Vitamin D

Hi all

I just wanted to thank all of you, especially Andy for mentioning vitamin D so often on this site. As a result of this I have paid to have my Vitamin D tested privately to get to the bottom of my numerous symptoms and I got my results back today - my levls are

25-hydroxyvitamin D3 : 8.7 nmol/L, 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 : 4.6 nmol/L

total 13.3 nmol/L

The report says this is considered to be severely deficient so I am now taking this to my Dr's to discuss a treatment plan. If I had not come to this site I would never have been tested as in the UK they do not routinely test you, even if you have symptoms, unless you fall within the 'at risk' groups which I don't.

It is a massive relief to me to have this result as it proves that I am not a hypochondriac and maybe my dr's will believe how awful I have been feeling and stop trying to tell me I need antidepressants!

Thanks again!

With a level as low as yours, it may require doses of 50,000 IU weekly to raise the level to normal. Many doctors are going with a level of last least 30. My own doctor says 35 and I agree that should be the minimum. I had supplemented for two years at 2000 IU daily and my level was only 19. After one year at 5000 IU daily, it rose to 37. After two more years at 5000 IU daily, it was at 38, so you can see that the level does not move greatly with doses of 5000 IU or less. I suffer from seasonal affective disorder, and raising my D level has made my winters much easier to tolerate. I no longer have to deal with depression through the winters. I would like to get it a bit higher, but that might require moving to a warmer climate.

Good luck. There is much literature to back up the 50,000 unit doses, so hopefully your doctor is current on the importance of vitamin D.

The Oakland thalassemia center put Lil A on 50,000 IU vitamin D once a week until his vitamin D levels were corrected.  Thals have a much higher need for vitamin D for their bones, regulating their immune system, energy and emotional health.

Sharmin

The 50,000 IU dosage is also now regularly prescribed for non-thals with low end D levels.

I too was prescribed 50,000 IU when I was diagnosed with Osteoporosis.

In the most telling statistic I have ever seen, 100% of untreated thal majors tested are deficient in vitamin D. 

Thank you for the advice, hopefully my Dr will know what she is doing, but my experiences there haven't been too good so far. Andy - it is interesting you mention SAD - I have suffered from seasonal affective disorder and bad anxiety and panic attacks. After therapy I manage to keep the anxiety under control, but in hindsight I can see that it is always peaked around October/November and that makes me wonder whether it was always linked. Over the years my tiredness has caused me to need a lot of sleep, years ago I used to work very close to home so in my lunch break I would pop home go to bed and set my alarm for  55 minutes later, this is ironic as it seems that the best thing for me may have been walking around in the sun.

I find it so surprising that this is clearly a common condition but Drs in this country don't really test for it. It makes me wonder whether many cases of SAD, depression, anxiety, Chronic Fatigue etc.. are misdiagnosed. I have looked at guidelines for investigation of vitamin D, there are no nation guidelines in the UK and the majority of local guidelines say that Dr should only test if you are in the at risk groups (I was not tested when I fell into those groups either!). In a way I feel slightly cheated because I have been suffering from fatigue,  chronic pain for over 10 years now, when my anxiety was out of control I became housebound for nearly two years in my early twenties - I think all of this could have been avoided and I could have led a better quality of life. Don't get me wrong, people suffer from far more serious things - many of the people on this site infact - so I don't wish to appear ungrateful because I know I am lucky, however it seems that if there was a little more knowledge people would be so much better off. I understand that there is an expense associated with tests like vitamin D, but surely it would be better at least for the DR to tell you that there is a test available and to do it privately rather than not tell you at all.

The gratitude that I feel towards the people on this site cannot be underestimated - I know that I would not have found out about my deficiency had it not been for all you knowledgable people. I am so excited at the prospect of actually being able to do thing with my children without feeling like I am going to collapse in a heap. This may seem exagerated, but in the last few months I have been feeling so awful that have genuinely wondered if I have something more sinister! To know that I am not a hypochondriac and that I can do something to help myself is just such a weight off my shoulders - THANKS AGAIN!

But why weekly?
My Endo. prescribed me Inj. Vitamin D3 6Lakhs I.U. without testing level for every 6 months.
But yes my Dexa scan is poor one. I am also taking Biphosph weekly

Dharmesh, the reason for weekly doses is because it actually does take that high a dose regularly to correct severe deficiency. Once the desired level is reached, a smaller maintenance dose may be started. I take 5000 IU daily and it only maintains my level. It does not rise at that dose.

Unable to understand fully your post , Dear Andy,

So my higher dose can do required thing for me?