I was diagnosed as being extremely Vitamin D deficient almost 2 years ago. I am currently taking 2000 IU of D-3 every day and I am still deficient! I get sun every chance I get. I even asked the doctor to write me a prescription for tanning. She laughed at me and said that while that was a good idea she didn’t think that the dermatologist would approve.
I wonder now if I have always been Vitamin D deprived or if this is new. I was diagnosed at 10 so it would seem that may I have always been this way. The doctor I see now does a lot of work with natural medicine and supplements as well as traditional medicines. That’s why she even tested my Vitamin D levels.
Hi Karen,
I have another amazing fact to add to this list about Vitamin D3. I have been in kidney failure for a while now with a very low GFR (glomerular filtration rate) I wanted to put off dialysis for as long as I could. It was just a matter of how long I could manage without it. My doctor said he had read some research about vitamin D3 and part of it was that it was showing signs of helping kidney function for those of us who were in failure. So, he and I agreed that it couldn’t hurt to try. My labs showed I was deficient also even though it was there in my daily vitamin. He started me on Bioperine, a supplement to help the absorbtion of the vitamins and vitamin D3 at the rate of 2000 iu a day. It has been 3 months now and my GFR has slowly begun to rise. We are watching it carefully and i am almost afraid to hope and accept that it is helping. We made two other changes as well, but if it is the vitamin D3 then I am starting all my grandkids and kids on it. It definiterly can’t hurt them and if it prevents diabetes, I will be so extremely happy. Much good luck to you.
As a matter of course my doctor runs all of his diabetes patients through this deficiency testing. And he says so far we have all come up deficient in Vitamin, C, D, E, Calcium. CoQ 10 and omega3’s. I cannot believe that is just because of the area we live in. But he made sure he doubled the amount I was normally taking.
I thought I would chime in here when I saw this headline.
I am the webmaster for the Vitamin D Council- http://vitamindcouncil.org. The research is absolutely amazing for Vitamin D, and most of it is linked in on our website.
As for Diabetes, Vitamin D looks like it could play a big part in preventing it, especially Type 1. Vitamin D plays a big role in immune system function.
I know personally, that I was one of those red headed kids who was always told to avoid the sun like it could cause instant death. This means that I was probably horribly Vitamin D deficient when i was younger, which might have contributed to my Type 1 Diabetes today. There was a recent study by UCSD that was pretty good, and a long-term study done in Norway (or Sweden, can’t recall) that shows that Vitamin D can prevent Type 1.
At any rate, take your Vitamin D! Or get a little sunshine (not enough to burn), it is the natural way to make it.
I looked around at the member profiles. Majority of Type-1 or LADA here seem to be from sunshine abundant places like CA, FL, TX. A minority seem to be from northern states like MN. Why would so many people get type-1 when they live in states like CA? So much sunshine all year and there should be no trouble with vitamin D, right?
Or is it that the population of these states is so large that it skews my perspective when I consider just the number of people?
I live in Nevada–s/b pletny of sunshime–but I was extremely vit D difficient…take 5000u/day plus 50000U twice a month–my docs are of the opinion it takes both d2 and d3…and I am finally in the normal range–albiet at the less than midline level…but we are going to hold on this course for 6 months
I am from south florida, and got ABUNDANT sunshine as a kid. I’m sure too much in fact! So I’m always curious as to these findings? Is it that some people can’t process it effectively I wonder??
Did you wear lots of sunblock? Sunblock prevents all Vitamin D from being produced, so if you were diligent in wearing sunblock then you could still be deficient.
John- yea its not too much of a sample size to look at profiles here!
The 4th paragraph down goes into a study of latitude and incidence of Type 1 Diabetes. There was a Norwegian or Swedish study that did a double blind placebo controlled study where children who were on Vitamin D Supplements were much less likely to get Type 1.
Travis, I’m hesitant to admit it, but hardly any sunblock! My mom, well lets just say she wasn’t very concerned with things like that I find the concept fascinating however, and plan to give my kids vitamin D supplements as a precaution.
I’m with you on this one Gina, I too am from Florida and never worn sunblock as a child, but was actually diagnosed as Vitamin D deficient about 6 months before my type 1 diagnosis.
Interesting! My doctors have never mentioned testing for vitamin D deficiency? I guess at this point (18 yrs in) they figure I probably am, so just tell me to take supplements. It makes me think that even if you get/got a ton from sun, something goes/went awry in our bodies that makes it not work, you know? As for sunblock, my dad was the one oiling up for a tan, so yeah, we never got any haha
Wow denise, you are taking alot of D! Is is all in one supplement (the D2 and D3)? What if I may ask is this deficiency causing? I’m just wondering if I should be tested too?? What improvements are you hoping for after the 6 mos of supplementation? Thanks!!
I am severely vit D deficient and take 8-10,000 IUs/day of vit D3. I buy it at costco. I am of the opinion that the 50,000 vit D2 that doctors prescribe is just a waste. D2 converts inefficiently into vitamin D in your body and the darn pills cost you a fortune. If you really hate taking lots of pills, you can purchase 50,000 IU vit D3 on-line.
It sounds like both of you are aware of everything now! Also from the research, it appears that Vitamin D is very important for diseases prevention for expecting mothers and then for babies, so it is very important to keep levels high through the nursing phase.
Elizabeth- strange about the Deficiency before the Type 1 Diagnosis but everyone’s body is different and with your sun exposure it is strange. Way beyond my knowledge
I was put on 50,000 IU of D2 twice a week for 2 months (it was prescription & costed me $5/month) until I got into “normal” range. I got the go-ahead this week to switch to 2,000 IU of D3 twice per day, so I guess we’ll see how it goes.
BTW, I am originally from southern California & recently moved to Oregon (which also gets a good amount of sun during summer) before I heard anything about vitamin D I used to go sit in the sun to read my book. I actually craved it (the sunshine) like it made me feel better. Still do. Did anybody else do that? or am I just weird?
I am currently looking into Vitamin D supplementation. So I’ll be following this thread. I thought people were saying it is Vitamin D3 diabetics need but some people are saying D2 also.
I think human beings were meant to live in the outdoors in tropcial climates which is not the case with our modern society where people have indoor jobs and live in cold climates so it is not surprised that even people get a lot of sun might be deficient. I heard that closer to the equator is better and that the sun in the North might not give you as much D as you need. But I believe it takes while to correct a deficiency that has been around a while - you can’t do your 15 minutes in the sun one day and be corrected. Also that daily dosage of D only last 24 hours.
Since I can’t afford vitamin testing, I am going to go by how I feel. I am wanting the D for more energy.
Can one get D2 and D3 in a supplement together? I have only been seeing them separatly.
Although I am also worried because I am reading on the Metformin sheet to stay out of the sun while on this medicine! Wah! Seriously?
I am not aware of any suggestion that vit D2 on it’s own is good for you. There is a discussion of vit D2 (Ergocalciferol) here (http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDPharmacology.shtml). It is not naturally occuring in the human body and converts with about fraction of the efficiency of Vit D3. I’d like to see what people are suggesting vit D2. It is probably the same people that want you to buy useless 50,000 IU vit D2 gelcaps for $3 a piece.
What my endo told me when he put me on the D2 was that he wasn’t aware of the D3 being available in a high enough dose to get me into the normal range without taking tons of pills, so he wrote me a script for D2 in a 50,000 IU dose (cost me $5/month) for 2 months & we’d run another test to see if the numbers had changed.
He explained that D2 wasn’t as strong/didn’t work the same way as D3 but wanted to get me on a high dose & the D2 would work well enough as a booster. He’s switched me to 4,000 IU of D3 per day now that I’ve hit a normal level.
I find the concept fascinating however, and plan to give my kids vitamin D supplements as a precaution.
haha