Vitamin D level
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Well I had a blood test earlier in the week to check my Vitamin D and B12 levels. The lab just called me with the results and doc orders. Get an over the counter B12 because I was a bit low but they are ordering a rx for the D level because it was 16.1. I take it from reading everything else on this forum that 16.1 is really low. I don't know the strength that he is ordering yet because I didn't ask as I was in a bit of a shock. Yikes......guess I'm not as healthy as I thought I was.
Cathy
Cathy,
The script is almost certainly for D2 (not D3). D2 is only about a third as potent as D3. Therefore your weekly dose of 50,000 IU of D2 will amount to the equivalent of approximately 2,381 IU of vitamin D3 per day. Actually, that's a rather low dose, IMO. I've been taking more than twice that amount (4,500 IU per day), all summer, and I live in sunny Texas. I'll boost my dose during the winter.
It is very unlikely that the dose you've been prescribed will boost your blood level of vitamin D to 30 ng/dl in 3 months. Your doctor probably considers 20 ng/ml to be sufficient, and 30 ng/ml to be more than adequate, but I like to keep my level a lot higher than that, to minimize disease risk.
At the dose you've been prescribed, you don't have to worry about overdoing it. IMO, you still have the opposite problem, and with the days growing shorter, and exposure to sunlight diminishing, you may find that after 3 months, your level hasn't changed nearly as much as you expected.
FWIW, that dose (50,000 IU per week) is the standard prescription dose for someone who has a vitamin D deficiency. To put that into perspective, consider that many/most of us here on the board take 4,000 to 6,000 IU per day (of D3), and we don't have a vitamin D deficiency. We're just trying to maintain our vitamin D level.
Tex
The script is almost certainly for D2 (not D3). D2 is only about a third as potent as D3. Therefore your weekly dose of 50,000 IU of D2 will amount to the equivalent of approximately 2,381 IU of vitamin D3 per day. Actually, that's a rather low dose, IMO. I've been taking more than twice that amount (4,500 IU per day), all summer, and I live in sunny Texas. I'll boost my dose during the winter.
It is very unlikely that the dose you've been prescribed will boost your blood level of vitamin D to 30 ng/dl in 3 months. Your doctor probably considers 20 ng/ml to be sufficient, and 30 ng/ml to be more than adequate, but I like to keep my level a lot higher than that, to minimize disease risk.
At the dose you've been prescribed, you don't have to worry about overdoing it. IMO, you still have the opposite problem, and with the days growing shorter, and exposure to sunlight diminishing, you may find that after 3 months, your level hasn't changed nearly as much as you expected.
FWIW, that dose (50,000 IU per week) is the standard prescription dose for someone who has a vitamin D deficiency. To put that into perspective, consider that many/most of us here on the board take 4,000 to 6,000 IU per day (of D3), and we don't have a vitamin D deficiency. We're just trying to maintain our vitamin D level.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Yep, that sounds like D3, all right. That amounts to a little over 7,000 IU per day, which should get your blood level up to somewhere in the 30 ng/ml range, or better, in 3 months. That's a much more practical dose, and it may actually get the job done.
I don't understand why a doctor would write a prescription for D3, since it's commonly available OTC. I keep a bottle of 50,000 IU capsules on hand in case a bird flu epidemic should erupt (if I thought that symptoms were beginning to show up, I would take 3 capsules per day for 5 to 7 days, to keep the symptoms from becoming worse).
Tex
I don't understand why a doctor would write a prescription for D3, since it's commonly available OTC. I keep a bottle of 50,000 IU capsules on hand in case a bird flu epidemic should erupt (if I thought that symptoms were beginning to show up, I would take 3 capsules per day for 5 to 7 days, to keep the symptoms from becoming worse).
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Gabes-Apg
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Ditto to what Tex said.
as per my post in the current Acid Reflux post. I take a sublingual D3, sublingual is absorbed first pass and goes into cells quicker than supplements that go via the stomach.
I have taken 1000-5000iu Vit D3 per day for over 12 months, (and I live in a climate with high UVA & UVB, and spend quite a bit of time outdoors in all seasons)
as per my post in the current Acid Reflux post. I take a sublingual D3, sublingual is absorbed first pass and goes into cells quicker than supplements that go via the stomach.
I have taken 1000-5000iu Vit D3 per day for over 12 months, (and I live in a climate with high UVA & UVB, and spend quite a bit of time outdoors in all seasons)
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama