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Am I the only one

Popcorn12345 profile image
46 Replies

Has anybody ever had a bad reaction to taking vitamin d?

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Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345
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46 Replies
Ryaan profile image
Ryaan

What reaction have you had, and are you sure it’s from Vitamin D ?

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to Ryaan

I'm certain it's from vitamin D. Tremors, sweating, nausea and fast heart rate

Nackapan profile image
Nackapan

I was found to be very low in vitamin D a year before i got very ill.And first b1e level done.

Thd loading dose of vit D

prescribed did make me feel ill .

I must've been low for some time .

21 ( 75+in range

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345

I had the same reaction years ago. Not worth taking it

Ryaan profile image
Ryaan in reply to Popcorn12345

The loading doses as a 6 week course are very high dose, 50,000iu once a week for 6 weeks. Maybe the high dose is making you feel like that. You can try smaller daily doses 1000 - 4000iu and that might help.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345

I only took 400iu a day for 4 days and that was the result. I just don't think I can tolerate it

Technoid profile image
Technoid in reply to Popcorn12345

400IU is a miniscule amount of vitamin D. It's below the US RDA's. Perhaps you are reacting to something in that particular supplement?

Maybe the recent story about vitamin D has caused you concern?

Unless there is something unusual in the supplement, it doesn't seem plausible that vitamin D at such a tiny dose would cause such a reaction.

Your body generates thousands of IU of vitamin D on a very sunny day when you have a lot of skin exposure.

helvella profile image
helvella

There are a very few over on Thyroid UK who cannot take any vitamin D. That is, not even 100 IU a day. And regardless the make, whether D2 or D3, whether a tablet, a capsule, a spray, as well as taking magnesium, etc., etc.

Feel terrible for several days if they do take it.

Technoid profile image
Technoid in reply to helvella

Thanks Helvella, I wasn't aware of that.

Technoid profile image
Technoid

This was interesting :

"Vitamin D supplementation, alone or in addition to taking levothyroxine, may modestly decrease TSH and levels of certain thyroid antibodies, in people low blood levels of vitamin D. "

ref : consumerlab.com/answers/do-...

Technoid profile image
Technoid in reply to Technoid

"A TSH level lower than normal indicates there is usually more than enough thyroid hormone in the body and may indicate hyperthyroidism. "

...

"When hyperthyroidism develops, patients may experience some of the following signs or symptoms:

fast or irregular heartbeat

anxiety or irritability

trembling of the hands

(continues)

ref: uofmhealth.org/conditions-t...

Just a guess but if TSH was already lowish due to hyperthyroidism, and the vitamin D dropped it even lower as it apparently can do, maybe that might have caused the symptoms Popcorn experienced? Amateur diagnosis here but seems like investigating a possible thyroid issue would make sense.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to Technoid

I've been told my thyroid is fine. I think my doctor had a look yesterday I believe and said it was OK

ottolinebear profile image
ottolinebear in reply to Popcorn12345

Yeah, two doctors told me my thyroid was "fine" when I was off the bottom of the range for both T3 and T4...they only look at TSH which should be zero and won't do anything till it goes over 5....

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to ottolinebear

I've had t3 and t4 done. All optimal

helvella profile image
helvella in reply to Technoid

From memory, all those who have mentioned it are fundamentally hypothyroid. I'm sure it's possible some are over-dosing but it would be extremely unusual for anyone to be overdosing to that extent, and continuing to do so for more than a decade!

There is definitely a degree of interrelationship between vitamin D and thyroid-related hormones. There are also the issues of how vitamin D and autoimmune issues affect each other. And it is not trivial.

This search finds some relevant posts (or do the same search but with some other search engines):

duckduckgo.com/?q=vitamin+d...

If someone cannot tolerate vitamin D, I think calcium levels should be checked - and parathyroid hormone. The latter is rarely done and many samples taken deteriorate before the lab actually runs the test.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to helvella

Wouldn't my blood test for tsh have been really low though? And its not it's normal

helvella profile image
helvella in reply to Popcorn12345

If you were hyperthyroid, TSH would be (almost certainly) low.

But these thyroid people have been hypothyroid and treated. So we would expect TSH to have been middling - in numeric terms, maybe 0.2 to 1.5. That is, possibly a bit below the reference interval, or in the lower part of that reference interval.

One case I know, the person might get away with 50 IU for a day, or two, even three, but then suffers.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to helvella

My tsh the last few times checked was apparently optimal. And I have no symptoms of a thyroid problem. Only when I take vit d does this happen. Otherwise no symptoms. How long do these people have a reaction for before it goes away?

helvella profile image
helvella in reply to Popcorn12345

One case I know well has been unable to tolerate vitamin D from early days - while still adjusting thyroid hormone doses - and still cannot well over fifteen years later.

Feels so bad that just taking some every day is not something that any reasonable person would do. Relies entirely on whatever is in diet anyway (nothing with supplemented D) and sun - when there is some! But even that being careful due to the obvious issues of sunburn and skin cancer.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to helvella

Yes I dont plan on supplementing any more. I will just get it from sun snd food. However I would like to know how long to expect this reaction to last

helvella profile image
helvella in reply to Popcorn12345

Why would it ever change? Maybe it could but unless and until we understand why this happens, there seems little reason to be optimistic. And no doctors ever seem interested unless they think you have the serious consequences of parathyroid issues.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to helvella

No I mean how long will it take for this adverse reaction to stop and I go back to normal. I always expect to have this problem with vit D. I just want to know how long I'm gonna feel crap for taking it

helvella profile image
helvella in reply to Popcorn12345

Days - sometimes. As I am not the one suffering, it is difficult to say but certainly not just a few hours.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to helvella

I cant seem to find anyone to ask

B12life profile image
B12life in reply to Popcorn12345

I agree with helvella, next one you are in ask to have your calcium levels and parathyroid tested.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to B12life

My calcium isn't high it was already checked prior to taking the vit d

Technoid profile image
Technoid in reply to helvella

"One case I know, the person might get away with 50 IU for a day, or two, even three, but then suffers. "

It seems there's approximately 40-87IU of vitamin D in an egg, much of which seems to be D3. 50IU of supplemental D3 would be less than one would derive from an egg and largely, from what I can tell, exactly the same chemical configuration. It seems very strange that a supplement containing less than what you would get from a common food would cause such an issue. Does this person need to also restrict foods containing more than 50IU of Vitamin D3?

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to Technoid

I do not have this reaction to food or sunlight but its happened twice with supplements

helvella profile image
helvella in reply to Technoid

No - well, not eggs! But has many other issues...

Linde19 profile image
Linde19 in reply to helvella

I recognise this "solution" My calcium and PTH levels were checked and it seemed that I had a hyperparatheroide. After surgery, I was able to tolerate vitamine D, I always use an oilbased vitamine D.

Technoid profile image
Technoid in reply to Linde19

Very curious. Thanks for all the interesting discussion on that.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to Linde19

My calcium isn't high my phosphorus is normal and my thyroid tests were fine. I'm just an enigma

Parlay profile image
Parlay

I react in exactly the same way to the prescribed high dose ones. I take fish oil with natural occurring vitamin d and am fine.

helvella profile image
helvella in reply to Parlay

Fish oil might be better for some but many cannot tolerate that!

Probably the relatively high histamine level it causes.

Parlay profile image
Parlay in reply to helvella

Indeed, takes some experimenting to find what you can and can’t tolerate.

Jo5454 profile image
Jo5454 in reply to helvella

Are high histamines also in pure omega 3 oils that are derived from fish, or are you just talking about the general cod liver type oils please? I've had headaches trying to take very pure forms of vit d & also cod liver oil, omegas out of balance so would like to try an omega 3 oil, but if they contain histamines not so.sure!

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to Parlay

How long did it take you to feel better once you stopped taking it?

Parlay profile image
Parlay in reply to Popcorn12345

A few days. I did feel dreadful and my dr didnt understand why as he said it’s easily tolerated by so many.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to Parlay

Most people say a few days but it's been like 4 days and it's still bad

Cobalt1312 profile image
Cobalt1312

You are not the only one. I was deficient and my primary GP prescribed me 50,000 iu pills to take once a week to start (I was quite deficient).

I got a wicked headache and I felt incredibly nauseous - like super intensely uncomfortable all day. We decided a lower dose at a more regular frequency was better. I now take 5,000 iu 4x a week and I have not experienced bad side effects since making that adjustment.

Interestingly, I also noticed a HUGE change in the strength of my muscles immediately, and my urinary urge frequency got markedly better right away. I told my GP and she was a bit incredulous, because "vitamin D shouldn't make you feel anything at all!" -- Maybe that's true if you haven't been really deficient for a long time! I know what I experienced!

So sorry for your struggle🌻

bookish profile image
bookish

You may find something here worth following up - you are by no means the only person affected, but there are a number of possible reasons vitamindwiki.com/Overview+R...

Technoid profile image
Technoid in reply to bookish

This site is run by a retired electronics engineer : ref vitamindwiki.com/AboutUs

Nothing against electronics engineers per se, but they do not typically have any training or expertise in biochemistry or nutrition. The site promotes very high doses of Vitamin D up to 50,000IU per week, in the absence of deficiency, ref:vitamindwiki.com/tiki-index... claiming that such doses will cure a great many health problems. It seems like similar nonsense to that promoted by Michael Holick.

An evidence-based review of Vitamin D supplementation looks very different. This is one example:

immunologic.substack.com/p/...

The only reference to a vitamin D3 allergy I could find was this case report referred to on the Vitamin D Wiki site:

jiaci.org/revistas/vol26iss...

However in this case, the adverse reaction seemed to occur when the dose reached 50,000IU, a massive prescription dose only used sometimes to treat severe deficiency. I think it doesn't map very well to a reaction from 400IU or a tiny dose like 50IU.

There is perhaps still some possibility that Popcorn's is an allergic response but it would be extremely rare given the almost complete absence of published reports of vitamin D allergy responses.

"Hypersensitivity to cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) or its active metabolite, calcitriol, is an exceedingly rare clinical phenomenon, with only 2 previously reported cases of suspected immediate hypersensitivity. "

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/310...

Now just because it's extraordinarily rare doesn't mean its impossible but I think some kind of award should be involved if we have just today discovered the third confirmed case of an allergy to vitamin D3 in recorded clinical history.

bookish profile image
bookish in reply to Technoid

Yes, but I read the page rather than reacted to the headline. Insufficient magnesium, reaction to a filler or even the lanolin - not terribly controversial. It even states that true allergy to the D itself is extremely rare. Helvella had already mentioned knowing people on the thyroid forum who cannot tolerate any at all, I know some too. You yourself had said 'Perhaps you are reacting to something in that particular supplement?' although the question has not been answered and we don't know which one, or if several have been tried. But if it makes you happy.....Cheers

Technoid profile image
Technoid in reply to bookish

The first line of the VitaminDWiki article contradicts its own headline saying a vitamin D allergy is rare, when it claims: "It appears that about 1 person in 300 people has an allergic-type reaction to vitamin D within days."

1 in 300 would be a massive number of people worldwide and cannot be squared with the fact that there are only 2 recorded cases of an allergy to vitamin D in recorded clinical history.

I agree it is not clear what caused the issue Popcorn experienced. I agree it could have been something else in the supplement. I'm just pointing out that its very unlikely to be a vitamin D3 allergy and that the site provided is not a credible source but is filled with misinformation.

Popcorn12345 profile image
Popcorn12345 in reply to Technoid

How is 1 in 300 not a lot.How silly.

I'm still having the issue. I also can not take anti depressants as they have paradoxical reactions as well.

I was anxious after I took vit d in 2015 and what put on antidepressants. For the entire time I was on ADs I was anxious. However they second I stopped them j had no Anxiety.

I took the vit d last week snd the exact same reaction has occurred.

Back in 2015 I did not realise it could have been the vitamin d. Its only now that its happened again and I've gone back through my medical history that I see the correlation. Seems a bit odd.

Does vitamin d work on the same pathways to the brain as an antidepressant? And I just can't tolerate those sorts of drugs.

mully profile image
mully

Hi Popcorn I don't know if its any help but I was told that if you're very deficient in Vitamin D Taking a supplement for some people is really going to hurt but the more it hurts generally the more you need it Just like B12 initially can be painful for some people as it attempts to repair the damage. I ditched it, as after 3 days I would be really ill and stayed deficient for 20 years, Then was diagnosed with severe spinal osteoporosis So this time had no choice but to persevere I stuck with it and after a while I got used to it I did try lots of different brands until I found one that hurt the least I found osteocare liquid was the best because it also contains other vitamins that help you absorb it more easily and you can begin with a small amount Now I can tolerate Vit D3 fine on its own

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