I am due to take Vitamin D test. However I’ve just returned from holiday abroad where the weather was very sunny and more importantly I was outdoors much of the time. So how long should I reasonably wait before getting the test done? I guess this is likely to be a ‘how long is a piece of string question’ but I’m looking for a rough idea of how long naturally acquired Vitamin D stays in your system.
My last result in September 2018 was.
D3 28.2 nmol/L
D2 2.8 nmol/L
Total : Vit D 31.0 (3/9/18 valid 12 months NHS)
12 months later, after hardly spending time outdoors and with no added supplementation, I’m pretty sure the figure is likely to be much lower.
2 things:
a) I don’t want to skew the result with this recent holiday . How long should I give it before testing again?
b) With winter coming, I’d like to start supplementing as soon as possible, as I think I’m affected by Seasonal Affective disorder. Bearing all this in mind what would a decent loading dose be?
Thanking you in advance.
Xx
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Vitamin D is stored in your body and used as needed. Your result will be highest after the summer and lowest at the end of winter, say at the end of March.
So you should test a few times to find out what your highest level is, how well you store it and how much you have left after the winter months. It's very individual.
Your test now will indicate how much vitamin D you have created in the summer and now have in store for the winter. You can supplement on the basis of the result then retest in 4 or 5 months time and adjust supplements according to results. Then retest at the end of the winter months to find out if you supplemented enough over the winter.
Thank you. I didn’t realise that it would be held in storage Had assumed it would dissipate as with half cycles of other supplements like my Levothyroxine. Very helpful. X
It's not a water soluble vitamin and so is stored rather than excess being excreted. That's why you should test and dose according to your individual need. It can be toxic if you exceed the top of the lab range but it's very unlikely, however, that's why you need to run blood tests after supplementing to check levels are on target.
Thanks Nana for the additional insight. Assuming the result will show that I’m deficient bearing in mind I haven’t supplemented, I’d like to jumpstart the process when I get the results. I would imagine it would take sometime to reach optimal level.
Look at grassrootshealth.net where you will find a chart about dosing according to your results. Make sure you are looking at the nmol/L chart and not the ng/L one if you are in the UK.
I lhad been living in Crete for 4 years when I tested insufficient. Some of us with auto-immune issues seem to have problems with utilising Vit D . I also had Gut TB and Crohns - and again there is a link with Low VitD.
Thank you Marz for that link. Your experience in Crete is surprising, there’s me worried about getting a blip in my Vit D results after a short holiday. I hope you’ve sorted yours out now.xx
I have just moved from Crete after 15 years and always supplemented to keep levels optimal. Will now re-test here at the end of the winter to see how things are. It's fat soluble so best taken with a meal containing fats or a gel capsule containing olive oil. Regular testing is good as too much can also be a problem ...
Big adjustment for you coming back here ( UK?), after such a long time, I imagine. Hope it had nothing to do with the B-word (Brexit!).
How sensible everyone is here on this forum!
I have taken something of an ostrich head-in-the-sand ‘approach.
This all goes back to taking Levothyroxine (or notice) when it seemed to make no difference one way or the other (at whatever the prescribed dose was ) and at one stage I actually stopped taking it. Weirdly it seemed to make no noticeable difference.
Nothing to do with B - more to do with the austerity measures of the last 10 years . Something the Greeks have suffered silently and which also affected us. We are the lucky ones as we had a choice. There is so much I will miss ... it's a great place to live.
Well that was a mind-blowing read...Thank you.... not at all what I was expecting! I thought I would finally have been awash with Vit D. There must still be some benefit of sunlight.
I’ll go ahead and get tested.
I’m worried about getting Seasonal Affective Disorder with winter due. I think I’ve previously been in denial but after last winter, I want to be more prepared.
What would be a decent dose for swift build up of my reserves?
If you take a 'decent dose' you will also need cofactors or it will upset your calcium balance. 28nmol/l is a very low level and I'm amazed you functioned for a year!
For the best information.ation join the facebook group 'Vitamin D and cofactors UK' where the founder is particularly well up on the latest research.
Vitamin D is SO crucial! A deficiency will seriously impact so many processes, including thyroid. So it's the first thing to get sorted out. And I promise you will feel better so quickly that it is really worthwhile!
Yes! I think I’m starting to get the picture. I’ve now got to keep the momentum going because there are other aspects I’ve also got to sort out when I get the full results.
The key will be what to take, (brands etc)also when and at what dose..... this is where I’m likely to need more assistance.
Walking around like a zombie, ain’t a good look! Xx
I just realise my comment (in response to drybrushing) was a bit vague regarding the Mercola video.
It relates to delaying washing the skin for 48 hours after sun exposure to allow for maximum absorption/conversion to D. What about sun exposure on consecutive days/weeks- how long can you stop washing for?! I gather there's some science but it’s beyond me.
Or test alongside thyroid and other vitamins via Medichecks or Blue Horizon
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random
Vitamin D deficiency is frequent in Hashimoto's thyroiditis and treatment of patients with this condition with Vitamin D may slow down the course of development of hypothyroidism and also decrease cardiovascular risks in these patients. Vitamin D measurement and replacement may be critical in these patients.
Evidence of a link between increased level of antithyroid antibodies in hypothyroid patients with HT and 25OHD3 deficiency may suggest that this group is particularly prone to the vitamin D deficiency and can benefit from its alignment.
You also need to get ferritin levels optimal (around half way through range)
And getting folate, B12 and BOTH TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested too
NHS refuses to test TG antibodies if TPO antibodies are not above range, so you will need to test privately if want both tested
Obviously essential to test TSH, FT3 and FT4 to see how well your conversion is
Ask GP to test folate and B12, or get full Thyroid and vitamin testing 2-3 months after starting on vitamin D supplements
Government recommends everyone supplement vitamin D from October to April
Alongside the Vit D (and K2 +) I’ve got to get up to date folate and B12 testing. My recent results were incomplete ( lab reported clotting issues) Ferritin low at 39 means I need iron + Vit C.
GP wants to reduce Levothyroxine from 125mcg to 100mcg (I haven’t since you gave me feedback). When I get the full set, I’ll come back here for a further appraisal from you guys.
I would say test now. When I was first diagnosed with hypothyroidism/Hashi' and at the beginning of my 'journey' here on this forum, I was shocked to find I was Vit D deficient. I am a full time gardener, I spend every day outside in a t-shirt (plus other clothes 😉). When I get home I work outside in my own garden. The rest of my family are office workers, come home and stay indoors. We all got tested at the same time...they were fine, I was deficient.
Since I've got my thyroid levels and all the other associated bits (ferritin, B12, etc...) gone gluten free and corrected my eating habits, my Vit D now remains excellent & stable throughout the year.
Thank you for sharing your experience Janey. It’s good to hear how you’ve managed to resolve your deficiency issues . I need to learn to be more proactive too. Xx
Just a short note about one of my GPs’ reaction when I asked to have my vit D checked: It’s a fashion now about vit D! He still agreed to send me to have this test.
I stayed for about a year in a very sunny and hot country and was disappointed to discover that my vit D was extremely low. I have high calcium in the blood due to parathyroid glands not doing a proper job so I have to be careful to how much vit D I take but last winter I did take Fultium D 800 IU capsules and my level dramatically increased.
Another short note: ages ago, I remember reading that people who in their childhood didn’t expose their skin to the sun had a higher risk of developing MS as adults. But nowadays, we are afraid of skin cancer so we tend to protect our children’s skin and ours against it!
In my humble opinion, we should also think of eating more food that has this vitamin like mackerel and salmon.
Hi Rebec. Thank you for sharing your experience too. It does make you wonder about the whole sunlight thing, particularly when you consider that government guidelines advise winter increase of Vit D.
Bottom line then is to supplement, sun or no sun. (Seafood I’m afraid is a no go area for me😟 but others may take it on board). Xx
Frequently with Hashimoto's, or when hypothyroid....it has very little to do with how good or bad your diet is....but is more to do with poor gut function and poor nutrient absorption
Low vitamin levels are caused by being hypothyroid
You’re referring about other vitamins not about vit D as in general it is made by the skin in contact with the sun.
I never tried to check my level of the vitamin after following a diet of food which contains high levels of Vit D to see if I can truly rely on this source.
No, I believe she is referring to vitamin D, as your ability to generate thru skin and sunlight depends on magnesium. Poor gut absorption of all minerals will affect vitamin D levels. This is why we supplement orally.
You need the vitamin D 25 OH test, which tests storage. Sometimes doctors order the other test, which will not help you determine a deficiency.
It's true, vitamin D is manufactured via sunlight through the skin, but for people with hashimotos this doesn't seem to happen. I live in southern California and spend a lot of time outside...I still have low levels. I have heard this for other people many times on different forums. Recently I was told that magnesium levels affect the ability to manufacture vitamin D from the sun... So really this is a magnesium issue.
So to answer your question about waiting after coming back off vacation... Do not bother waiting. Being in the sun will not have made a scrap of difference if you have a history of low vitamin D. (Vitamin D is actually a hormone btw)
Thank you for that info, I’ll need to check what’s on the Lab request so I can get it changed if needed. Yes the sunlight aspect does now seem to be a red herring. And magnesium is another piece of the jigsaw.
Please note when researching vitamin D that US sites use ng/mL and UK sites use nmol/L. You can convert from one unit of measurement to the other (and back again) with this link :
Please note that if you intend to get more blood tests done it is usually much cheaper to incorporate vitamin D testing with testing your thyroid and other nutrients, rather than testing them separately.
Thank you Humanbean for help with calculation differences. I learned about the site today and took a brief look but the extra links you gave are a useful guide for when I get my results, particularly the optimal dosage based on weight xx
Vitamin D is vital to health, and affects so much more than just thyroid functioning. Risk Reduction with Vitamin D and Omega-3: VITAL Trial Results (2018) grassrootshealth.net/docume...
As for how much to take, first our UK members would need to use the converter to see what their D level is expressed as ng/mL. grassrootshealth.net/?post_...
Next, this calculator lets you specify your target blood level and then tells you how much supplementation you need to reach that target: grassrootshealth.net/projec...
To avoid recurrence of my lung cancer, or progression of my Atypical Ductal Hyperplasia to full-blown breast cancer, I am aiming for 60 ng/mL. After supplementing since last October with 5,000 IU /day (along with 90 mcg Vitamin K2 MK-7), I am up from 29 ng/mL to 47 ng/mL.
Thanks for reinforcing the message around Vit D calculations and doses taking some of the guesswork out of it. Plus the up to date trial results, sounds interesting.
Also, I appreciate you sharing your personal experience of targeting dosage to reduce risk of recurrence. Your on obviously making great progress getting levels to 47ng/mL. Were you tempted to take more to reach your target sooner, or do you have to take it at a measured pace?
If that’s a maintenance dose what was the dose when you were actively addressing cancer? I suppose it’s individual based on weight as well as goal .
Does the calculator deal with K2-MK7 dosage? I may need to do more work on this. Xx
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