Vitamin D question

Janie · Post by **Janie** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 5:45 pm

What am I doing wrong? My level was 24, 6 months ago. So I increased my supplement Drs Best to 10000 iu for 6 months and it still is at 24. Anyone have any ideas on what to do?
Thanks ahead of time

Post by **tex** » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:15 pm

Hi Janie,

And living in California should provide you with plenty of sunshine for making your own vitamin D.

If you're in remission, taking a supplement during or right after a large meal will allow more time for absorption. Do you take a magnesium supplement? If not, you are probably low on magnesium. If you already take a magnesium supplement, taking part of it (not more than 100–200 mg at any one time) with the same meal when you take the vitamin D, should help with absorption.

There's a possibility that your vitamin D stays low because you're using it as fast as you absorb it. This is possible if you have a lot of inflammation for your immune system to deal with on an on-going basis and you have plenty of magnesium to activate the vitamin D as needed.

There might be other possibilities, but I can't think of any at the moment.

Tex

Janie · Post by **Janie** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 10:55 am

Thanks Tex, I will tweak the Vit D along with my Magnesium. Not sure if anything else is going on but it stumps me too. Any other Vit D I can try for better results?

Post by **tex** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 11:21 am

I don't have any experience with them, but there are apparently safe liquid vitamin D supplements and transdermal vitamin patches that some members are using with great success when other forms don't work for them. The patches are somewhat pricey, but they seem to work well for those who can't tolerate any other forms of supplements, and their own test results show that they are effective.

Here's a link to a 3-page thread about the patches:

Supplements...a patch

Tex

Erica P-G · Post by **Erica P-G** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 6:36 pm

Hi Janie,
When my D levels were low like that when I was in my serious healing time frame of the first two years. I had to take 10,000 IU along with 400 Mag morning and night (800 perday) meaning if my body didn't handle taking the Mag internally I would use some mag lotion externally to make up for the 800 magnesium that I required in order for my 10,000 VitD to start to build for me.

While I was healing it took more Mag for me to get things working....I did this for about 7-8 months and when I had my D tested again it went from 45 to 83......at that point I was able to back off the D to 5000 and I only take 200 Mag morning and night and I seem to be doing ok. I feel during healing time we require more of the D and Mag and as we heal we can back off it little by little but not until then.

I hope you find the right combo soon for your healing journey.
:-)
Erica

Janie · Post by **Janie** » Fri Dec 14, 2018 2:11 pm

Thanks Erica and Tex,
I took 10000 IU of Vitamin D and 800 magnesium (supplements and topical) throughout the day and the blood draw remained the same for 6 months at 24. I will keep doing it and get another draw in 6 months again.
If you have any other ideas let me know.

Kilt · Post by **Kilt** » Fri Dec 14, 2018 7:41 pm

An internet support forum is valuable for a lot of reasons, but I would be asking my doctor these biochemical questions about an adequate vitamin D level and why supplementation might be having no effect.

According to the following article from the Harvard Medical School, updated two months ago, the "right" level of vitamin D has been very controversial over the years, ranging from 12.5 to 40, depending on what group of doctors you ask. The author seems to side with the view that anything over 20 is perfectly healthy and that there is overscreening for vitamin D levels in low and medium risk populations.

Vitamin D: What’s the “right” level?

Janie · Post by **Janie** » Fri Dec 28, 2018 11:17 am

Thanks Kilt for your reply. I am sorry I didn't respond earlier. I see several Drs. on a routine basis and they are as stumped as Tex and everyone around me. So we are switching up the times I take all my meds and supplements.

jlbattin · Post by **jlbattin** » Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:50 pm

Janie,

A few years ago (before I was diagnosed), my Vitamin D level was around 6. It was the lowest my doctor had ever seen. Of course, he prescribed the 50,000 mg of Vitamin D which is the one our bodies don't absorb and it never went up. Until I got sick and was diagnosed and found this forum, I never took any other vitamin D. Mine stayed pretty low for quite awhile, but once I got my diet under control and things settled down, it started creeping up (I was taking about 10,000 a day). In June of this year when I went for blood work, it was somewhere around 146 which of course, is pretty high and my doctor told me to back it down. I take only 4000 IU or mg (whatever it is) now. If I'm feeling bad or know that I'm using it, I up it for awhile but back down again. Give your body time to heal.