Vitamin D Deficiency?

Options
jmayerovitch
jmayerovitch Posts: 71 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Anyone else deal with this? My nutritionist had me tested and it came back pretty low. So now my Army doc has me on this weekly Vitamin D pill. It's 50,000 units per pill, which is a lot.
«1

Replies

  • ItsAnIllusion
    ItsAnIllusion Posts: 63 Member
    Options
    Where I live, Vit D deficiency is common, since you can't really get enough from being out in the sun here. I've dealt with it, and also took a high dose supplement to get my numbers back up to normal. Once they were back in range, I scaled down to 1,000 IU a day and haven't had a problem since then.
  • sunglasses_and_ocean_waves
    sunglasses_and_ocean_waves Posts: 2,757 Member
    Options
    It's no big. Just don't overdo.
  • Lizzy622
    Lizzy622 Posts: 3,705 Member
    Options
    Wow I thought 5,000 was a lot. He will probably lower it once your tests come back better. I was on 10,000 for awhile. I have been sick less often since I got my levels up to where they should be. It also seems to help my mood especially this time of year when the days are getting shorter. You are not alone.
  • CyberEd312
    CyberEd312 Posts: 3,536 Member
    Options
    When I started this journey I was in severe vitamin d deficiency and my Endo put me on the same dose 50,000 units for 3 months once I started losing weight and my Vitamin D levels started coming up he lowered the dose... Today I am on a maintenance dose of 2,000 units a day.... Best of luck
  • pearsol
    pearsol Posts: 30
    Options
    I did the 50,000 1 x a week for 6 weeks last year then down to 1000 a day
  • noogie98
    noogie98 Posts: 423 Member
    Options
    Same here ~ found out from my doctor that it is pretty common, since a large majority of us don't spend a great deal of time outdoors any more. Mostly everything our society does for entertainment is indoors, and the percentage of us that work outdoors is not that great.

    Just follow your Dr's orders & try to get outside more often ~ I did, and it helped. Good luck!
  • REDI4CHANGE60
    REDI4CHANGE60 Posts: 170
    Options
    I did the 50,000 1x weekly, but then switched to 5,000 daily per doctor's orders. My next bloodwork came back fine. I was told to stay on that dose. But that's just me ... listen to your doctor.
  • sevsmom
    sevsmom Posts: 1,172 Member
    Options
    I think all the OB/GYNs in my area are getting paid by the Vitamin D makers. They want to put every woman I've spoken with on HIGH doses of vitamin D. My doc just mentioned it, but like everyone else's GYN has been writing scripts for big doses. My best pal at work was told to take an insanely high dose and she was concerned. We looked it up and it is contraindicated at those doses for people with diabetes. Sure enough. She called her primary care doc and she about flipped. Told her no more that 1,000 IU daily! So, make sure all your docs agree that such a high dose is needed. I take 1,000 IU daily. I wouldn't pay for the blood test at my last physical because it isn't covered under insurance. So, I don't know if I'm "deficient" or not, but I think I'll be just fine.
  • froeschli
    froeschli Posts: 1,292 Member
    Options
    Funny, I mentioned seasonal depression in another thread and someone told me to get tested for vitamin D deficiency. My first thought was "no way with the amounts of milk I drink" turns out 1 cup of milk has about 1/6th your daily requirement. So not nearly enough. I'll be heading out supplement shopping in a bit....
  • jmayerovitch
    jmayerovitch Posts: 71 Member
    Options
    Glad to hear other folks have been on the same regimen. I'm curious to see how this affects me. Just took my first dose yesterday and I'm supposed to take it for two months, at which point I'll get retested.
  • almomnc
    almomnc Posts: 68 Member
    Options
    My family doctor gave me the option of the expensive 50 000 IU pill weekly or try supplementing myself. I need calcium and B12 so I just take it daily with those vitamins. Nexium twice daily for severe GERD contributes to these deficiencies. I don't want to rely on looking at vitamin content in all the food I eat to ensure a well-balanced diet; I want to focus on calories, protein and fat instead. It's a personal choice for everyone how/if you decide to supplement.
  • palmerb2
    palmerb2 Posts: 48 Member
    Options
    I have the deficiency too but just take a vitamin d supplement
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    Options
    Anyone else deal with this? My nutritionist had me tested and it came back pretty low. So now my Army doc has me on this weekly Vitamin D pill. It's 50,000 units per pill, which is a lot.

    That's the standard treatment for Vitamin D deficiency.
  • determined2bfit13
    determined2bfit13 Posts: 91 Member
    Options
    I have a Vitamin D defiency as well. My doctor prescribed some pills and I feel much better after taking it and have a lot more energy. However my doctor just gave told me to take 2000 units a day, 1000 per pill. 50,000 sounds like a lot to me but I'm no doctor.
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
    Options
    Don't you just pee it out if your body doesn't use it?
  • adiggs2777
    adiggs2777 Posts: 111 Member
    Options
    Don't you just pee it out if your body doesn't use it?

    I thought that was Vitamin C?

    Anyhow, I also had a Vit D deficiency. I was told that city dwellers, people who work indoors, those of us with darker skin and obese people tend to have the deficiency. So I was put on the 50,0000 IU pill once a week for 8 weeks. I basically take my normal multi vitamin now which has 800 IU and am fine.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
    Options
    Don't you just pee it out if your body doesn't use it?

    No, certain vitamins like Vitamin D and other fat soluble vitamins, you can actually get vitamin toxicity. That said, this is pretty standard treatment for Vitamin D deficiency and in a few months the tests will come back better and the OP will go onto a maintenance dose. This is just to "flood" the body so to speak and get the numbers up fairly quickly.

    OP...currently on 5,000 IU maintenance dosage.
  • Tessyloowhoo
    Tessyloowhoo Posts: 504
    Options
    My family doctor gave me the option of the expensive 50 000 IU pill weekly or try supplementing myself. I need calcium and B12 so I just take it daily with those vitamins. Nexium twice daily for severe GERD contributes to these deficiencies. I don't want to rely on looking at vitamin content in all the food I eat to ensure a well-balanced diet; I want to focus on calories, protein and fat instead. It's a personal choice for everyone how/if you decide to supplement.

    Hey just to let you know. If you are on nexium your body most likely is not physically able to absorb the B12 you are taking in a supplement or eating in your diet. I have to get b12 injections because nexium blocks all of my absorption of b12.
  • marvybells
    marvybells Posts: 1,984 Member
    Options
    yes, i had a very bad deficiency a few years ago. I had blood-work done to check for something else, my vit D came back at 6 which is pretty low. (I think normal is somewhere in the range of 30-60)

    He put me on 50,000 units a week for about 2-3 mos. Then i had blood drawn again & it came back showing that it was back up to a normal level. I had not been deprived of sunlight & was eating a lot of dairy at the time so i am not really sure why/how it got so low to begin with. I have read that increasing vitamin D levels helps with fibromyalgia & joint pain, i suffer from both and can't say that i felt total relief from these discomforts but what i did notice is that a very deep nagging aching pain that i had in my knees & hips for a few months went away.

    Now i take 1,000-2,000 drops about every week or 2. this reminds me that i haven't taken any in a while, i think i will go do that now
  • admegamo
    admegamo Posts: 175 Member
    Options
    Anyone else deal with this? My nutritionist had me tested and it came back pretty low. So now my Army doc has me on this weekly Vitamin D pill. It's 50,000 units per pill, which is a lot.

    I was told by my pharmasist that the reason it's so high is because when it's from the pharmacy it's synthetic which is harder for our bodies to absorb and we end up only absorbing part of it.

    It would probably be quicker to just over the counter kind. I was so low that my doctor had me take 5,000 IU's of over the counter Vit D (over the counter because he said my pharmacist was correct).

Categories