Everything has been going well for me for about a year. Blood work stable, tumor marker test levels decreasing and stable scans. However, recently I was diagnosed with very low levels of vitamin D and began supplementation with 50,000 IU once a week. Since I misunderstood the instructions, and I thought he wanted me to take 50,000 a day, I freaked and decided I would just start off slow and work my way up which I did. Day 1-5000. Day 2-10000 Day 3-15000 but on day 4, I only took 5000 because I wanted to check with oncology about the vitamins because it was my dermatologist who gave me the script. Day 4 was also blood work day. Got blood test results back and all of my blood work is off after a year of being stable. My tumor marker test is also up by 17.5 points after consistently going down all year. I asked oncologist if it was possible my vitamin D supplements had interfered with my blood test result and she said no. After I got home, I googled it and according to google, we are supposed to stop taking supplements 48 hrs before blood work. My question to you is….do you have any experience with anything I’ve mentioned above? Has this happened to you? Has anyone told you it definitely affects blood work and shouldn’t be taken before a test? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
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CatLady2022
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I take vitamin D every day and my calcium also has vitamin D in it. No one has ever mentioned to stop taking it before blood work. My blood work has been good for a long time.
I haven’t had that with vitamins, but I got a 2nd shingles shot and a 2nd hep b shot and my numbers dropped a lot!!! Not sure if it was them, but maybe a coincidence? I had to stop meds for a week more, and numbers back up. I asked Dr about it and she never responded. Idk
Hi CatLady22 - I take 50,000 Vit D once a week - I have been taking long before my cancer diagnoses. I also take a couple of other supplements and my onc has not yet advised me to not take them before my bloodwork. But my markers also rose about the same amount as yours with my last bloodwork, (first time in a year) however he said we will pay close attention, but not jump the gun, as so many things can trigger rises and falls with these numbers. Happy Easter weekend! 🐰🐣
I don't know if the vitamins can effect the bloodwork either but don't be concerned about your marker increase, it's only a tiny difference. The TM can be effected by other things at times and are never a solid indication of what is happening anyway.
I know that some B family vitamins can alter marker tests, but I have never been told to not take them before my blood test every month. I don't think vitamin D would alter markers, if anything it usually has anti-inflammatory effects which could lower the marker test. I take vitamin D in my calcium daily and my markers have only gone up when my cancer started progressing......but that was a constant increase over many months and big jumps at that. Markers can go up and down from many things including inflammation so if it stabilizes or goes back down it's probably just a blip.....those happen all the time. Try not to worry until you see a trend. I now it's easy to say not to worry because I worry over every point up or down with my markers......but honestly it's the upward constant trend that is a problem, everything else is just your body doing it's thing and blips. Take care!!
I take supplements and vitamins daily, and for the last 5 years since my diagnosis, no one ever said to not take anything the day or two before blood draws!
I was low on D, I asked to be tested, so I believe the correct dosage is 5000mg daily.
In fact, right before I was diagnosed w MBC, I felt really awful--fatigue, bone and joint pain etc. I was 10 years out from my Stage 1 diagnosis, so thought it was an autoimmune issue, or related to Lyme disease which I also had..
At any rate I met with my sister in law's brother who is a respected integrative doctor and he recommended Vitamin D. The minute I started taking it my symptoms abated--almost to the point I didn't go see a doctor for follow up (I had just moved to a new city and was having trouble finding someone seeing new patients.). Thank goodness I did so I could start proper treatment, but it made me a believer in the importance of Vitamin D.
I also learned that we stop making it naturally from the sun after age 50. And that a deficit in D is often related to BC recurrence. Whether it's a "cause" or a symptom I don't know...
You can ask your dr to check your vitamin d levels when you get your blood work. That way you’ll know what your baseline is I was very low, thus the high dose, but if you’re in the Normal range it would be different
Whether or not to take calcium should be discussed with the. Dr too. Some women need it, others don’t.
my derm firmly believes low D is connected to cancer but they have not yet identified if cancer causes low D or low D causes cancer. My cancer is strictly bone only and it has really made me think because vitamin D helps the bones so maybe there is some kind of connection between my results and the D supplementation especially since I had just began taking the vitamins and my body may or may not have absorbed or gotten used to it being in my system. I’m probably wrong but it just seemed like a really big strange coincidence. Thanks for the replies! Happy Easter!
Hi. I have taken vit D3 ever since being diagnosed with MBC, in August 2022, 4000iu daily. I was told you need to take D3 with K2 as they work together to ensure calcium is deposited where it needs to be in the bones. I've never been told to stop taking it before blood work, and my oncologist has always been pleased with bloods. Best wishes.
Hi, I take a mixed tablet of calcium and D3. It's called Caltrate and the dose is 600mg calcium and 200iu D3. This was specifically prescribed by my oncologist. I have extensive bone mets.I take this daily with my ibrance and Letrozole. I have monthly bloodtests at the end of the 3 week cycle of ibrance and I've never been told to stop any prescription meds before bloodtests.
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