help with vit D levels

Maybe, if you iron outside!!!

Yes, since I got my levels up to 54 from a low of 22, I have a great deal more energy.  I got up at six this morning and worked with a wheel barrow until almost noon.  I sleep better and my skin looks better.  What is the most surprising is I can tolerate heat and sun which I could never do before.  I am starting to get my stamina back and now I just need to work on the muscle tone.  Over all, I am really glad to have my Vitamin D levels where they are.

traci:  Wow, that is a very low level of Vitamin D.  I do believe that Vitamin D affects the skin, and much more that we are not really aware of.   Gosh, I think you need to talk with your doctors about that low level, it's much MUCH too low.  My lowest was 14.   Do you also take calcium?  How long have you been taking the D3 @50,000ius per week? 

I personally can't put a finger on any symptoms per se due to vitamin d deficiency. 

Good for you notself, like JO, I simply cannot be out in the sun at all either without getting very ill. 

CS:  You certainly raise more questions, and I've asked my endo, he said stay on the Vit D2 for 7 more weeks...but boy, I'm really curious now if I should be taking the D3.  Maybe just wait til end of the full 12 weeks, and see how high the level DID go.  If it's not much higher, I will certainly insist on the D3 high dose.   Thanks everyone always...info is golden!    ~juli

I could have posted notself's post for my case as well. I started out around 20, and after only 3 weeks, I was testing at 39.   I haven't been back for my next test, but I am on a daily regime of 2000-4000 IU of D3 liquid drops.

I can honestly say my life is 100% different. I have 3 kids, and didn't realize that my health was slowly going downhill. My only indicator previously was that I was EXTREMELY tired.  I would start my normal Saturday routine, making breakfast for the family, going for a walk/run, then I would come back, start to clean up the house, and I would just simply run out of steam and have to sit down. I would have to sit down and rest several times a day,which I now realize was *not* normal for a 39 year old mother.

Now that I have higher levels of Vit D, I have loads of energy. I can also tolerate heat and sun much, much better. I had gotten to a point previously where the sun would literally sap my energy.  I feel as strong as I was at age 23, and my skin looks a lot better than it has in a long while.  It's been a refreshing elixir of youthful energy for me. I am so amazed at the difference.... I guess I didn't realize just how poorly I was doing until I had something to compare it to.

I haven't been out in the sun in 25 years. My Vitamin D baseline was 70.

Go figure.

marianna:  That is very interesting indeed.  I have no familial history of primary hyperparathyroidism, cancer, vitamin d deficiency or my daily migraines.  I'm in a class of my own in my family.  That said, I also went thru a few endocrinologists, as none connected my parathyroid (high pth/calcium) issues with my constant vitamin d deficiency.  Now I have one who immediately said they are related, but he also put me on D2, 50,000ius for 7 more weeks.  SO, we shall see at the end of 12 weeks of taking the D2 if my vitamin d levels increase (my oncologist and breast surgeon want it to be optimally around the 70 level).  Thank you for the info!

~juli

Hi Traci, The fact that your level has already increased from 4 to 16 in just 8 weeks says that what you're doing is working. Yay!!  There's no obvious reason that the level should not continue to increase above the 20's if you keep up the supplements in large enough doses.  It's the definition of "large enough" that's not clear and varies from person to person.  Most likely, at the time when you're into the normal range, your doc will have you switch from the 50,000 IU/week dose to a smaller daily dose, and the appropriate size of that daily dose to maintain you at normal levels is the question.  You'll have to pick one based on your doc's advice and whatever else you know and go with it.  Then, about the only way to be sure its big enough is for you to be tested again a few months after you switch to it.  Good luck - you're on a good road obviously!

Juli, Indeed, the D2 vs D3 debate is ongoing in the research lit as well as our doc offices and so forth. Some people will dismiss D2 as totally useless, but research studies using D2 to replete people who are deficient or insufficient show that in many people it does increase total D in the blood, although often not to normal levels, or less than might be expected given how much is taken.  But it's unclear if that's because D2 can't get your level up as high as D3, or if the studies were too short (they're often just 8-12 wks long), or otherwise.  Unfortunately there are many fewer studies using D3 for repletion.  Even more unfortunately, two really good head-to-head studies of D2 vs D3 show diametrically opposed results:  In one study using 1000 IU daily of either D2 or D3 for 11 wk in healthy adults 18-84 yr old, they found that D2 and D3 supplements raised & maintained the total blood 25OHD level equally well. (Recall 25OHD is the form of vit D in the blood that's measured.) In a second study, 50,000 IU of D2 or D3 was given one time in healthy males 20-61 yrs old and the level of 25OHD was measured over the following 28 days.  They found that both D2 and D3 supplements equally increased the 25OHD in the first 3 days, but the D3 group's blood level continued to rise for another week and stayed up for the full 28 days, whereas the D2 group's blood level decreased back to the starting level by 14 days and was below where they started after 28 days.  So is D2 as good as D3 at repleting people or not?  The problem is that the studies are just different.  Maybe our bodies handle small doses of D2 & D3 the same (first study) but very large doses (second study) differently.  Maybe the studies were too short to be definitive as compared to real life where we supplement over months and years.   I at least haven't found longer term studies that resolve this difference.  So we're all left to our own devices to decide whether to take D2 or D3.  For me , once I figured out this controversy, I just figured that since questions exist about D2, and the fact that D3 is what my body makes, I might as well use D3 and then I just don't have to worry it.  But you won't hear me saying that D2 won't replete you because there are data to show it does to at least some degree.  On the other hand I will help people here understand the controversy and to find higher doses of D3 if they want it, since I think it's valuable info.  For interested parties, you can see the data in pdfs of the two studies here:

study 1: http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/reprint/93/3/677

study 2:  http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/reprint/89/11/5387 

An interesting side note about study 1 where they gave 1000 IU daily (either D2 or D3) for 11 wks is that the groups that took it had an average of about 19 ng/ml 25OHD blood level to start, reached about 28 ng/ml by about 6 wks, where they leveled off for the last 5 wks of the study.  In other words, 1000 IU daily was enough to get them up to and maintain them around 28 but not any higher.  Suggests to me that 1000 IU, at least in formerly deficient people, is not enough to get one into and maintain one in the healthy range (~30-100 ng/ml, dep on who you ask), and argues for a higher daily dose.  Interesting...

Hope everyone's having a nice Sunday!  Happy Father's Day to everyone's dads/hubby's, as appropriate! 

CS

mathteacher,

Was your level in ng/ml or in nmol/l?  It makes a real difference in the normal level. 

A level of 70 nmol/l is the same as 30ng/ml.  That is very low normal.  Check to see how your level was reported. 

notself, good point about the units.  I always assume people are talking ng/ml but that's a BAD assumption on my part! 

squidwitch42, its possible the D is contributing to softer skin, and your flaxseed might be as well. I haven't delved into how D functions in the skin but it seems to be active just about everywhere else in the body so I'd be surprised if there wasn't something it did in the skin.  The no estrogen probably doesn't help the skin, as you say. I started tamoxifen 6 months ago and my hands in particular are definitely drier.  I'm trying to find a moisturizer that doesn't contain all the supposedly bad chemicals, nor lavendar or tea tree oil; isn't overly scented; and actually moisterizes really well, and, well, I'm still searching.  If anyone has one to recommend please do so!

Best - CS

Hi Ladies,

I argued with my PCP about the Vitamin D3 test and he insisted on doing the 1,25. My results came back as 58, but I don't really trust them. I've read everywhere that the best one is the 25(OH)D. I found a website that you can order a home D3 test kit for the 25 (OH) D.

www.zrtlab.com/vitamincouncil - has anyone ever heard or used this site?

Candi 

Dear Candi,

My daughter used the ZRT labs for saliva testing (twice now), as she is on BHRT, and was very satisfied with them. The pharmacist she had consultations with in Pittsburgh knows Zava personally, and recommended ZRT labs. The D level test that you had was the wrong test. Your PCP needs to be educated...by you.

I sat in the sun for about 1/2 hour this weekend and it felt great.  I've allowed myself sun most of my life, not tons, just some.  I can't wait to get tested again.  That will be in about another week. 

Thanks Traci for the moisturizer recommendations.  (Where does the squidwitch username come from - very evocative! LOL)

Marianna - you can have parathyroid disease with normal calcium levels; I had 'normocalcemic hyperparathyroidism'  (normal calcium and elevated PTH).I recently had one parathyroid gland along with a one centimetre adenoma removed.Had slighty elevated calcium levels when taking calcium/vit D supplements - normal calcium when I stopped them.When the endocrinologist did a vitamin D challenge, it showed my levels were normal (around 68), so I was told it was definitely primary hyperparathyroidism.But maybe in your case, the vitamin D will be implicated in the high PTH.

There seems to be, however, a link between hyperparathyroidism and bc. So many of us here have both.

Best to you,

Sam

Vitamin D update...

I went to pick of my prescription, and it was D2 again...after my MD said she had been calling in D3.  I spoke with the pharmacist who said insurance does not cover D3, so I bought D3 50,000 OTC at the pharmacy, and plan to substitue this for the D2 to see if my levels will come up any faster. 

I'll report back my findings