Vitamin D Deficiency?

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.

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.

I did the 50,000 1 x a week for 6 weeks last year then down to 1000 a day

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.

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....

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.

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.

Don't you just pee it out if your body doesn't use it?

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.

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

I live in the northwest, lots of Vit D deficiency is common. I take 200iu a day. Just go with the flow and check foods that are high in Vit D.

I had bloodwork done during a physical a few months ago, and my doctor said I was low in vit D. She wants me to take 2,000IU a day.

I've been taking 4,000 units a day as my bloodwork came back as really low. I didn't realise that you need a perscription for Vit D in the US as it's just something you grab from the supplements aisle over here. Interesting.

you can buy vitamin D supplements over the counter in the U.S.

I've seen the 50,000 unit doses sold through amazon but none of the drugstores near me had anywhere near that high a dose. Also, in my case the 50,000 unit pills were actually cheaper through my insurance prescription plan than if i bought without the prescription

I had really low vitamin D levels. Shocking to me considering I live in a warm climate and I'm outside quite a bit. But I was put on a regimen of 5,000 IU of Vitamin D a day. It took weeks to months to get the plasma Vit D levels up. After retesting when my blood levels went up, I dropped to 1,000 IU/day for maintenance. My skin looks a lot less dry and I don't seem to get as sick since I upped my Vitamin D levels.

Vit D deficiency is linked to a whole list of problems, and unfortunately sometimes the small over the counter supplements just don't cut it for some people. I tested very low and my doctor told me to take an OTC supplement to try to get my levels up (I think I was taking 5,000 IUs a day). I went back in to get retested and was still very low. Obviously my body just wasn't absorbing the supplement. That's when he put me on the 50,000 prescription 1x week. That finally got my levels up to the low end of acceptable. My chiropractor actually recommended that I start on the liquid drops, as he said that the body would absorb those a little easier, so I've been taking those for a few months now. I'm due for my physical later this month, so I'm hoping the blood work will come back showing that those are working. Sometimes you just have to go to extremes in order to get the vitamins your body needs! But a vit D deficiency is not something that you want to mess around with, so if your doctor prescribed this for you, definitely follow his recommendation!