that you are able to take it, as there are numerous health benefits, other than the association with less severe Covid outcomes, but, as I said above, please check first.

Best of luck

[Neona]

I’m on adcal which contains D3 but just had blood test to see if should take more.

[fair-rosamund]

Asked oncology nurse if I could take vitamin D while on niraparib and she said it's fine. Took vit D Last year pre diagnosis and certainly thought I had fewer colds and sniffles

[LittleMissStubborn]

I checked this out with my oncologist yesterday and was given the green light. Probably best to check as the vitamin D may interact differently with the various treatments.Nicola

[bamboo89]

If you're having regular bloods, calcium is usually one of the ones on the list... but the dose being offered is so low, its unlikely to cause a problem from the calcium point of view, but certainly check with your oncologist. Some cancers do cause an elevated level of calcium- head and neck, lung and uterine cancers are some that do, but as I said, the dose being dished out is only sufficient to prevent rickets in children (worked out a century ago). Mega doses of Vitamin D can cause a problem with calcium in those without cancer, but 400 iu is a teeny dose. I've been taking Adcal (which includes calcium) twice a day for over ten years for osteopaenea, which means I'm getting twice that dose of Vitamin D daily. I do also take vitamin K2 to help nudge the calcium supplement into my bones, but not because I've been told to, I just do anyway. I took the Adcal right the way through chemo and am still taking it now on a PARP inhibitor. How much Vitamin D is too much from the calcium point of view may depend on your current Vitamin D status which requires a blood test to determine, but its safe to assume most of us who are not taking a supplement will be deficient right now, especially those of us who are darker skinned. Unless you are taking high dose cod liver oil, which converts to Vitamin D in the body...

Miriam