help with vit D levels

anondenet · December 2009

Nan, do you think suppressing ovulation is good or bad for breast cancer? I know in ovarian cancer, if you have been on the pill for 20 years stats seem to indicate that it almost guarantees you won't get it.

vivre · December 2009

Wow, lots of like minded gals around here. You all need to join in on the natural girls threads. There have been so many Vit D threads here. It seems as soon as one dies out, another starts up and all the old info is lost is space. Too bad this is not a continuous thread as it is vitally important.

I had a team of 4 cancer doctors. Not one of them said anything to me about Vit D. When I was beginning to have doubts about their "care" I finally went to a chiro because I knew I could at least get some nutrition advice. The first thing she said to me was, we need to check your Vit D level. Mine was 23! No wonder I was dragging. My chiro put me on 6000 iu right away. We tested again in 6 mo and I doubled it to 45, but she still thought that was low, so I did another 6 months on 6000 and it was over 100. Now I am taking 4000 daily and I will retest in Jan. I use the Carlson's drops in 2000 iu per drop in my tea.

unklezwifeonty · December 2009

My onco was quoted in a magazine on Vitamin D testing and its benefits and she still has not asked me to test!

Little-G · December 2009

I'm glad I found this thread. I just got my latest blood work from the onc. faxed over to me. No call from them, just the fax, and on the Vit. D page the nurse wrote "What dose are you taking? Need to be on 5000 IU daily for 6wks-3months and rechecked." My level for 25-OH, D2 was less than 4 and the other 2 were 20. So, I'm guessing to just go and get a big bottle of regular vit. d? I called and left a message for them this morning. My bones hurt so bad, which is why I went in. I can't put weight on, but my hair is still thick and healthy. I don't know. If anyone has any suggesstions of what Vit. D to pick up, that would be great. Thanks ladies!

g

Anonymous · December 2009

Little G - D3 is what I took, and it worked! I see you are in Oregon - I am in the NW too and I believe low vitamin D is a big problem in our areas. I also took vitamin C with it.

I was at 23 and was able to get it up to 55 in 3 months on 4000 iu of D3. Of course, everyone is different and I have heard others on here that have a hard time getting their number to go up.

I'm happy your oncologist is on this - mine is too - although in your case a phone call would have been nice - but at least you have the fax and the report.

Little-G · December 2009

Thanks, Aprilgirl! Did your bones really hurt and if so, did that help? I'd like to feel normal again if that's possible. :-) The nurse did return my call again to her this morning and confirmed the D3 so you are right on. I asked her about the other "flags" on the report like Low MPV,LY,MO,BA,Globulin and high Neu and Glucose. She said not to worry about it now. I have an MRI for hips and spine in Jan so once I get done with that they'll re-do blood work. I wish I knew what all of that meant. Well..I'm going to Costco today to pick up the Vit D. If anyone has any thoughts on the rest of those issues, I'd be very happy to hear!

BTW..what part of the NW are you from? Thanks again!

Meece · December 2009

unklezwifeonty, you may have already been tested, and your levels are fine so she hasn't mentioned it. My D levels were tested the first couple of times without my knowledge, just the regular set of blood draws, I thought. But since my levels are low, now it is a topic of conversation when I go see my onc.

Fantomia · December 2009

Hi all BC sisters - I'm so happy to have found this thread - and this site!

I've been treated for breast cancer twice (in the same breast) and have had pain in my bones since the first surgery 15 years ago (luckily the CT of my skeleton I had to insist to get didn't show any metastases - I so agree with those of you that are sceptical to the established treatment system - seems they are not interested in finding out the reason of our disease at all - only in pushing the drugs - I said no to adjuvant chemo )

But now my bone pain seems so obvious - of course I lack vitamin D - I live in Norway - and I don't belong to the group of Norwegians that spend all their holidays on beaches in Turkey.

Since I prefer to have my vitamins mostly natural I've found this (I'm a big fan of iHerb) - http://www.iherb.com/Nordic-Naturals-Arctic-D-Cod-Liver-Oil-Lemon-Flavor-8-fl-oz-237-ml/7050?at=0

It's not in the dose range you are talking about here, but if I take a full 10 ml spoon I get 2000 iu vitamin D witch is 5 times more than I get in the cod liver oil I take now, and I also get the 3 g omega 3 I'm told to take (hate taking all those pills).

unklezwifeonty · December 2009

Dear Meece,

That is certainly a possibility...

Anonymous · December 2009

LittleG - I did not have any bone pain, but when diagnosed asked to be tested for vitamin D as I had read about it way before I was diagnosed. I had been taking 1000iu - but just started the summer of 08 so just a few months before I was diagnosed.

SharaD · December 2009

Fantomia you have to be very careful about getting all your Vitamin D from Cod Liver Oil. It contains so much Vitamin A that you could overdose on A.

Cod Liver Oil is good for you, and absorbs well and has been around for years. BUT, taking it in large doses can cause problems. TOO MUCH VITAMIN A CAN BE TOXIC!

For the girls with bone pain....Calcium is not absorbing well if your Vitamin D is low. Getting your vitamin D levels up may help with bone pain. A bit. In this case it would have been better to have a good solid Vitamin D level before starting treatment....it is easier to maintain your D level and PREVENT bone pain than to get rid of it after it's set in.

For more information, google "Vitamin A Toxicity"....and/or "Vitamin D, Calcium".

Nan56143 · December 2009

SharaD,

And once again...you took the words right out of my post! lol!!

Nan56143 · December 2009

An article on the difference between D2 and D3, and this author will review a study (in January), which showed why D2 may be better than we think? No wonder people are so confused!

http://www.dynamicchiropractic.com/mpacms/dc/article.php?id=54370

Little-G · December 2009

It is really confusing. I read online somewhere that if you are very deficient you should take up to 50,000 IU's a day! I'm not doing that, but it is on some "doctor's" site.

g

Fantomia · December 2009

Thanks for warning me against vitamin A (both SharaD and Nan :-) )

- do you know what harm it can do to take more? Are there shown any bad effects on cancer with too much vit A? The cod liver I found (in the link in my post) has 650-1500 IU vit A and is said to be 26-60% of DV (? What do DV stand for?) while the vitamin D is 1000 IU and 250%, so I think I could take 10 ml without getting to much vitamin A? Then I would have 50 times more vit D than now (in my cod liver now is 40 iu) - witch still is not your doses but still better than now.. (+ I take clorella and spirulina - think both have vit D to - both D2 and D3..)

Fantomia · December 2009

10 mcg is 40 iu right?

Fantomia · December 2009

no- I've checked - 10 mcg is 400 iu - but still I will have 5 times more wich sounds 5 times better to me :-)

Anonymous · December 2009

I don't have time to read all the posts. However, I just wanted to say that I get my Vit. D from Vita Cost. I know it works because my levels continue to rise. It's in a capsule for, but dry..not liquid. I started reading some on K2 and then found another D with K2. I don't know how muck K2 I need so I take two of those and two fo the other kind. I was taking 3000 IUs and my D level was 62. I have upped it to 4000IUs. I do take calcium and magnesium citrate, but separately. Oh, the joys of research. Oh, my onc does believe in D, but I don't know what level she thinks is clinical.

Makratz · December 2009

LittleG, I am deficient and am on 50,000 I.U.'s once a week for 8 weeks to boost my D. After 8 weeks I will start to take 1,000 I.U.'s and then have my blood tested again. My level is 20 now, I hope it goes up ALOT!

Fantomia, DV is for daily value.

SharaD · December 2009

Generally, signs of toxicity are associated with long-term consumption of vitamin A in excess of ten times the RDA (8,000 to 10,000 mcg/day or 25,000 to 33,000 IU/day). However, more research is necessary to determine if subclinical vitamin A toxicity is a concern in certain populations (37). There is evidence that some populations may be more susceptible to toxicity at lower doses, including the elderly, chronic alcohol users, and some people with a genetic predisposition to high cholesterol (8). In January 2001, the Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the Institute of Medicine set the tolerable upper level (UL) of vitamin A intake for adults at 3,000 mcg (10,000 IU)/day of preformed vitamin A (21).

BREAST CANCER
Retinol and its metabolites have been found to reduce the growth of breast cancer cells in vitro, but observational studies of dietary retinol intake in humans have not confirmed this in vivo (24). The majority of epidemiological studies have failed to find significant associations between retinol intake and breast cancer risk in women (25-28), although one large prospective study found that total vitamin A intake was inversely associated with the risk of breast cancer in premenopausal women with a family history of breast cancer (29). Blood levels of retinol reflect the intake of both preformed vitamin A and provitamin A carotenoids like beta-carotene. Although a case-control study found serum retinol levels and serum antioxidant levels to be inversely related to the risk of breast cancer (30), two prospective studies did not observe significant associations between blood retinol levels and subsequent risk of developing breast cancer (31, 32). Presently, there is little evidence in humans that increased intake of preformed vitamin A or retinol reduces breast cancer risk.

ananda8 · December 2009

Since links tend to get lost in long threads such as this one, I thought it might be helpful to repost these two.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/prevention/vitamin-D

http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/80/6/1706S

unklezwifeonty · December 2009

Dear Makraz,

Sorry to beat a dead horse (and sorrier for a bad analogy) but you really need to not take that 50k/week which is D2 and take 5K/daily D3 available OTC. Also take calcium and magnesium to ensure proper uptake.

Nan56143 · December 2009

Dear Makraz,

I agree 100% with unklezwifeonty. These doctors really need to get educated on vitamin D3 and the only way to do that is to email them all the articles you find here. Especially the ones fro the vitamin D council and Life Extension. Notself, I hesitate to say this but the articles you posted are really outdated.Sorry.. Frown The recommended dosage is 5000 IU's per day and not 600 IUs.

Makratz · December 2009

Hi Unklewife, My 50,000 is D3. I checked with the doctor and the pharmacy. Yay!! I do take cal and mag too. Perhaps they have changed the RX's recently? My doctors work at the Beth Isreal Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute so I hope they know what they are doing! Thanks for the warning!

Makratz · December 2009

Hi Ladies,

I just double checked my D. Called my Dr and she said it should be for D3. Brought the pills to the pharmacy and they told me it was D2!!! Thanks so much for making me question this! I do have D3's, 1000 IU's that I take daily, so I think I will just take more. Even when I think I am doing the right thing, apparently I'm not!

Seriously, thank you Ladies for having me double check!

unklezwifeonty · December 2009

Dear Makraz,

You are welcome.

sanaisa · December 2009

Should we be taking 5K of D2 or D3 daily? Sorry, I am confused!!

unklezwifeonty · December 2009

Dear Sanaisa,

5K D3 Daily.

You should be taking 5K D3 Daily (available OTC) instead of 50K D2 Weekly (available by prescription) unless advised otherwise by a doctor who knows the Vitamin D recommendations fully and the vitamin d levels in your blood.

bennetts1 · December 2009

Nan,

Just visited my oncologist at Vanderbilt last Monday. I questioned her about about my Vitamin D3 levels and asked her about testing them. She told me there has not been enough testing done on Vitamin D3 and cancer for her to be concerned and I was on Calcium and Vitamin D supplements and Boniva and she was not concerned with my levels. I told her I have researched and read a lot on my own and I wanted my levels checked. She told me my insurance might not pay for the test, and I told her I did not care that I still wanted the test! Here are my results:

Nutrition25-HYDROXY D2: < 4 25-HYDROXY D3: 35 80 ng/mL (toxicity possible)**** *Could be associated with osteomalacia or rickets **May be associated with increased risk of osteoporosis or secondary hyperparathoidism. ***Optimum levels in the normal population. ****80 ng/mL is the lowest reported level associated with toxicity in patients without primary hyperparathyroidism who have normal renal function. Most patients with toxicity have levels >150 ng/mL. Patients with renal failure can have very high 25-OH-VitD levels without any signs of toxicity, as renal conversion to the active hormone 1,25-OH-VitD is impaired or absent. These reference ranges represent clinical decision values that apply to males and females of all ages, rather than population-based reference values. Population reference ranges for 25-OH-VitD vary widely depending on ethnic background, age, geographic location of studied populations, and the sampling season. Population-based ranges correlate poorly with serum 25-OH-VitD concentrations that are associated with biologically and clinically relevant vitamin D effects and are therefore of limited clinical value.">25-HYDROXY D TOTAL: 35

She told me my levels were in normal range. From what I am reading, I am low. What do you recommend?

Thanks for you advice!

Sandy

unklezwifeonty · December 2009

Looks on the low side to me. If I were you, I'd ask my onco if I could bump up the Vitamin D to 5K D3 daily. .

help with vit D levels

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