I was recently diagnosed with a VitD level of 20. My GP gave me the results over the phone and told me to 'go to the chemist and get some supplements' .. I did a bit of research and it appears i should be on approx 50,000 units per week for 6 weeks. I have bought D3 tablets, 1000iu strength and I'm taking 7 a day. Is this sufficient?
What do I do then? How soon should I be looking for a retest?
I'm also taking magnesium citrate.
How long to when I feel normal? I had gone to my GP thinking my thyroid had become underractive as I suffered with post partum hypothyroidism after the births of two of my children but it was happily normal. The VitD thing was a surprise as I'd never considered it. I work nights so I'm going to have to rely on supplementation going forward.
Oh really? I assumed it was simply not getting it .. what reasons could there be?
Actually I was surprised when I read the symptoms of VitD deficiency (many of which were my exact complaints), I had thought it was a fact that most people this side of the world were deficient. If so, how are we all functioning?
It will take at least three months normally for you to start to push the readings up. I had my reading three months on. I should ask the pharmacist for a recommendation of daily dosage.
All sorts of reasons. Could be diet but also malabsorbtion. After my result i was tested for coeliacs,several cancers,had an mri and colonoscopy booked next week.
The usual dose given by doctors is high dose vit D, 20,000 IU to be taken 3 times a week over 8-10 weeks and then checked. So what you are doing is about the same - and what was advised by the report on one of the first surveys to be done in the UK, by an Oxfordshire GP in fact.
But it does need to be checked after that time (8 weeks) to be sure you are absorbing it and the level is going up but has not gone up too far. The optimum level in blood is 75 nmol/L (30 micrograms/L) or more and shouldn't go above 150 nmol/L (do check the units carefully). Then it should be checked about 6 months down the line to be sure you have still got good enough levels - sometimes it falls again. Which is perfectly normal if you are not making it yourself - you need vit D every day and there is very little in your diet so the stores fall with time over the winter.
What the doctor has done is enough for the moment - only if it hasn't gone up and/or the symptoms don't resolve will you need more testing. If vit D is very low and the rest of the blood tests they have done are all OK, the first thing to do is replenish your vit D. If that still doesn't make a difference or you don't absorb it then other causes must be sought of the sort Jane mentions.
There are all sorts of reasons for vit D becoming low - and the most common is simply not being out in the sun enough or using high factor sunscreen/wearing clothes - even Factor 8 is enough to reduce the amount of vit D you make by over 90%. Getting older is also a reason - the skin production slows as you age. In the UK you can only make vit D in skin between the hours of 11am and 3pm from May to September - less the further north you are. Once you develop a suntan you also make less - and anyone with dark skin (from India, Indonesia, Middle East, Africa) makes almost none in the UK and in fact are often deficient in their homeland because they don't go out in the sun as much because it is too hot. I live in Italy - far enough south to make vit D all year but we don't go out in the midday sun as it is plain too hot and 80% of the locals here are said to be deficient. Our local vit D medical expert orthopaedic doctor suggests 2000 IU a day at least during the winter, for some people in the summer as well.
You can only get about 10% of what you need from diet unless you eat enormous amounts of oily fish, eggs and mushrooms. In Europe foods are NOT supplemented with vit D except margarines/spread which have it added to make them the same as butter. In the USA and I think Canada vit D is added to flour, milk and orange juice amongst other things so it is possible to get more from food but the entire need is still not covered and obviously not if you don't eat/drink those products.
Not everyone responds to a low vit D in the same way - but a lot of people who are tired all the time or have aches and pains quite possibly could do with more. Lots of people say they feel much better in the summer or after their holiday in the sun. It used to be thought that the normal range found in the population was OK - but what is found normally is not necessarily the OPTIMUM level: your body works but it isn't working as well as it could.
Someone once estimated you needed 17 eggs or a couple of kilos of mushrooms or over half a pound of salmon a day if you wanted to get vit D just from food. I like mushrooms and omelettes but not that much
But yes - redheads with freckles who work nights are pretty likely to be vit D deficient! My younger daughter was found to have a vit D of 11 - her skin just burns in the sun and fades to white again - and she's a brunette! She does 50% nights as a paramedic - and a paramedic unitform doesn't expose much skin for the other 50%!
Good evening all, I've just discovered that I have vitamin D deficiency, (my level was down to 33) after complaining to my GP about unrelenting tiredness, low mood, aches & pains. All I've read so far describes my every symptom to a tee. I've been prescribed Colecalciferol 2000u x3 every week for 10 weeks. In my shocked (I'm hardly ever I'll), tired, depressed,achy state I forgot to ask, do I take the three together or do I space them out throughout the day. Grateful for any advice.
I am not sure what you are saying your daily dosage is, if you have been told to take it twice a day take it in the morning and evening after food, if once a day take it the same time each day. What does it say on the packet? It is a good idea to take some sort of fat such as yogurt with the tablet though. Check with your doctor re doses. Also read the printed data sheet in the packet with the tablets. 33 is not too low a level for vit D. It normally takes at least three months to get up to normal though. They say that a large number of people are vit D deficient. Mine was 26 when I was tested. My GP did not seem terribly worried!