l have had my vitamin d3 test results back to-day. l used the postal blood-spot test from CityAssays nhs lab in B/ham.
After taking 10.000ius daily now for 18months and prior to that for 18months l took 20.000ius daily my results have gone up to 94.1nmol/L - this is classed as only just adequate. l shall carry on taking 10.000ius daily and perhaps double it on one day a week.
Obviously, l have a long way to go to get to 175/225. My levels were 23nmol the first time l was tested - and that was at the doctors- who said it was ‘normal’.
And there was l thinking l might have over done it!!!
As an ‘outdoor girl’ l cannot understand why l can’t get a better result.
Wow, I am taking 10,000 iu a day. I have only been doing that for two months though. That’s a lot better. I thought that if your levels were 75 nmol/l and above that you were OK?
Adrian, Vitamin d3 deficiency in pwms has been under a lot of new research - and it is recommended that 175/225 to be the optimum levels. For some reason we all seem to be deficient - the same with vitb12. Well at the moment its only my face thats exposed to the daily glimmer - if lucky - of sunlight. Be awhile before l reveal anymore!!!
Have you done a test for yours. lt costs £25 for the postal one from the nhs lab in B/ham. lts just a small pin prick - so not an armful.
Hi Fran,you have reminded me that I said weeks ago I would continue to report on my D3 adventure.I too have used the £25 test,funnily enough I got the details from a post of yours.Drumroll please,the result is 148 doodahs at 10k IU daily for the past five weeks.That says to me it is sustainable,which is nice as it has stopped the progression of shodiness in my right hand.By a school boyesque experiment there is no other reason for the progression to stop.
If the progression starts again I’ll increase the D3 to 15 K IU so in theory the level will be at the high end of acceptable.I find all this very pleasing,so thank you.I’m going to turn my dwindling attention to the B12 next.I’m already doing the Flax oil,so onwards and upwards,
l wonder why my level is so low after all this time of supplementing with d3. l take codliver oil and eat lots of salmon as well. And l occasionally use the sunbed. Oh - and l eat flaxseeds.
Fran, I donot want to be the harbinger of doom,but is it concievable that you have a genetic predisposition for low D3? Perhaps we all do. I’m probably talking from where the sun don’t shine(no vitamin D there then), but I wonder how low levels might manifest themselves.
Im taking 2,000 IU daily and over the past two years my levels have crept up from 51.9 to 100. Im aiming for 125 then stopping when we get a heatwave to see if I can sustain levels without during summer months. I have to take vit.d3 and calcium for osteoporosis. Very interested in others levels because most take more than I do. I understood it can take an age to increase levels regardless of doseage because the body does things slowly? Maybe thats why your level isnt what you thought it might be.
Be careful, Rizzo warned us all about overdose, perhaps some on here may know the upper limit?. All gp’s and specialists seem to have differing ideas as to what is normal and what is not therefore somewhere in between seems normal, I would say 100+ but no more than 200, thats just my opinion, not medical.
Im aiming to keep mine around 100+ then maintenance.
Just for information - light levels are only high enough for your body to make Vitamin D from April to October in this country. If you go out with bare arms and legs on a sunny day in March, you won’t be getting anything.
Frances - where did you hear 175-225nmol/l? I was under the impression that we were supposed to be aiming for 125-150nmol/l. Could you provide a link please? I’m currently off all vit D in the attempt to get mine down from a too high 345nmol/l and I’d rather make sure I get it right this time!
Yes I will definitely get mine checked, thanks for the info. Since taking vit d3 I have noticed that my thermostat has been working a lot better i.e. I’m a lot warmer, I was always cold before and I haven’t had a cold which is great. I read that one of the functions of Vit d3 is to regulate the immune system, so it would make sense.
I have just been diagnosed with ms. My father has it, as does my aunt and so did my late great aunt. This prevalence is making me a little concerned for my children (aged 10 and 12). Does anybody know if it would be beneficial to them for me to start giving them vitamin d/d3 supplements?
Vicky, Yes it is important that you and the rest of your family get enough vitd3. Just google vitamin d3 deficiency ms for more info.
vitamind3uk.com is a good site. Also Vitb12deficiencyms is another one to google and ‘Could it be B12’ an eperdemic of misdiagnosis.
l have just been reading up on vitd3 - and l knew a deficiency effected us with ms and other autoimmune diseases like osteo-arthritis/Parkinsons/Crohns/Coeliac/Hypertension/psoriasis and 17types of cancer - but to-day l read that also asthma in children was a sign of a lack of vitd3.
Another thing l read was that kidneys and digestive troubles can prevent the body from absorbing vitd3 and converting it to calcium.
So perhaps this is why l have not achieved a higher level with all the vitd3 l take. l know that people who are obese need far more -but l am certainly not obese.
Thanks frances, that does help. Have always been reluctant to use vitamins as so many reports say they are not neccessary/too much can lead to other problems/supplements don’t help, but I think in this case it really can’t hurt can it. Will get ordering now - thanks for the links.
l wonder why my level is so low after all this time of supplementing with d3. [/quote] It is possible you are taking medications that are depleting Vitamin D satus? Cortocosteriods do this but other drugs deplete vitamin D as well. If you are under stress then cortisol levels will be high and cortisol, not surprisingly is a corticosteroid.
But another answer could be that you are not absorbing vitamin D3.
You don’t just passively absorb it from the digestive tract it has to have some from of transport proteins to carry it into the body. Which is why it usually better absorbed when taken with food or the main meal of the day. You may want to try using a whey protein to help with the uptake.
Another approach would be to use Curcumin or Taurine as these are involved in helping with cholesterol transport.
[quote=“Campion”] I take codliver oil and eat lots of salmon as well. And l occasionally use the sunbed. Oh - and l eat flaxseeds.
Fx [/quote] While ground flaxseeds are very good they don’t have Vitamin D in them. The cod liver oil and the salmon so but it’s only a tiny amount compared to the 10,000~20,000iu your skin should make given full body summer sun exposure.
The SUNBED will only create vitamin D if the tubes are putting out UVB and there is a pathetic EU limit on the amount of UVB tubes can produce and sadly the output depletes with age most UV tubes are rated for 500 ~800hrs UVB output and tannine studies may not have a UVB meter and may not check the tubes are actually still producing UVB at amounts equivalent to midday summer sunshine.
[quote=“Campion”] l read was that kidneys and digestive troubles can prevent the body from absorbing vitd3 and converting it to calcium. [/quote] I think you must have misunderstood that. CALCIUM is calcium and nothing can make VITAMIN D3 CHOLECALCIFEROL convert to calcium. What Vitamin D3 does is to ENABLE your body to absorb more calcium from the food and the water you consume.
But to do this you have to raise 25(OH)D levels to 80nmol/l or above.
Hi Frances/campion, Given how long you have been taking the tablets for and the dosage that you are taking and te fact that is has increased but not significantly I would hazard a guess that it’s the tablets you are taking as opposed to an absorption problem. I would advise a prescription only vitamin d3 as these are pure vitamin d3 and don’t have any other chemicals in them. I can guarantee that within a month of the prescription tablets your levels will rise significantly. My consultant said that a liver problem can cause the vitamin d not to be absorbed properly (I have a liver storage problem with vitamin b12 as well and an on injections). My consultant recommended taking one folic acid tablet a day as it can help which I do and it’s definitely helped in my case. I can give you the name of the prescription vitamin d3 I was given if that helps? My neurologist said to me under no circumstance should I buy any of the Internet even from reputable sites as they aren’t pure an can actually cause other problems
I take these too - they are nice and easy to swallow. I have been taking a daily 5,000iu D3 one for a couple of years now, but do not know what my level was to start with, which is pretty stupid looking back but it had not even occurred to me to ask. I recently had a test (this was the neurologist’s idea, not mine) and am 126 nmol/L. This is just fine, but I will definitely remember to have it tested again in a year’s time because I have no idea of the trajectory of the increase since I started taking the supplement and I don’t want it to get way too high.
I would definitely advise anyone starting a high-dose supplement to get tested first, so you know what your base-line is.
To begin with my levels were 23nmols - and last year they were 48 - so they are heading in the right direction. l shall ask my GP if she can prescribe the vitd3 that you have been taking - perhaps you could pm me with it.
l do not take any other meds apart from LDN - and l use Sativex.
l will follow your advice Ted and start taking my vitd3 with a meal.