Hi! I am new to this site but have found out so much in the short time I've been a member.I was diagnosed with Hypothyrodism 7 years ago, although I think I probably had this since my early 20's. I have just started to be more assertive in my treatment and when my last bloods came back in the normal range I still felt awful, so I requested more tests.I was deficient in Vitamin D3 and put on a course of tablets, one a week for 12 weeks.I went back to GP for re test and he said my levels were now fine.I asked what they were but he just said they are in range, he never gives me any information.I asked whether I should continue taking a maintenance dose, as I have felt so much better since taking them, less tired, more alert, no more aching muscles...He told me that he didn't think it was all down to the D3 Vit and it was probably psychological! I came out of the surgery really upset.I have felt awful since last October, sleeping all the time and had thyroid test which came back abnormal and was re tested and then it was normal again! I just wondered if anyone can give me advice on taking Vitamin D3 as I know it has made a huge difference to how I feel
Thanks for Reading
Elaine xxx
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Simba892
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The Data Protection Act entitles patients to their test results and the lab ref ranges the figures in brackets. Phone the GP receptionist or the Practice Manager and ask for your results with the ranges.
Most of us need to supplement vitD3 between Oct-April because light levels are too low to stimulate vitD. VitD toxicity is unlikely if you are supplementing < 8,000iu daily.
My endo told me today that the hip and knee pain I experienced when vitD deficient was unlikely to have been connected to vitD deficiency. I told him the pain resolved when my levels were >100 (optimal range 75-200) but resumed 6 weeks after I stopped supplementing. He was insistent that low vitD didn't cause pain. I told him the pain went again a few weeks after I supplemented 5,000iu daily so it's a very effective placebo! I'm to continue supplementing and have a vitD test in 2/3 months.
Thankyou so much for all the information you have given me, I am learning so much more since I found this site and I am def going to take control of my own health...I know my own body, it's just a shame the Doctor I've got won't listen!
When I went to the nurse for my bloods she was lovely and I told her how I felt so much better since cutting out Gluten and taking the Vit D made a huge difference, she understood, shame my doctor thinks it's all in my head!
It am def going back to see a different GP and will pay for all my results, I have never been given any since I was diagnosed.I can't thank you enough for all the information you have given me, I am sick of being fobbed off and I'm ready to fight!
Simba, If you pay £50 it should include ALL of your manual and electronic summary records.
If your last thyroid function test or vitD was recent, within the last 40 days, and that's all you want you shouldn't have to pay other than a nominal £1/£2 to cover printer ink and paper.
Thankyou so much, my last test was within 40 days but I'm def going to get all my previous blood results, I am on a misson since discovering this site, I have been fobbed off for far too long, it's time to fight back! Thanks for all the information on this site, it has helped me so much...It's so nice to speak to people who understand what you're going through xxxx
I'm going to change my GP for a start, should have done this years ago xxxx
I was in severe pain before supplementing Vit D (4,000 iu daily drops) also docs disbelieved me, so why didn't I go back to the physio and orthopaedic doc?
* please note Vitamins (vital minerals) do work together and often we are low in various ones.
* please have regular tests inc calcium if supplementing vit D,
I was reading lately Vit D should be accompanied by omega 3 (vit F!) & a little vit A (aka cod liver oil) as well as magnesium and K2 for completeness - alternatively sunshine, a dip in the sea, oily fish/seafood or meat & brie - maybe a spring of parsley for garnish and a glass of red to thin the blood...... J
Thankyou so much for all the info, I have never questioned my results, and every time I ask my doctor he just says...normal or you need to be retested in 6 weeks. I started getting sick of feeling so ill so started researching and found this site, it's been a godsend, I am now starting to learn about the disease instead of just being given a repeat prescription for Levo...If it wasn't for this site I never would have been tested for the Vit D...I am going to be more forceful and def going to get a print out of my results so I know what I'm dealing with.
Thankyou so much...I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel xxxx
I'm trying out some D3 spray at the mo, peppermint flavour prepared in coconut oil (but my coconut oil is solid?) it's OK but I'm used to my drops after 2½ years (with milk) - one drop= 1000iu.
It's a puzzle that keeps needing to be adjusted! don't forget that magnesium - here's a site someone sent me from Alaska.... J
Londinium, there's lots about, but I think I will order these again as they work for me. (My GP just said 'go to boots'... 3 months of H&B tabs and an Egyptian holiday didn't work).
I'm not sure if I have stomach absorption issues - I suspect my 10 yr arm/hand pins/needles/numbness may be low B12 but Active & serum tests say OK. but I also have a spray (& B complex)
I don't supplement K2, Mg or Selenium (brie, epsom salt bath/mg spray and brazil nuts insead) I think some minerals are difficult to test as serum doesn't indicate cell absorption. But we know this already! J
If you are going to take high doses of vitamin D then I would suggest spending a little extra and having a private test done from vitamindtest.org.uk/ to monitor levels. You want to get into the optimal range but not exceed it.
Some of the figures mentioned online are 5,000 - 10,000IU daily which would have been overkill for me. I found approx 3,000 IU daily took me from severe deficiency to optimal range (13 to 135nmol/l) in 7 months and I am a tall, large male.
I don't care what the doctors think or whether it is a placebo effect. All I know is my fatigue, muscular pain and endurance has definitely improved. I no longer require naps in the afternoon.
What was the strength of the tablets you were given? I had a Vit D test about a year ago now. My reading was I think 25 so I was given 1 tablet (20,000 IU) to take each week for 12 weeks then given a maintenance dose of AdCal twice a day so taking 800 IU a day I forgot to get tested when I started the maintenance dose but had one further down the line and the reading was around 87 and I've had another one since and it had just got to over 90 so the maintenance dose was doing its job. The day after I took my its weekly tablet I felt great! I could get out of the car easily and no aches generally but it was short lived. It did last a day longer though each week I took it so 7-8 weeks was very good so I take it the extra weeks helped store more. You really must insist on getting copies of any of your results though as GP's have a habit of saying normal when it's barely in the the ranges plus we are all different so may not be normal for us. We are usually advised on here that vitamins and minerals should be high in the range as the condition is always depleting it. I have supplemented for about 10 months now but I recently had a Food Intolereance test and many still showed up as 'low'. hope you soon are feeling better but please get your results and post them with the ranges ( they vary from lab to lab) and I'm sure you will get plenty of help and advice. Glad you have found us!
Fabulous quality of informed replies and advice here. I would just add, in celiac disease fat-soluble vitamins are not absorbed well in the gut, this includes D (though obviously, D absorption by skin is unaffected). Nobody yet knows whether sensitivity/intolerance of gluten rathern than celiac disease produces the same problem. See Alessio Fasano - the leading researcher on this says we are at the point of ignorance with GS that we were 30 years ago with celiac. My guess is that GS does cause these problems. If so, we who have gluten problems should try sprays in winter or drops and get our levels up as high as we can in summer through skin absorption of D to see us through as much of the UK winter as poss.
Also research is beginning to show that there is a relationship between D absorption and iron absorption and I don't think any scientist yet understands how it works. It looks like some kind of complex dance. I am quite sure that we must keep our D levels up, and watch our serum ferritin.
It is down to us to take responsibility for our health because, to be blunt, GPs have no time to study the research.
Please remember to take k2 as it stops calcification of the organs. Vit d is a hormone that works at cellular levels. It's unlikely to be toxic when taken with k2 and I take 10,000iu everyday with k2. I've just started back on them now and will take then to aprox May time. If the weathers bad I will take them all year round. The problem with us humans is that we slop on the sun cream on holiday and this stops absorption if vit d. Sun cream only really extends our time in the sun and doesn't really offer much protection against cancer. I was first tested last year in early September and I was deficient. I'd just come back from a 2 week, sun filled holiday in Rhodes! After finding out I was deficient I read up about vit d and found it fascinating that many of our aches and pains, inflammations is down to vit d. It was one of the last 'vitamins' to be classified and it was wrongly classified as several years later vit d was found to actually be a hormone. Hence why you probably feel better taking a supplement.
Am I right in assuming that you are being treated for your hypothyroidism with Levothyroxine? If so, then what's the harm in prescribing Vitamin D3 if they helped before? You're getting a free prescription anyway and the tablets are pretty cheap. My GP keeps putting Vitamin D3 and calcium tablets on my repeat prescription even though I'm allergic to the lanolin used to make Vitamin D3. I'm sure if they were expensive they would refuse to prescribe on the basis of cost, as they try to do this with my Liothyronine to no avail because I argue my case and made sure it was put on repeat.
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