posted
My doctor likes to replace Vitamin D slowly using OTC Vitamin D3. It is supposed to be better absorbed.
He replaces slowly because high doses can cause joint pain by calcium precipitating out into the joints. He is also a Rheumatologist.
If you have joint pain already, you may want to consider starting with a lower dose.
Posts: 819 | From East Coast | Registered: Apr 2009
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Abxnomore
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18936
posted
50,000IU is a safe dose. It's pretty standard if you are low in Vit. D. Biotics Bio D mulsion Forte is very bio absorbable. I take 50,000 per week.
I have not heard about this calcium leeching out of the bones but if you are worried about that you should be taking Vitamin K2 to prevent it and also
from allowing the calcium from depositing on to your arteries. Thorne makes a very good product in tincture form.
Posts: 5191 | From Lyme Zone | Registered: Jan 2009
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posted
For me vitamin D supplementation acted like a weak steroid. Via research online, I learned vitamin D is a form of steroid. I also learned steroids are contraindicated in people with infections because steroids turn down the immune system's fight against the infection.
Posts: 727 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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cactus
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7347
posted
My Vit D was very low as well.
I took 50,000 IU once a week for (3) different 4 week rounds. Tested levels in between each of these rounds.
Also supplemented 2,000 of Vit D3 on a daily basis, and still do.
It took a long time to get my Vit D levels to start going up again.
Getting back to a more normal Vit D level has made me feel much, much better.
-------------------- �Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?� - A.A. Milne Posts: 1987 | From No. VA | Registered: May 2005
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posted
I think this low vitamin D is adding to my problems....How long before I see results?
Posts: 85 | From Staten Island, NY | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
Instead of just the usual 25D, lymies should have 1,25D checked too. It's often high, in which case supplementing with even more D will likely only make things worse.
OTOH, anyone just looking for symptom reduction without regard for compromsing their future health, can consider bypassing D and going right for the stronger steroids like prednisone. If your symptoms are lyme-related inflammation, strong steroids will almost certainly make you feel much, much better within about 48 hours, while your infection grows much, much worse.
Posts: 727 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2006
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TadichGrill
Unregistered
posted
Marshall Protocol patients think vitamin D is bad for you.
Adding in D3 daily helped me over night and I would not go without it.
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Leelee
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 19112
posted
My Vitamin D was 17 and my PCP gave me 50,000 IU twice a week. My LLMD agreed with that.
-------------------- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. Martin Luther King,Jr Posts: 1573 | From Maryland | Registered: Feb 2009
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posted
My Vit D also tested low recently. He gave me 5000Iu to take every 3 days. When I got home, it contained soy, which I'm very allergic to.
I was then away seeing my daughter, so I picked up a bottle of Solaray 2200 iu's. He said that was fine to take everyday.
Posts: 847 | From upstateNY | Registered: Dec 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
Member # 12673
posted
-
Elizabeth,
Your Vitamin D Rx should make you feel MUCH better. I assumed your doctor ran tests so that he knows your levels are low - so you MUST get them up. Kitty's doctor doing this slowly seems good advice when beginning any new supplement - work up to it.
But, yes, your doctor's advice seems very sound from what I've read on the subject, considering that your levels are low.
From the link below, while he's not specific here, D3 is far better than D2. Be sure to get D3 - and sublingual is best. This is what my ND has me taking. On drop is 1,000 iu.
If you search this term, you will see many places to get it: "Pure Encapsulations Vitamin D3 liquid"
From: NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS IN DISSEMINATED LYME DISEASE
J.J. Burranscano, Jr., M.D. July 2008
Excerpt from page 4:
VITAMIN D
Surprisingly, most people in America are vitamin D deficient. In the lyme patient, low vitamin D levels can cause diffuse body aches and cramps that are not responsive to magnesium or calcium supplements.
Some also believe that vitamin D is essential for normal immune and hormone function. I strongly urge you to have a fasting blood level drawn. It is recommended that blood levels be in the upper half or the normal range.
If it is not, then 2000 to 4000 units daily are needed for several weeks to make up for the deficit, and then a lower maintenance dose may be necessary, based on results from repeated blood level monitoring. If vitamin D is needed, improvements take 2 to 3 weeks to note, but are well worth the wait.
(Quest) Lab Acknowledges Problem With Vitamin D Test
By ANDREW POLLACK
Published: January 7, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- The nation's largest medical laboratory company provided possibly erroneous results to thousands of people who had their vitamin D levels tested in the last two years, the company has acknowledged.
The company, Quest Diagnostics, has already sent letters to thousands of doctors listing the patients who might have received ``questionable'' test results and offering free re-tests.
Typically the test costs $100 to $200 or more.
- full article at link above.
-
[ 04-22-2009, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posts: 48021 | From Tree House | Registered: Jul 2007
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posted
Go slow with adding D. I started at 5,000. iu per day, and just felt worse and worse. I stopped it about six days ago and have felt better. Not saying you don't need to get your D up there, just start slow. We are so stinkin' sensitve.
Posts: 374 | From United States | Registered: Nov 2008
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Pinelady
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 18524
posted
I agree with snail. When you try to replace fast I
think it does draw on the body. As a hormone it can
effect a lot of things. Including our other
hormones. Yes it does need to come up, but as
slowly as it went down. I sent my system into
neuro symptoms on replacement of 50thous.IU a
week for 4 weeks. As I was not on treatment. And
Dr.thought this was the only cause for my
symptoms. So please be slow and careful.
-------------------- Suspected Lyme 07 Test neg One band migrating in IgG region unable to identify.Igenex Jan.09IFA titer 1:40 IND IgM neg pos 31 +++ 34 IND 39 IND 41 IND 83-93 + DX:Neuroborreliosis Posts: 5850 | From Kentucky | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
Two vitamins D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol) are available commonly as supplements. A few years ago the first studies were released showing the ineffectiveness of D2 at raising levels long term effectively. Yet D3, comparatively, has been proven to raise the levels more efficaciously.
Studies keep rolling out, some of which say D2 is just as good, but I think these are rebuttals from pharmaceutical companies that have the doctors rooked into prescribing the pharmaceutical ergocalciferol (D2), which is what we get in the 50,000 iu pills from the pharmacy.
They can't corner the market and the doctors on D3, so it's likely this will be a topic for debate until the companies can pay the FDA to call D3 a drug.
Politics aside, D3 raised my average body temperature by 1.5 degrees F. It' s in the 98's now and I'm not dressed like a snowman when it's hot out. I live in FL, so having 5 skull caps is a bit ridiculous. I only wear them to sleep now. My doctor took credit for treating my hypothyroid with iodine, but truth be known, I rarely took it. I tried to explain this to him but he said it didn't make sense so I let him believe he fixed my thyroid.
If you take D, you can take your body temperature every 30 minutes and see some elevation. I don't know whether that means you are deficient, but if your temperature is normally low, then I would say it may be the case.
Lastly, vitamin D activates the immune system which kills critters which releases toxins which can keep us awake. I think this also changes the oxygen concentration in our blood, which can also keep us awake. Point being, taking it at night may give you insomnia. If you're having trouble sleeping and take it after noon, try switching it to the morning and see if it helps.
For those that feel poorly when you first start taking it, cut back the dose. Slow and steady, as with all supplements seems to work better. Jacking our levels of things we've been deficient in for years is a bit overzealous. For some supps taking 3 - 5 grams is the best effective dose for most people, but it seems to work better when those levels are reached slowly.
Just my thoughts, from a patient.
Posts: 22 | From Tampa, FL | Registered: Apr 2009
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TadichGrill
Unregistered
posted
If you start to catch a cold or flu and if you take extra D3 you can actually stop a cold if you catch it early enough according to Dr. Mercola. I tried it twice and it worked.
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CherylSue
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 13077
posted
I've been taking extra D3 this past month, and I got a bad cold anyway. My level was 21 to begin with.
I wish it would help my cold!
Posts: 1954 | From Illinois | Registered: Aug 2007
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