Vitamin D result

[Paulinaann]

Been a member for a while & have gained good advice by reading posts from others, but first time posting myself. Hope it make sense.

Have under active thyroid, rheumatoid arthritis, pernicious anaemia &, more recently, bullous pemphigoid.

A year ago I was advised that my vitamin D was low & given a course of D3, at the end of which my reading was :- serum 25-Hydroxy vit D3 63.4nmol/L [>75]. I was then advised that this was now OK & to take 800IU vit D3 daily for maintenance.

However, from advice given to people in this community & the fact that I have now been prescribed Prednisolone, for the bullous pemphigoid, which can deplete vit D, I thought it might be an idea to increase this dose & for the last couple of months or so I have been taking 5000IU vit D3 daily, together with vit K2 Mk7.

To make sure that I wasn't overdosing I asked for a blood test this week & was surprised to find that the reading was now :- serum 25-Hydroxy vit D3 level 54.8nmol/L [>75]. The doctor, not knowing that I was on the 5000IU dose, left me a prescription for 800IU daily. I explained to the receptionist that I had been taking the higher dose & so this prescription would be no good. She promised to have a word with the doctor & said I should ring back today. This I did , only to be told to forget the prescription of 800IU & take 5000Iu weekly! I had to explain, again, that I was already taking 5000IU daily, so how was this going to increase my vit D?

Currently waiting for receptionist to ring back whilst feeling more than a little frustrated!

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Just do it yourself, buy your own, doctors don't understand enough about optimal levels of vitamins and minerals. As long as it's somewhere in range that satisfies doctors.

The recommended level for Vit D is 100-150nmol/L, so you have a long way to go. Continue with your 5000iu daily and just forget about discussing this with your doctor. Do your own testing once or twice a year through City Assays (fingerprick blood spot test) vitamindtest.org.uk/index.html

Make sure you include all the important cofactors vitamindcouncil.org/about-v... and take Vit D and magnesium four hours away from thyroid meds, D3 and K2 with the fattiest meal of the day.

[Paulinaann in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks, good advice.

Wondering if I should increase the dose above 5000IU, or is that not a good idea?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Paulinaann]

With a level of 63.4, personally I would stick with 5000iu daily, retest in 3 months.

[Paulinaann]

Latest reading, done this week, was 54.8, so there has been a reduction from the reading of 63.4 which was in Jan this year.

Would you still keep it at 5000IU?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Paulinaann]

Yes, personally I would.

[Paulinaann in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

If you add in magnesium, this may help anyway. It's an important cofactor.

vitamindcouncil.org/about-v...

Do you have Hashimoto's? High thyroid antibodies.

If so then a gluten free diet might help too

Have you had folate, ferritin and B12 checked?

[Paulinaann in reply to SlowDragon]

Will look into the magnesium.

Never been told if I have Hashimoto's, only that my thyroid is under active, but went Gluten free about 7 weeks ago, so waiting to see if this helps.

Not really very knowledgeable about folate & ferritin , but have 10/12 weekly B12 injection, have been prescribe daily folic acid , because just started methatraxate last week & have recently been monitored for anaemia , caused by being prescribed dapsone.

Maybe I need to start asking more questions when I see the GP, but sometimes feel like a time waster!

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Paulinaann]

Ask if you have ever had thyroid antibodies tested - if not then ask them to be done

You need to know levels now and then can see in several months time if being gf has reduced them

[Paulinaann in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks, will do.

[KT77]

You can also do some sunbathing now that it's summer. My level was 42 in April when I got tested, I took supplements but also went out on the sun and sunbathed for around 20 minutes without sunscreen every time it was sunny day and in 8 weeks my level went up to 112. Sun is the fastest way to increase vitamin d in my opinion.

[Paulinaann in reply to KT77]

That's good to hear.