I had my levels checked about 2 years ago and they were found to be slightly low. I have not had them re-checked since then but i will now. So thanks.
Karina - i did not see your post! Did you start a new thread as Geoff suggested? or was it added on to another thread?
either way - i cannot understand your ‘dig’ at Karen at all. She has posted on here to say that she has made a mistake and taken the wrong dose of vitamin d3. She has made herself worse by doing so and is highlighting that fact so that she might help others.
I for one am grateful because i will now re-check my levels.
Karen - i hope you get your level back down soon and you start to feel a little better. I’m glad your ms is not the culprit here and it can be sorted out. A lesson to us all i think - that it’s not always the ms to blame.
www.vitamindtest.org.uk - is a reliable nhs lab that do ‘postal’ testing kit. lt costs £25 - and is just a pin-prick blood spot test.
l shall be applying for another test - after reading Rizzo’s original post as l am one whose levels were extremely low and l have been taking a regular high dose of vitd3 for about 3yrs. At first l took 20.000ius daily now l am on 10.000ius - my last test result was only 85nmols. Big improvement - still room for an increase - so l am hoping that the next test will show an increase. l obviously, for some reason need more vitd3. l do take magnesium as well - and the last ‘bone-density’ test did come back as ‘just within normal range’ -
Three years ago - l slipped and fractured my ankle so badly that l had to have plates/screws/wires etc - my very own meccano set -
and since then l now have osteo-arthritis in ankle/knee/hip. So l am aware that l need to keep my vitd3 levels well up. Whether l would have had these joint problems if l had known about vitd3 before - we shall never know. But since l fractured my ankle - two friends - one with MS - have done the same. l have passed on all the info l have on vitd3 to them and they are now taking supplements.
I just want to make it clear that I didn’t make a personal ‘dig’ at Karen at all - I was merely pointing out that I had raised this a while ago and if anything it was more of a dig to those who shot me down at the time (Karen wasn’t involved in the previous post at all). What I had said previously and I stick to is that nobody should self supplement vitamin d3 without the gp or consultant involvement - anything over 1,000iu a day should be in agreement with a healthcare professional. People too often take advice on supplements without the proper information and knowledge and this can be dangerous. I agree with Karen in a lot of respects but I would also not recommend high levels of vitamin d3 to anyone I would instead explain what I was recommended to take given my own level and then recommend that you each consultant with a qualified medical professional. Also that way they will be monitoring you regularly and they will prescribe vitamin d3 to you rather than getting them from the Internet where they aren’t properly regulated
Campion are you on prescribed vitamin d3 from the gp? The one that I was prescribed brought my level up significantly and is a prescription only tablet - it’s one that hospitals use and got my level up from below 20 to a whopping 300 and then they reduced the dose
My neuro just poo poo’d the idea of taking vitd3. So l get mine -Healthy Origins softgels from amazon.
l am glad to see your previous post Karina - as l could not understand why anyone should think you were ‘having a go at Rizzo’ - l thought l had missed something. This misunderstanding often occurs - and quickly ends up in a ‘heavy debate’.
Happy New Year to you Karina - and everyone else of course.
l shall ask my new GP about prescription vitd3 - she might be a bit more forthcoming.
My MS Nurse told me a few months ago that I should be taking 1,000 IU Vitamin D3 a day. This came as a complete shock as for years I’d been told that there was no evidence that it did any good, however “they’ve” now started following the advice of organizations like the MS Society.
However, I’ve always had problems taking supplements - they either make me very trembly or cause cystitis - but I found that by taking it with my evening meal I could tolerate it better. However, it caused circulation probs - my feet went all puffy - and I’d wake up the next day with a headache, so now I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll have to wait for the sun to come out.
Heather - You could try Healthy Origins Softgels vitd3 - l get mine from amazon - 360 in a pot. lf you get the 5.000ius - you could just take one a week. They are easy to swallow and absorb. l take 10.000ius daily - and did take 20.000ius for a long time because my levels were very low. Also you can get micro-tabs from vitamind3world.com. l have never had any problems with taking them - yet l am the first to react badly to many of the meds that my GPhas prescribed in the past.
lf you google vitamin d3 deficiency ms - you will see how important it is for us to take them - and our children - in the hopes of preventing them getting the dreaded ms.
Vitd3 is classed as a hormone rather then a vitamin - and is linked to all auto-immune diseases and 17 types of cancer.
lts strange how things come around full circle. When l was at junior school - about 56yrs ago - we were learning about vitamins and l had to paint a picture depicting vitamin d. l can remember drawing a sun - with the rays pointing to different foods that contained vitd3. lt was called the ‘sunshine vitamin’ then. The foods were all different oily fish - and of course exposure to sunlight. l can remember being jealous of the girl sat next to me who was doing a painting of vitamin c - lots of lovely fruit. Can’t say l have ever thought of vitd again until about 4yrs ago when all the research started happening.
I remember in the 1950’s mum giving us all a tablespoon full of cod liver oil everyday for the Vit D. What happened? That seems to have been forgotten and kids now aren’t getting any (AND we played out of doors all of the time and of course without sun block).
Kx