Vitamins, Supplements...oh my!

I think you need to have your vitamin D levels checked. It is a simple blood draw and any doctor can order it. Vitamin D has been shown in many studies to be important in preventing and possibly treating breast cancer. You do want your Vitamin D levels to be well above 50. If they are, then the supplements you are taking are enough. If not, you need more, but without testing your levels to begin with supplementation is pretty much a shot in the dark. On the other hand, it is pretty danged hard to get too much Vitamin D, so supplementing isn't going to hurt anything, you mostly want to be sure you are getting enough. I take 5000 IU vitamin D daily. A couple years ago my Vitamin D levels were found to be dangerously low-like 12-lord only knows how long my levels were low prior to this. Did this, lack of vitamin D contribute to me getting breast cancer later? I think so. At that point my gyno had me taking 50,000 IU per week for 12 weeks to get my levels back up. She wasn't the least bit concerned about toxicity even with this pretty high dosage.

I agree that getting your vitamin D level checked for a baseline is a good idea. Insurance should cover it once a year and it can be done as a single lab test. The result will give you some idea about what level to supplement with. For me, I was technically in the acceptable range for the average person but not ideal for having breast cancer. Taking 2000 IU Vitamin D3 a day along with a calcium supplement and magnesium pill seems to work for me.

Vitamin D supplementaion is very controversial.

http://www.mlo-online.com/articles/201406/vitamin-...

I would be discussing what vitamins and supplements that one might need with their team of physicians.

The reason why I reference the above link is because the amount of Vitamin D taken, may not reflect how much is absorbed. Furthermore, once it is absorbed, whether from the sun, eating foods that contain it or through supplementation, the body cannot differentiate where it came from. That said, no one knows precisely how much their body needs to absorb NOR has there there been any evidence of what a "therapeutic" amount should be. We all have read about "dangerously" low numbers of vitamin D. However, it is anyone's guess what a therapeutic amount is. That's why I think it is imperative that specific numbers not be discussed on a thread.

I second what voraciousreader is saying, and would add that vitamin supplements are, bottom line, like medications and non-medical people, even on this website, should not be prescribing dosages. Ask a doctor of yours to order a blood test for vitamin D levels, and have the results interpreted by that doctor (and others if you feel the need), but not by a layman, however well-meaning. As others have said, overdosing of vitamins can lead to severe damage of your vital organs, TG.