Vit d

[HYPOUSER]

My Vitamin D is currently 46 and I want to increase my levels to 80ng.I am taking daily 2 pills of Nature made D3-2000iui which has 105 mg calcium in it which means 210 mg of calci and my calcium level is 9.2 already in range.I am afraid if taking extra calcium on daily basis will increase levels to >10.2 and make it out of range and toxic.Please advise if I should take only pure Vitd3 alone.Also are there any other good Vitd3 brands?

[bluebug]

Why are you taking supplements with calcium in them? Have any tests indicated you are calcium deficient? If so have you found the cause as it could be something serious. No one in the West tends to be deficient in calcium without a serious medical issue.

Plus 80ng/l is 200nmol/l which actually a vitamin D level you should NOT be aiming to reach with supplements. This is because when supplementing you need to leave some leeway for your body making vitamin D naturally in the sun. Ideally you want to aim for a maximum of 150nmol/l ( approx 60ng/l) with supplements though anything around 100nmol/l (40ng/l) is fine so in your case you should be on a winter maintenance dose. The level of this varies from person to person but for lots of people 2,000-2,500IU per day is enough. Some need less while others need more.

The toxic level of vitamin D is regarded as anything over 225-250nmol/ (90-100ng/l) and such levels can make you very ill.

[HYPOUSER in reply to bluebug]

No, my physician prescribed me naturemade as she asked me what brand do I take for prenatals, so said to go for same in d3 too.I was not aware that it had calcium while buying as it was given by physician just bought it without checking ingredients and assumed that it was fine with 2000 iui.Recently when I checked my calcium levels it was increased and hence want to clarify before taking just only d3.

[bluebug in reply to HYPOUSER]

Are you prenatal now? The thing is when you are growing another person inside you have different nutrient requirements from when you not.

If it's a doctor who prescribed it then it isn't surprising they decided that prescribing additional calcium is fine. Old thinking was that if you had a vitamin D deficiency problem you automatically needed calcium as well. However all the NHS protocols from about 2010 state that additional calcium shouldn't be prescribed as standard as research has shown it isn't needed.

[HYPOUSER in reply to bluebug]

Yeah,I am on prenatals.But that has already calcium 150mg and in Vitd3 it has 105 and i used to take 4 pills to up my levels from 20 ng.Also drank almond milk and ate salmon weekly thrice,mushrooms,walnuts.Now I fear if all these caused inc in calcium as my d3 levels also has increased.I hope nothing happens to my calcium levels and just remains more or less same in the coming months until my d3 levels are raised to reasonable levels.

[Sybilla14]

My calcium used to be a little below range, even the 'adjusted calcium'. I had tests of it over a few years and that was a long time before diagnosis. A dietitian recommended taking calcium+d3 tablets. I did for a few months but the next blood test the calcium was still below. I have now been taking decent doses of d3+k2 and the last blood test showed my calcium in range. I'd say the calcium was low because my d3 status must have been low for years, although I've no blood tests of d3 from that period to back this!

[HYPOUSER in reply to Sybilla14]

Ah I see.Increase in VitD causes inc in calci absorption,So that could be the reason behnd my increase in levels too.Still I would prefer sticking to 4000 iui or less then

[Sybilla14 in reply to HYPOUSER]

When I first started to supplement d3 I was taking 8000iu a day for a few months and then switched to 4000iu. I now take c. 20000iu a week. Up to 10000iu a day is safe as research used that dose but have a look at vitamin d council' website for more info.

[HYPOUSER in reply to Sybilla14]

Sure thanks

[Clutter in reply to Sybilla14]

Sybilla14,

I had vitD toxicity on 5,000iu daily so 10,000iu is not a safe dose to take long term.

[Sybilla14 in reply to Clutter]

Hi Clutter. I think vitamin d toxicity occurs when the the serum concentration is high relative to the 'range'. So if you are trying to build up your level for too long at a high dose then you'd probably store too much. Hence the levels in the blood must be monitored when supplementing. I was taking 8,000iu for about 6 months then reduced to 4,000iu for about 4 months and my blood test showed the level of c.70 nmol/l (over 100 is deemed optimal) so still quite low in the range. Generally vit d toxicity is rare and 10,000iu is supposed to be the 'proven' safe dose to be taken in a day.

[Clutter in reply to Sybilla14]

Sybilla14,

I had loading and maintenance doses to raise vitD from <10 to 107nmol/L at which point I stopped supplementing. Three months later I started supplementing 5,000iu daily. 9 months later vitD was 390 (>250 possible toxicity). Since 2014 I supplement 5,000iu per week most of the year and 10,000iu per week Dec & Jan and level is usually 90-110.

I thought VDC said toxicity was UNLIKELY <8,000iu daily not that 10,000iu is a proven safe dose.

[Sybilla14 in reply to Clutter]

This is from vitamin d council. My understanding from reading about it find time ago is that doses of 10000iu daily were tested through research hence they are treated as 'safe'.

Very high levels of 25(OH)D can develop if you:

- take more than 10,000 IU/day (but not equal to) everyday for 3 months or more. However, vitamin D toxicity is more likely to develop if you take 40,000 IU/day everyday for 3 months or more.

- take more than 300,000 IU in a 24 hour period.

[Clutter in reply to Sybilla14]

Sybilla14,

Well that doesn't say it is proven safe to take 10,000iu daily!

[Sybilla14 in reply to Clutter]

No not in that very excerpt. There are lots of references on the net to 10000iy daily being the upper limit if safe dose, including the IOM.

vitamindwiki.com/10,000+IU+...