help with vit D levels

unklezwifeonty

Mary,

One more thought - if you are really worried about upsetting your onc, ask her and/or hold off on taking larger daily dose (5000 IU) of D3 until after finishing chemo.

Mantra

Does my vitamin D seem to be in a normal range. It says - 25 hydroxy vitamin D. = 110.

unklezwifeonty

I think so Mantra. Please double check with your onc. Some believe more than 100 may have some risks too.

Meece

MY GP did mention VitD toxicity.  Anyone have experience with that?

MBJ

I am new to this site and so grateful to have a forum to discuss alternatives!

My Dr. has me on 8000IU of a combined VitD3/K1 each pill is 2000IU of D3 and 200mcg K!--

It is really hard to od on vit D3-my Dr. recommends women with BC to have their levels at between 60-80.

During chemo:  always wait to take any antioxidants one day prior, the day of and one day after.  Supplements really ease your recovery from chemo--the chemo only does it's job for 48 hours and then it needs to be eliminated from the body.

 Hope I was some help!

unklezwifeonty

Is D an anti-oxidant?

Anonymous

Vitamin D is actually a hormone. This youtube is very interesting/helpful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfa_z0KTwDo&feature=related

unklezwifeonty

So is it ok to take Vit D without stopping on chemo day?

Nan56143

Unklezwifeonty,

A sentence from the following link...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8325381

Furthermore, the antioxidant ability of Vitamin D is compared to that of the anticancer drug tamoxifen and its 4-hydroxy metabolite (structural mimics of cholesterol) and discussed in relation to the anticancer action of this vitamin.

And a paragraph from this link..

http://www.westonaprice.org/The-Miracle-of-Vitamin-D.html

During the last ten years, researchers have made a number of exciting discoveries about vitamin D. They have ascertained, for example, that vitamin D is an antioxidant that is a more effective antioxidant than vitamin E in reducing lipid peroxidation and increasing enzymes that protect against oxidation.^19;20

Everything that I have read stated to not take any supplements the day before chemo, the day of chemo and for 2 days after chemo. However, all the chemicals are gone after 48 hours, and that is why it is recommended that you drink 3 liters of water beginning the day before chemo.

Then why do the doctors tell you that you cannot take any supplements/vitamins/and not eat certain foods all through treatments? Because they are not informed! Time for some common sense on the part of the individual.

MaryNY

MBJ you said "During chemo: always wait to take any antioxidants one day prior, the day of and one day after."

This is confusing. Did you mean to say "don't take any antioxidants one day prior ...."?
or did you mean "only take antioxidants one day prior, etc.... i.e. not at other times during chemo"? I think most oncologists advise against the use of antioxidant supplements during chemotherapy. I know mine warned against vitamins A, C and E. Although there is research that shows that antioxidants can reduce SEs of chemo, but it seems logical to presume that they do so reducing the cytotoxic effect of the chemo drugs thus protecting cancer cells too. 

Nan56143

Dear Mantra,

Are you sure your D levels are 110? If so, you are the first woman I have ever read of with levels that high. What dose of D3 are you taking? Can you post your test results as I did?

Meece...I don't believe you have to worry about toxicity...read...and show this to your doctor.

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml

and another link...

http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec01/ch004/ch004k.html

Meece

The comment about VitD being a hormone now has me concerned.  My onc is highly respected in the research of TNs such as myself so I wouldn't think she'd endorse high doses of hormone for me.

ananda8

bennetts1,

I just ran across this YouTube.  Your oncologist should catch up.  In fact most doctors should catch up.  The video is sponsored by the UCSD School of Medicine and was filmed at the Diagnosis & Treatment of Vitamin D Seminar.  You need to have your doctor tell you if your levels are in nmol/L or in ng/ml. The optimum levels vary depending on the measurement used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emjCzaHtSrg

ananda8

Meece,

Not all hormones are sex hormones.  Estrogen is a sex hormone.  Vitamin D is not.  Please watch the video I posted above for the most current information and clear explanation of Vitamin D.

Meece

I was not sure about sex, growth or any other type (if there is any) tyoe of hormones.  I am paranoid about taking anything anymore.

Nan56143

This article is in the January issue of Life Extension magazine.

"Startling Findings abourt Vitamin D levels in Life Extension Members"

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2010/jan2010_Startling-Findings-About-Vitamin-D-Levels-in-Life-Extension-Members_01.htm

Meece...

Vitamin D is a prehormone, and a very essential one. I see where you were dx with TNBC as was my daughter Lori. Her major concern after all treatments ended was to get her D levels as close to 100 ng/ml as possible. She did this by taking BHRT...biodentical hormone replacement therapy. Before the BHRT her levels were 44, and now they are 82.6. All hormones have to be balanced....all of them. Hormones are not bad for you....you need them to live..and only when they are out of balance do they create havoc. One definition of death is...lack of hormones.

MaryNY

Not to be too contrarary, I'd prefer to see links to independent studies related to Vit D levels and breast cancer rather than links to drug companies or organizations that have a vested interest in sales of supplements.

ananda8

The link I provided in my previous post was from a Symposium sponsored by University of California at San Diego in conjunction with Grassroots.  There are no no drug companies with a vested interest in seeing the use of vitamin D.  On the contrary, drug companies would loose if Vitamin D was used by everyone at the levels recommended in the video. 

For those of you with slow Internet connections, this a link to some of the topics discussed. 

http://www.grassrootshealth.org/seminar_presentations.htm

Here is a link to a pdf file contains some of the high points regarding cancer and diabetes.

http://www.grassrootshealth.org/_download/Garland%20GrassrootsHealth.pdf

Nan56143

notself,

I too have provided these same links which you just posted and many times and perhaps no one is reading through the entire threads? In fact, I believe they are on this thread.

MaryNY...The link from Life Extension was just to show that everyone is deficient in vitamin D3. Life Extension also provided the information which I posted on Preventing Surgery Induced Cancer Metastasis, and I feel this is very valuable information. If you look at all the references on any article from Life Extension, you will see there will be many references, which you can then search.

Mary...these same links which notself posted I posted on page 1 of this thread along with 7 other links from the vitamin D council which is a non-profit organization. No marketing of any products.

ananda8

Thank you Nan,

Mary, the non profit group, Grassroots, is also made up of research scientists.  You do not need to be concerned about Big Pharma.  It is Big Pharma that needs to be concerned about Vitamin D research.   

thenewme

My guess is that MaryNY was referring to the link referring to Life Extension Foundation (www.lef.org), as theirs is a vitamin/supplement sales website.

Notself, are you referring to the theory that drug manufacturers would not be able to profit from Vitamin D?  In fact, I've been doing a lot of reading on clinicaltrials.org lately and I see that some of the big pharmaceutical companies are actively involved in a lot of current vitamin D research.  I just posted on another thread this morning that GlaxoSmithKline is the official collaborator on one of the vitamin D studies (NCT00352170) that is very frequently referred to on this board.  

I'm not defending the vitamin D profit platform by the pharmaceutical industry, but it goes both ways - the nutritional supplement industry stands to gain a ton of profit from it too. 

ananda8

thenewme,

Someone has to manufacture and sell vitamin D to us.  My point was that vitamin D alone will provide no more profit per dose than it does now.  Manufacturers will of course have higher profits due to larger sales and there may be some manufacturing efficiencies in larger sales as well.

I am surprised and glad to hear that Glaxco is funding some of the research. Good for them. 

thenewme

Notself,

I'll bet the profit margin of Vitamin D will rise as it gains popularity and the demand increases.  Hypothetically speaking, if vitamin D was scientifically proven to cure or prevent cancer, manufacturers would surely apply a huge price increase!

I was surprised too, to see that GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Sanofi, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, AstraZeneca, Abbott, and every other "Big Pharma" company I could think of, were all sponsoring research studies on Vitamin D!  

I don't look forward to the inevitable price hikes of vitamin D, but at this point I'd give just about anything for a readily available product to cure or prevent cancer!

Harley44

thenewme,

yes, I am sure the price will increase!  I just bought 4 bottles of D3 today, and CVS was having one of their buy 1, get 1 FREE sales...  

I have noticed that since I increased my dose about a week or so ago, I am feeling better, and my depression seems to be gone. 

ananda8

My hair was falling out for months. I blamed Arimidex.  Since I have been taking 3800 IU per day, my hair loss has almost completely stopped.  I am generally feeling better as well.  I was on Vit D2 for over a year and it did nothing to raise my blood levels.  My doctor just switched me to D3 at the end of November. Since I read the links, I raised my intake from 2000 IU a day to my current dose.

Estepp

Ladies... this makes me sad...

I upped my D3... about four weeks ago... and I feel no different... my bones still ache.. horrible.. I still limp to the bathroom every am... ankles take so long to stop hurting..... ( I NEVER HAD THIS prior to DX)... and I feel no over all better?? Boo Hoo for me. It is so amazing to me. I never had a pain in my whole body.. not even a head ache... prior to DX... now... I am all finished with ALL treatment since about three months ago... ( I was 100% ER/PR NEG....- and fully HER2+++) I just do not get it.. and unfortunately... my docs do not either... THey upped my Neurontin from 600 gm a day... to 1200mg a day... we'll see......

I used to take 1000 mg D3... then 2000mg. D3... should I really go to 5000?? My onco says no.

Makratz

Estepp,

Do you know your D level?  If it's low I'd say to try upping it.

I hope you get some relief.  I do after about a month.

Linda

unklezwifeonty

Dear Estepp,

First step is to know your D level. If you are sure it is between 80 and 100, then 2000 IU per day of D3 is fine otherwise 5000 IU would be able to help you get in that range.

makingway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ-qekFoi-o

It's long, but worth watching.You will see the evidence presented by doctors at UCSD and Moore's Cancer Center.

Anonymous

Estepp - I agree with the others - I was taking 5,000 iu daily for 6 weeks to get my levels up.  Makingway - that is a great youtube - so informative.

Estepp - I hope you feel better soon.  That must be so frustrating (as well as uncomfortable).