Was told to just give 1,000 units a day. Seems like the amount might be too low?
Iāve heard that vitamin A may interact with thyroid hormone and vitamin D, but not in the way you describe. I believe that vitamin D is fat soluble, not water soluble, I always take it in a gelcap.
Well, I was Told after a Blood Test my D level was low and to take
A. 5,000 IUās for a few weeks
B. Then 1,000 Iuās daily thereafter
Last test came out fine ā¦
I do also take several other vits, including Cal/Mag ā¦
I think there is alot more to our Auto Immune Disease , than just our BGās and it wants not just to Destroy our Islet Cells but everyother Cell in our Bodiesā¦ like Pac Manā¦if you willlā¦
In some itās moreso and others itās less so. and just takes longerā¦
Now Winter is here in Wi.? Less outdoors, means Increase the D as wellā¦ I take 2k EOD and 1k EODā¦
Weāll seeā¦ Next Test in 4 mosā¦
If it isnāt One thing to worry about, just wait, there will be others for us to deal withā¦
RIP- Ron Santo
Please do NOT IGNORE what I am going to say.....I took 1,000iu 3-4 times a day in 2007 (mostly 3x) and my creatinine blood test increased so much that I was scared off supplements for many months. Vitamin D, being a fat soluble vitamin, can build up and a high creatinine reading means the kidney is not succeeding in clearing the toxin out of your blood, so creatinine is checked to see if you have kidney failure.
Even if you are low now on Vitamin D, that is no reason to go overboard and end up harming your kidneys, so even if your doctors say take a lot, I would say take no more than 1,000 iu/daily because over time it will build up. Vit A, D, E, K are the fat soluble ones. I'd say 2,000 iu MAX/day.
I was even taking 3,000 that is 1,000 at 3 separate times a day and rarely an extra dose....so I would say even 3,000iu a day was causing me a problem, that luckily has been reversed. I have read many books on supplements and am very much in favour of them.
Good to know. Were you taking D3 or D2?
Yeah, I tested about 2 years ago and was massivly deficient! Right now I 5,000 IU/day. Obviously the ideal way to get your Vit D is through sunshine as your body regulates Vit D production and you can't "overdose" from sunshine induced Vit D production whereas you can potentially overdose on supplements, but for those of us who work during the sunshiny part of the day Vit D pills are an absolute God-send! I just saw my endo last month and my Vit D levels where back down to about 26 :-( So I went from sporadically taking my 5,000 IU to taking them every day. In the winter months I also take a 50,000 IU pill for 3 days in a row just to keep me up!
The Vitamin D Council (http://vitamindcouncil.org ) is an awesome and amazing resource on Vit D info and is really, really helpful when it comes to figuring out dosages and knowing what is safe (most people have to be taking insanely high amounts of Vit D over a prolonged period of time for there to start being any negative effects).
About calcium intake with Vit D - you def need it - I generally find that if I'm not taking calcium or drinking milk I get intense cravings for milk (i.e. calcium) so I go and get some raw, whole milk at the farmers market and drink that for a couple weeks and its seems to do the trick :-) Also wanted to just mention that when my Vit D was insanely low my liver enzyme numbers where out of whack and the moment I got up in to the 70's range on my Vit D my liver looked perfect!
I would strongly encourange anyone who is interested in Vit D to check out the Vitamin D Council's wiebsite and get their newsletter - it's very informative!
I was taking D3. I am going to buy a book on it by a well known Dr Zoltan Rona who has an office less than a mile from my home. He also is in favour of other therapies that I do recommend, so I will read all he says about VitD but NEVER take more than what I said because my creatinine level became so much worse, so fast, in just 4 months. My own VitD level was 58 when last tested in April 2010.
Thanks. 58 is wonderful!
I decided a couple of years ago to get my vitamin D levels tested because of what I'd read about diabetics being deficient.
Sure enough, I was deficient, with a total vitamin D level of 8.
I supplemented at 7000 IU of vitamin D per day (which makes 49,000 IU per week).
After three months, my vitamin D level was 98.9. I stopped supplementing.
My doctors monitored my vitamin D level after that and the next two tests were borderline low. Then one of my doctors accidentally checked the box for the lab to test my active vitamin D level instead of total vitamin D.
Guess what? My active vitamin D level was 93, where the normal range is 10-75. 93 is known to be high enough to cause problematic symptoms, but I didn't have any symptoms at the time. A month later I was back to normal. I told the endo I was never going to take supplements of vitamin D, out of fear of toxicity, and he said in that case we should stop testing because toxicity on my own was unlikely and we'd see it in my serum calcium levels if it happened.
Fast forward to October 2011, I asked my endo to test my serum calcium levels. He said they'd be fine, but whatever, okay. They were high! I am hypercalcemic and scheduled for follow up testing later this week. I currently have a number of symptoms of hypercalcemia.
Taking vitamin D can unmask disorders that affect vitamin D metabolism, such as sarcoidosis, and some of those disorders are more common in diabetics. I strongly suggest having vitamin D levels monitored if you decide to start supplementing.
I feel like my story is invisible in all this discussion on vitamin D. Vitamin D toxicity can happen in people who didn't know they were at risk, at fairly low doses
You give very good reason why, if someone needs to supplement because of deficiency, their progress should be monitored, and they shouldn't just do it on their own. And why supplementation without evidence of deficiency is a bad idea.
I came out low on Vitamin D, and am taking a low-dose supplement, and my last test showed 35 on a scale of 32-100. Good enough -- I don't need to be at the top of the scale, and the plan is to just continue on the low dose. I sure don't want to go through what you are going through!
Add depression to your list. Of course I can't find the right studies just now. I take 5000 units a day and will stick with it, thank you!
Jonah, Where did you get the idea that 7,000 iu is a low dose? I've read a lot of books on the topic of supplements.
You do NOT want to see calcium coming out of your bones to balance the overly acidic pH in your blood stream, but that is another topic.
Here is Dr Atkins...on excess D3 taken...."Knowing that D3 increases the amount of calcium in the blood, it's logical to expect that too much D3 leads to an excess concentration of calcium. Should that occur, the mineral may seep into the walls of our blood vessels and other soft tissues, which could speed the formation of artery-blocking plaque". 106, "Dr Atkins' Vita-Nutrient Solution: Nature's Answer to Drugs" which is like a compendium of most supplements that are usually considered.
He suggests around 800 iu and more if you are inside a lot. But supplement doses also depend on body mass.
When I had a level of 58, I was taking 400 iu daily, but now I take 1,000 iu D3. Remember that fat soluble vitamins have to be taken within safe ranges. You don't have to test every single time you get blood tests.
All fat soluble vitamins should be taken within conservative levels because they can build up. I use several reference books to decide on dosages.
Please remember the the "normal range" is NOT the ideal range. It is the 95% range of all tests done at that particular lab and when it says 10-75, that refers to all the people within 95% of those taking the test. You are definitely now too high, so back off a bit and probably only take 400 iu daily for a long time until your level comes down to an ideal range.
I take 1,000iu daily. My level of 58 was when I was taking 400iu.
Please do not be angry about vitD because of your experience. I would never suggest such a huge amount to anyone. I can see a doctor suggesting it for ONE week to build up a very low level, but endocrinologists know very little about suppplements. Instead get a book on supplements written by a naturopath and probably one who is writing for diabetics, so it focuses on your area of concern.
Dear Natalie, you are at the lowest end of the reference range for your lab which is what all the sick people who get tests at that particular lab have provided. It is not the optimal range. It also includes those who are overdosing because some doctors are using it for anticancer treatments etc.
You are a very smart woman, and you do read some good books, so all you need is a good reference on supplements.
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People of different weights may need different amounts, but be certain it is not damaging your kidney function.
Thank you for your reply about the optimal l range.
When I was tested in 2010 it was 58 so I had increased to 1,000 iu from 400 iu but when I wanted to retest, the lab was going to charge. I have to find out the exact criteria for charging and not charging, but I think in Ontario, now that they have all blood tests on-line for all doctors dealing with a patient to access, the intent is to stop over testing and save the province money. I am in favour of that. But it made me decide to skip the retest. I just figured I would be higher and knew I would not be too high with 1,000 iu per day.
I also know my kidney function is excellent currently and has always been for all years except 2007 when I went up to 3x 1000 iu in a day and some days a little extra for just 4 months. That scared me when I saw the suddenly worsening of creatinine clearance and the filtration rate and I stopped immediately and 8 months later or so it had partially recovered but now it is fully recovered.
Super_Sally, my hat off to you for your active following of the details. We often are wrong to assume the doctors know what they are doing in all aspects of medicine. Some endocrinologists may know about typical diabetic measures, but don't know what the other organ measures are. We have to learn for ourselves to save ourselves.
Since one doctor whose books I have read is one mile from my home, he is to be respected, but charges $600 for the first consult and $200 for a phone call. So I would rather read his books and not bother consulting him. I can buy a lot of books for that amount of money and learn a lot more. I am certain he is a wise doctor, but he has chosen to be unconstrained by the medical system and charge the patient directly, probably because he does have a good reputation, given the number of books he has written. Ironically one of his books is about Vitamin D.
It wasn't meant to be a low dose. It was meant to equal the 50,000 per week dose that is standard treatment for people with vitamin D deficiencies. When my vitamin D level was first tested, it was 8. That is an outright deficiency. Supplementing at 50,000 per week is fairly standard (although I've seen recommendations as low as 28,000 per week for deficiency).
I haven't been taking vitamin D in two years. I got the initial high vitamin D level after two months or so of taking 7,000 per day; I stopped supplementing and levels dropped slighly low (about 28) only to go high again without supplements. I am NEVER EVER going to take vitamin D supplements again. NO WAY.
What forms of Vitamin D is better or best for diabetics?
The best form of vitamin D supplement to take is Vitamin D3. There is a Vitamin D2 which is often prescribed, but it is inefficient in converting to Vitamin D internally.
I would always recommend having your doctor test your levels and then develop a plan for supplementation if needed. This topic is five years old, but I still have my levels tested and I am stable at a good level on 4000 IUs a day after five years.
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I faced the same dilemma , except I am a Type 1- Adult onset- I was prescribed originally prescribed 1 tablet a week. I did that for several months, but still couldnāt maintain a healthy Vitamin D level, and fought fatigue all of the time. Then my PCP put me on 5,000 mg a day. It keeps me at a good Vit. D level on my blood work, and keeps the fatigue at bay. The way it was explained to me, is that diabetics donāt process the vitamin D most people get from being outside. Itās an auto-immune, hormone balance thing. So the only choice is to take the supplement.
Like you I spend a lot of time outside, and eat a healthy diet, it wasnāt enough. I prefer the sun, but if a little yellow football pill, eliminates the problem- Iām okay with that. What I donāt get is why insurers donāt cover things like Vitamin D or Folic Acid for diabetic.
Good luck!
My last appointment I was tested and my vitD was low. After 30+ years of diabetes I think this is the first time they tested. I wonder how long I have been low for? Iām taking a supplement now. Hopegully that helps. He attributed the low vitD to my stomach issues.