Calcium and vitamin d intake to avoid osteoporosis while on pred?

[Ozark]

I am curious to know how much calcium and vitamin d people are taking in order to stave off possible osteoporosis while taking prednisone. Currently, I'm taking about 1,000 mg per day of calcium, total, from food and supplement, and about 1400 IU (35 mcg) of vitamin d, mainly from supplements. Just curious to know what others are doing in this regard.

[Janstr]

I was told my GP that we need 1200 mg per day of calcium; not sure about the amount of vit D

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Adcal-D3 ….One brand prescribed supplements in UK - taken twice daily -

VitD 400iu (equiv 10mg) & Calcium Carbinate 1500mg (equiv 600mg calcium).

Plus any in food.

[choirsinger1986 in reply to DorsetLady]

I take one Calci-D 1000 micrograms daily - does this seem sufficient?

[DorsetLady PMRGCAuk volunteer in reply to choirsinger1986]

Honestly I don’t know, we probably all need something slightly different..sorry not a lot of help🤔!

[choirsinger1986 in reply to DorsetLady]

No worries. So long as I'm taking some.

[SnazzyD]

If possible it is worth trying to get a vitamin D blood test to see what your levels actually are. My supplementation dosage changed with what levels I had which I had checked roughly every 6 months give or take.

[Ozark in reply to SnazzyD]

I might ask my internal medicine doctor for a blood test the next time I have a physical, which will be sometime next summer. I'll also have to see if my health insurance will cover this. I assume so if ordered by the doctor.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

I took the AdCal type supplements religiously for some years but then gave up on the calcium because it caused too many bladder problems. I always took some extra vit D anyway as the amount in the supplements is hardly worth it! For the last few years I have upped my cheese and dairy consumption - and my bone density hasn't appeared to suffer. I now take 4000 IU vit D, summer and winter. Any less and my blood vit D level slowly falls to a very low level again.

[TheMoaningViolet]

Hi, I used to take Adcal-D3 but it gave me UTI symptoms, so I switched to Calcium Citrate (300mg x 2). At the same time, I started taking 4000iu of vitamin D3, and now I take 2000iu as my levels were getting high. I take calcium with lunch and dinner, and D3 just at lunchtime. When I was avoiding dairy, I was taking double the amount of calcium (i.e. 600mg x 2) but now, I feel this may not be necessary.

[jinasc]

I would ask for a mineral check (full spectrum blood test) as I was automatically given calcium (ad cal) ended up with excess calcium and along came pseudo gout. I was Vit D

deficient which was quickly put right and still take Vit D everyday.

I refused AA, until I had a Dexa Scan which showed I did not need it and bones were at around 97%, 5 years with GCA - bones never moved.

It is a very personal decision to take what I call 'just in cases'. If the tests had shown I needed them, then that is a different ball game.