help with vit D levels

Juli---hehe lol........not feeling better yet, but tomorrow is the day I take my second 50,000 IU's. So.............I'm hoping by the end of the day tomorrow I'll be able to run a marathon........wooohoooot.....can't wait!!

I wasn't able to go to Curves everyday last week, and I can really tell when I don't exercise. I went this morningt and do feel much better, but there are going to be some weeks I can't get to the gym, so I'm counting on these cute little green vit d pills to get me going.

Thanks to all of you for all the research and advice. What would we do without one another???? Hey, maybe we could start our own breast care clinic.....I bet between all of us, we could help someone.

Love and hugs

YAY!!! PATTY!!!

I finally got mine up to 61...we are almost twins!

Thanks so much Makraz and Luna. I don't know about you gals but it has felt like a full time job getting that level up!! I can stay the course. Now I can take a vacation!!!

Patty

makraz:  Thank you for the info.  I will continue to take this D2/50,000ius for the 12 weeks, then see what my level is, and then confer with my endo/onco on what to take to keep that D3 level up.  If I have to order from a pharmacy, we have a compounding one near us. I wrote that brand down, Bio-Tech.  Thank You! ~juli

Same to you Makraz, thank you, you've really inspired me, and I wouldn't be surprised if most here were not inspired by you and your research.  I had thought I researched pretty well, lol...NOT!   I will await my levels, then see about the D3 (I already had taken 1000ius daily for a couple years before my levels became deficient again).   Cool on just needing the regular pharmacy, I'll use where I get my meds, thanks again!  Best of luck to everyone really!   ~juli

Ladies,

Those of you who are or are thinking of taking 50,000IU of D3, please be careful.  10,000IU of D3 is the highest recommended dose that is safe.  D3 is much more effective in raising levels of D than D2 because it does not have to be converted.  I got my levels up from a low of 30 to 54 in less than five months taking only 4000 IU per day.

Please do your own research since many doctors are just getting up to speed themselves.  Here is a link.

http://www.grassrootshealth.net/

I started taking 1000 IU's of D3 yesterday with Magnesium citrate and calcium. I do not feel well this evening, my stomach is nauseous, my head feels a bit fuzzy and I am exhausted.  When I took the 50,000 IU's of D2 prescribed by the oncologist because my vitamin d level is 18, I had similar reaction but more severe. I could barely function. When I read the side effects on the prescription it said if I had headache, nausea, irritability, mood swings, and a few other things I can not remember at the moment (vitamin D brain) call poison control.  What am I doing wrong?

Olivia 

Olivia, did you call poison control?  I wonder if they can point you in the right direction.  I would also call my onc and PCP, and anyone else.  This is your health - please call - YOU are not doing anything wrong.  Please take care.

Thanks for responding.  You had me worried.

Oncologists are nortorious for not hearing about reactions to anything they prescribe.  I think one of their medical courses is tunnel vision - they only learn about the meds, not the se's.  (of course there are onco's who are exceptions!)

I wonder if it's possible to be allergic to vitamin D, even that from the sun?

From Oct to Jan I supplemented with 2,000 mg D 3 and my level dropped during the winter from 31 to 22.  I then supplemented for 4 months with 20,000 mg a day of a different brand, Thorne, and my level went to 61. Doc says alternate 15,000 one day and 20,000 the next and see how it does.

Olivia---Keep in mind that many supplements (and almost all drugs) have other ingredients in them, and it is not only possible but common for someone to be allergic to one of those chemicals.  I've known people who could only take the name brand of a drug because they were allergic or had bad reactions to the fillers, colors, or other chemicals in the generic versions, or even in another company's version.  You may be reacting to one of the other chemicals in the D3, magnesium or calcium.  Please do whatever your doc and poison control tell you to do.  Ask your doc about stopping them all for a few days, then starting with just one. After a few days add another.  Then start the third a few days after that.  If you have another reaction you will know if it's from one of the supplements and which one, then you can look at the ingredient list and see what is different--that may be the culprit  Keep us up to date!

juli0212, I don't know what your pharmacist was thinking but it is not correct that D2 is changed in the kidney to D3.  Naturally occuring (made by skin) or supplemented D3 is first metabolized in the liver to calicidiol (aka 25(OH)D3), and then in the kidney and other tissues to calcitriol, (aka 25(OH)2D3).  Supplemented vitamin D2 is similarly hydroxylated (the -OH groups added) in the liver then kidney, but at every turn, the bits of the molecule that make D2 different than D3 do not get changed to convert the D2 structure into the D3 structure.  If you're into chemistry, you can see the different molecular structures on this website:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D

In addition, as someone else said, D3 IS available in the US at doses up to 50,000 IU/pill over the counter.  Your pharmacy may not have them, but at a health food store, Whole Foods, or online you can get them for sure.  Also, you don't necessarily have to buy a 50,000 IU pill.  I bought 5000 IU pills and took 10 of them 1x/wk to get the 50,000 IU 1x/wk dose (they're tiny, its easy).  I did that because I only needed a few of the 50,000 doses and intended to switch to a 5000 IU daily dose after 6 wks, and I didn't want to waste most of a jar of 50,000 IU pills.

For anyone concerned about the 50,000 IU dose, note that when this is used it's almost always prescribed as 50,000 IU 1x/wk, or even 1x/month, NOT daily.  That would indeed be a very high daily dose.  I too have heard/read taht there's some evidence to say 10,000 IU/day is safe, but not higher than that.  The data above 2000 IU/day is sketchy though, on my reading of all this. 

juli this is not to say that your D2 won't be helpful to you.  The data are mixed as to whether it works as well as D3 supoplements to get your level up and keep it up.  My own pragmatic view is that since there is this question, and our body makes and is evolved to use D3, why use D2 when you can obtain and use D3. 

just my 14-cents worth...

Gogo, While I am not sure as to the answer of your question, you should also consider the amount of time yoru Mom spends outside in the sun.  Also, how many months a year can she do this to get vitamin D naturally.

Hey sistahs!

Well, after reading this great information on this forum, I decided to call my pharmacist and ask him about the little green pills (D2 or D3)..........ohhhhhh,,,,, he said....they're D3. Well, for some reason that didn't sit too well with me. I went inside the store yesterday and called him over to the little consultation desk and ask him personally. He went back and checked, and suuuuuuuure nufffff it was D2.......I've taken 2 of those little pills, and not feeling any better as far as joint and bone pain, but once I'm done with the other 2, I'll be calling my oncologist to get my d levels checked again, and hopefully, will be given D3 to actually boost those levels up. I may even have to print what you ladies hare researched and provided for us. In the back of my mind, I knew ya'll were right all along!! Thanks for the information and keep it coming. Now......should I still keep taking 2,000 IU's in the morning and 2,000 IU's at night along with the 1 green pill once a week?? I sure don't want to OD on vitamin D for pete's sake!!! ((((Hugs ya'll))))

Coonie, I took them both at the same time.  The once a week 50,00 IU's of D2 and 5,000 IU's of D3.  But remember, I live much farther north than you do so if you are getting a lot of sun exposure you may not need that much.  XOXOXO