Vitamin D issues
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bigbeardiver
Posts: 154 Member
Has anyone else with Type 2 noticed issues with vitamin D? While trying type 2 medications my Dr randomly tested my vitamin D to realize I had none aka critically deficient a reading of 0. While trying to control by blood sugar I also started taking vitamin D (varying formats, varying amounts, varying brands) all in an effort to keep some in my body.
The research I've done suggests that there is a coorelation between vitamin D and pancreas function. Given the pancreas also controls insulin production I'm wonder some other root cause / issue in your body can steal vitamin D, effecting pancreas function thereby making it look like the root cause is diabetes when infact diabetes is just a symptom of the root cause. Why is this important, because the treatment would be different.
Why do I think this? Type 2 medications that were thought would help control my blood sugar had no effect whlie medications that poked the pancreas into releasing insulin did. That mixed with vitamin D issues makes me believe something else is going on.
Another bit of trivia, vitamin D is not a vitamin it is really a mineral. I forgot why they call it a vitamin but found it interesting.
The research I've done suggests that there is a coorelation between vitamin D and pancreas function. Given the pancreas also controls insulin production I'm wonder some other root cause / issue in your body can steal vitamin D, effecting pancreas function thereby making it look like the root cause is diabetes when infact diabetes is just a symptom of the root cause. Why is this important, because the treatment would be different.
Why do I think this? Type 2 medications that were thought would help control my blood sugar had no effect whlie medications that poked the pancreas into releasing insulin did. That mixed with vitamin D issues makes me believe something else is going on.
Another bit of trivia, vitamin D is not a vitamin it is really a mineral. I forgot why they call it a vitamin but found it interesting.
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I cant speak for everyone but I too have a D issue....so does my daughter and husband and several friends. I asked my doctor about it and he said that he started testing everyone who was coming in and nearly everyone he tested came back under the bar and many were really low. he didnt say what he thought might be the issue just that very few were passing the test. hmmmm. Maybe its our way of life now....we get D from the sun and maybe we're all not going out like we should. Time to bake the brain I guess...ha ha.
I will say that he told me that low levels will make you very tired and sluggish....fun fun. We were placed on 50,000 units once a week for 6 week runs then retested....my husband has reached his normal levels and now does it OTC (over the counter) but my daughter and myself are still doing the Rx rounds. She's on her third round and i'm on my second.....My man (lucky dog) on had to do one round to hit good levels. ughhh.
If you find the time to look up more on this please let us know and post all you can. You have my attention here! ha ha0 -
My Dr started me on the 50,000 UI's a week for 8 weeks. Then I went to 100,000 UI's a week for 8 weeks. Next I went to 10,000 UI a day to see if smaller more frequent would make a difference. Now I'm on 5,000 UI's every morning. I finally went from a reading of 0 to a ready of 18 after about 36 weeks of taking vitamin D. I've not done a reading in the last several months but expect it to be about the same.
There is lots of research that says the fears of skin cancer and sun burns causes people to lather up on the sun screen thereby blocking the little sun we do get. I'm not sure I believe that, as during this time I was being treated I got more sun than I ever have yet had the lowest readings. I believe it is more to do with diet and not enough of a plant based diet.0 -
My husband, who is not diabetic, and a good portion of my friends have this issue. We all take some kind of Vitamin D supplement. I am of the age group who thought nothing of lathering up in baby oil and hitting the pool or beach and many are now paying the price.0
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I have to say...I'm the same....bring on the sun...ha ha. I will admit that I'm white as a sheet these days and working night shift ...well you get the picture. But I was told we only get D from the sun. If that's the case how can our diet make a difference here? I do know that I have trouble absorbing vit and min. But I dont know if my thyroid could play into that in any way. I had a dr put me on a good dose if Magnesium and said it would help my body absorb more....he was a real vit nut. I had a list longer then my arm of things he wanted me to take.....OMG....I think it was around 10+ pills twice a day....some three. I did it for a while but the cost and the routine became more then I could bare. There has to be a better way!0
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yup, i have to take 4000 a day.....0
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Thats good to know. Not something I have looked into but now I wanted to get mine tested to see where i'm at thanks for sharing.0
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I, too, have a Vitamin D deficiency. Pretty much everyone I know who has had their D level checked has been low, too. I do think it has a lot to do with lifestyle changes over the years; I'm hardly ever in the sun, staying indoors even in the summer.
I first had my level checked a year and a half ago. 7.3. Yikes. I'm on 100,000 a week, and this past summer got my level up to 19 only to have it drop back to 15 in December.0 -
I, too, have a Vitamin D deficiency. Pretty much everyone I know who has had their D level checked has been low, too. I do think it has a lot to do with lifestyle changes over the years; I'm hardly ever in the sun, staying indoors even in the summer.
I first had my level checked a year and a half ago. 7.3. Yikes. I'm on 100,000 a week, and this past summer got my level up to 19 only to have it drop back to 15 in December.
i think it does have something to do with lifestyle changes. almost everything has an SPF. from what i hear vit D can't absorb with the SPF on. i heard somewhere that if you won't get sunburned to not wear it and let it absorb. makes sense to me. i have brought mine up to 54 from 30. doc just changed it yesterday. i now take 50,000 every 10 days. we are checking to see if it will bring it up some more.0 -
I too have Vitamin D issues. I live in Australia which has the highest level of skin cancer in the world so we have the SPF message drummed into us constantly. In summer about 10 minutes per day will do the trick if you live somewhere hot, in winter a few hours per week is needed. You need it everyday as your body does not really store Vitamin D. If you live somewhere cold I guess you would always need a supplement.
There is a lot of research linking Vitamin D with a host of conditions, not surprisingly one of them is diabetes. Low Vitamin D can apparently result in poor blood sugar control.0 -
I also have a vit D deficiency. It started about 4 months before I was diagnosed with type II in Oct 2011. I am on 2000 IU every day and get tested every 3 months. I live in South Florida and its almost always sunny here!0
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I did also learn that just taking Vitamin D may not be enough. If your body is deficient in vitamin D processing, taking supplements is good but you also need ... shoot I'm getting old and forgot ... I believe Calcium is needed to process the vitamin D. So maybe none of us are vitamin D deficient. Maybe we get the right amount but our bodies don't process it because of lack of calcium.
There was a reason I dropped out of the medical profession, I tend to over think things. Given my life is actually on the line, I'll gladly over think this stuff. I just want to be able to get to the root cause of the issue. My Dr. has no explanation for why I can't build up any vitamin D and it can't be from the lack of putting it in my body, because my body gets plenty. Where it goes, no body knows.0 -
I too have a vitamin D deficiency and take 2000 IU daily. I've been doing this for at least four years now. My doctor told me they're finding a strong connection with the deficiency and diabetics, but that was an endocrinologist office after all.
Vitamin D is necessary to absorb calcium for bone health and they usually have 600 D in the calcium supplements. But to my knowledge, vitamin D is absorbed on it's own and needs no assistance from other vitamins.
Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to diabetes and weight gain as well as auto immune illnesses and heart disease, just to name a few.
Vitamin D super foods:
Salmon (especially wild-caught)
Mackerel (especially wild-caught; eat up to 12 ounces a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are low in mercury)
Mushrooms exposed to ultraviolet light to increase vitamin D
Other food sources of vitamin D include:
Cod liver oil
Tuna canned in water
Sardines canned in oil
Milk or yogurt -- regardless of whether it's whole, nonfat, or reduced fat -- fortified with vitamin D
Beef or calf liver
Egg yolks
Cheese
Nearly all milk in the U.S. is fortified with vitamin D. So are many brands of orange juice, yogurt, margarine, and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals.0 -
Hi Most people that in North American are low in Vit D. My Dr put me on Vit D a little over a year ago. We get Vit D from the sun & some plants.0
