Any advice or experience of vit d supplements?

[Missmuppet]

I have found that out today that I am vit d deficient and wondered if anyone had some advice on how to tackle this problem. My reading is 19 which as far as I understand is quite low. My gp's advice was to just take a good quality multi vit but on doing some research of my own I see that this is not sufficient to raise the levels. He said that there isnt any supplements that he can prescribe, there was only an injection that was not liscensed for use in the uk. Any input to unravelling this would be much appreciated.

[shaws Administrator]

Your doctor is wrong - if you are deficient he should prescribe.

If you are going to supplement yourself you have to buy Vitamin D3. Not D2.

thyroiduk.healthunlocked.co...

[nobodysdriving]

your GP is not well informed/updated.

with such low levels he MUST MUST MUST treat you.

Tell him to look at his PCT guidance on vitD deficiency/insufficiency and go from there, tell him you MUST be treated and if he refuses to do then you may be able to find out yourself (many PCT's vit D guidance can be found by searching google!) and that you will not let it rest that you will ask the practice manager and PALS.

He can prescribe 'off label' vit D to treat you like Dekristol (contains peanut oil so a no no if you have a peanut allergy) or others.

[Katkin1]

Missmuppet, your situation is the same as mine except my reading was 29 (<30-150) and my doctor said exactly the same to me. Although I am only speaking from experience, I expect you will need quite a high dose of vitamin D. I started on 1000 iu, then raised it to 2000iu and then 4000iu. At this time I went to see an endocrinologist who was amazed at the low level of Vitamin D I was on and gave me 6 days of 50,000iu with a further 50,000 iu a month for 6 months and I felt a lot better after the first high dose.

When the endo wrote to my doctor about my thyroid, he mentioned that he had given me vitamin D suppliments. The next time I saw my doctor, I mentioned this to her and, funnily enough, she was willing to prescribe the maximum they can (400iu) and told me to take 800iu a day as a top up (having told me to go to Holland and Barrett and buy 1000iu)!

Best wishes

Kathy

[Moggie]

He is telling you lies - I have had two courses, and have only just finished one, of a high powered VitD supplement called Cholecalciferol and your GP needs to order it from the hosp for you. It will then be delivered to your house by post. The dose I had was 50,000iu which is quite normal when your VitD is low (my result was 12.5) and after a two week course my level when up to 154.

Just finished another one week course of the same drug as my levels had slipped back to 40ish. Here is a link from Barts Hosp in London regarding vitD, how it works and what drug is what. You might want to print it out and take it to your GP but if you don't want to do that then you will have to buy them yourself. Amazon is the best place for this but it will need to be quite a high dose for your levels to improve.

Have you had your calcium tested? Its important to have that tested as well as the VitD as the more VitD you take the more calcium your body makes and if you already have calcium at the top of the range you could end up with more problems.

Its all in the link so have a read.

icms.qmul.ac.uk/chs/Docs/42...

Hope this helps.

Moggie x

[Marz]

...there is an excellent website grassrootshealth.com which is Canadian. Looks old fashioned but an excellent source of information on VitD. Good videos to watch too. There is a graph at the top of the home page indicating doses required based on blood tests.

As you are so low it would be good to follow the advice of the others above. You may also need to look into Magnesium and the Vitamin K2. drmercola.com also a good place to learn more about it all.

Good Luck x

[Missmuppet]

Thanks for the advice. Feel like I'm in a bit of a whirlwind atm, been feeling unwell for some time and put it down to thyroid. I was diagnosed 18years ago with underactive and after some initial teething problems settled on a dose of 225mg a day until about 18 months ago they started reducing meds. I currently take 150mg and my tsh readings are 0.81. Not sure if its the reduction in thyroxine or the deficiency in vit d that is making me feel unwell, and whether to attack the vit d first and see if symptoms improve.

[Jomarie]

As I'm taking Levothyroxine I was unsure about taking Vit D.....was told it interacted with my Levothyroxine.....Any truth in this please?

[LouiseRoberts in reply to Jomarie]

I don't think that there is any research to support this, providing you are not taking calcium at the same time. Calcium affects the absorption of levothyroxine.

Louise

xx

[Jomarie in reply to LouiseRoberts]

Thankyou..x

[liketoknit]

Im also in the same position as many on here. My rheumatologist asked that I be given Vit D supplements as mine is very low - Dr explained that he was no longer allowed to prescribe but they are widely available in supermarkets etc - NO THEY ARE NOT as i found out - the chemist complained bitterly that they would have to order them in - so hubby got them from Holland and Barret

BUT when the Rheumatologist asked for more bloods she was annoyed to hear that I was only on low level over the counter Vit d and asked GP to give me higer strength - low and behold he was then able to prescribe again in the doses mentioned here - every now and again I do have to have the Fultium high dose for three months at a time - he has recently mentioned taking the Ad-Cal again (Vit D and Calcium) but Ive just seen here that if taking levothyroxine it does not mix and Im waiting to hear whether I need this or not so will make a note to ask (thanks for this advice)

I assumed to begin with that GPs have stopped issuing it for budgeting purposes - it really is bad that they are telling patients the wrong information.

I do agree this is all a whirlwind as Im just starting out on this journey too

Hope you get things sorted soon but Ive been told my rheumatologist that the over the counter amount is not enough to bring levels up and mine were about the same as yours I think.