I just had my endo appointment yesterday and he started going on about how much vitamin D I am taking. It has been prescribed by my PCP, 50,000 units weekly, which is working very well for me with levels 58-60 (was 12 before started taking). I definitely feel better on it, however, the last month or so I am feeling like I did before I ever started taking it.
My case to him was that, if I was 58 at the end of last summer, now it's winter, with even less natural vitamin D from the sun, doesn't it stand to reason that my levels could be dropping. He went on a rant about how a level of 30 was sufficient and I should only need at the most 2000 units per day.
I really just wanted to know how much other people need to take, not to just keep your levels up but in order to feel better from it and do you increase during the winter months?
According to the Vit D council (great info on their site), after 40 our ability to convert sunlight into Vit D is greatly diminished so we need supplementation year round. Also, unless 70-80% of bare skin is exposed to sunlight daily we don't get what we need anyway. Your endo is incorrect about sufficient levels.
I take D3 at the same dose (5000 mg daily) regardless of the season. I don't take prescription D. Very inexpensive OTC supplement & you don't need a doctor's permission.
My neighbors asked me to stop exposing 70-80% of my skin daily, so I also must supplement daily. I take 6,000 IUs daily and have my levels tested regularly, they are about 50 ng/mL. I had to take 10,000 IUs/day for over six months before I was able to reach that level. My doctor attempted to prescribe weekly D3, but gave me a prescription for 50,000 IU D2 which is less effective than D3. And on top of that, when I figured out the cost, it was $5 for each pill. So I just went to costco and bought a huge bottle of D3, they even have 5000 IU D3 gelcaps.
We have diabetes. Many of us also have low vitamin D, really low. Most endos will be much more enlightened, vitamin has a central role in calcium metabolism. You are entirely reasonable for seeking a level more like 50 ng/mL, and if you doctor won't prescribe the 50,000 IU gelcaps, then march right down to costco and get your own gelcaps for cheaper.
the short answer to your question: I take the same dose of D, year round. No changes in the winter.
I take 5000/day D3, except when I forget, which happens because I'm a graduate student and when I get home after spending all day on campus (yeah, like 13 hours, straight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays)I just want to go to bed, I don't want to have to remember to take my vit d and my allergy meds.
When I started this mess, my D was very low--the lowest I remember is 11, but I don't know where I was in the hospital. It was awful, no energy whatsoever. After a long and complicated story, involving hypercalcemia, eventually, they put me on the huge supplement of D2. That worked enough to get my D up to about 33, but then they cut the dose back, and it went back down to 15. So, they told me to take a daily dose. I still haven't hit 50, but I'm hovering in the high forties now.
One recommendation--make sure they have you on D3. A lot of the mega doses are D2, which isn't processed as efficiently by the body, so it takes longer to get you up.
I was down around 15ish when the endo put me on 50K a week and I stayed on that for about 16 weeks before it came back up to 48. I then went to 1K IU a day OTC but I dropped too low again. Now I take 2K IU a day year round and I seem to hover near 50. I go below that a bit in the winter but I don't see a great fluctuation.
But the 50K weekly was therapeutic, like a loading dose for the treatment of an acute low. My endo also told me he wouldn't have me take that much on an ongoing/ chronic basis.
I will be 50 years old on Sunday and am taking the D3 OTC @ 2KIU qd.