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How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

41–50 of 149 posts

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#41
post #8

"The patient had been assuming very high dose of cholecalciferol since 20 months (cumulative 78,000,000UI, mean daily 130,000UI), as indicated by a non-conventional protocol for multiple sclerosis." "This case confirms that vitamin D intoxication is possible albeit with a really high dose." This is a truly insane dosage but all this case says is that however created this protocol is dangerously incompetent.

Yeah, 130K IU / day is ~20x what's typically regarded as safe.

taking 20x the recommended dose of water (3-4 liters daily - 60-80 liters to compare) will kill you too.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#43
post #6

Taking 130,000UI per day for 20 months is insane. Most of the over the counter doses are ~ 5000UI. I'm curious, as to what was the patients diet like? Vit D is a fat soluble vitamin and its my understanding that one needs to eat healthy fats for it to be absorbed by the body.

The patient was taking it as an unconventional treatment for MS. A little sympathy won’t cost you much.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#44
post #15

On this page it says the recommended dosage is 600 IU https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessiona... Are there any other opinions?

I live in Seattle and taking 2000 UI daily barely got me to “sligtly deficient”. Now I upgraded to 4000 UI daily hoping to get to the lower part of the normal range.

I talked to the doctor and she told me that among blood tests she ordered most people have slightly/moderately deficient levels, very few low normal, and over the years only one person tested high normal (i.e. when taking supplement would be detrimental).

Moral of the story - do a blood test, but if you live in high-ish lattitudes, most likely you have vitamin D deficiency.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#45
post #8

"The patient had been assuming very high dose of cholecalciferol since 20 months (cumulative 78,000,000UI, mean daily 130,000UI), as indicated by a non-conventional protocol for multiple sclerosis." "This case confirms that vitamin D intoxication is possible albeit with a really high dose." This is a truly insane dosage but all this case says is that however created this protocol is dangerously incompetent.

I guarantee if you get MS you’ll do some pretty crazy shit too, probably crazier than this.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#46
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's called sun poisoning and it's not related to Vitamin D.

I had not heard of sun poisoning, although I've suffered it. I've been told it was heatstroke (since no sunburn), but it felt different and indeed it is (due to medicines I take). Thanks for that tidbit.

So there's this thing called polymorphic light eruption (which is a stupid convoluted science word for sunburn):

"The cause of polymorphic light eruption is unknown. It is postulated that there is a delayed hypersensitivity reaction to an endogenous antigen expressed after exposure to sunlight or artificial sources of ultraviolet (UV) radiation."

Hypersensitivity means allergic reaction. UV radiation is murking your exposed skin cells because it causes such severe DNA damage that the cells commit suicide in a process called 'apoptosis.' The body's immune system is freaking out because it's seeing a bunch of stuff all of a sudden, that has floated out of your dead skin cells, that it isn't supposed to see. It releases a ton of chemicals that make you feel nauseous, crappy, and sore, and which normally are key parts of fighting infection as part of the inflammation reaction.

Oakley AM, Ramsey ML. Polymorphic Light Eruption. [Updated 2020 Aug 10]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2020 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430886/

This results in:

> "Release of inflammatory markers such as prostaglandins, reactive oxygen species, and bradykinin."

> "This leads to vasodilation, edema, and pain which translates into the classically red, painful skin seen in a sunburn."

> "Additionally, skin exposure to UVB causes an increase in chemokines such as CXCL5 and activates peripheral nociceptors, which results in over-activation of the pain receptors of the skin."

Guerra KC, Urban K, Crane JS. Sunburn. [Updated 2020 Aug 15]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2020 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK534837/

That allergic reaction is in addition to the common damage to the DNA of the skin cells caused by the UV radiation, that may occur before you get any of that pain and swelling. This is scary because if the cells are dead, ok you get a sunburn, but that's because they're dead. If the DNA is damaged and the cells don't die, you can lose genes like cell cycle checkpoint inhibitors and tumor suppressors. And BAM, melanoma which winds up killing somewhere in the ballpark of 9,000 people in the U.S. each year, as well as squamous cell carcinoma which kills like another 15,000.

https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/uscs/about/data-briefs/no9-melano...

https://www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-canc....

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#47

The title doesn’t match the abstract. This isn’t a study of the tolerable upper limit of Vitamin D intake. It’s a case report of a single individual who was taking astronomical doses of Vitamin D with disastrous consequences. It’s certainly possible to take too much vitamin D without coming anywhere near the silly doses this person was consuming. Anyone taking aggressive vitamin D doses should invest in a vitamin D t…

Megadosing B12 (if your diet isn't already sufficient in it, which is common amongst certain vegan diets) is still a good idea, no? I recognize this might be the only exception.

The trouble with Vitamin D is afaik, as with some other vitamins, that it is fat-soluble rather than water-soluble. So the excess of the Vitamin won't be flushed out through the urine - but rather accumulates in the fat. At some point this accumulation may lead to toxicity ("Hypervitaminosis D" [1]).

Personally, I dose 4000-5000 IU D3+K2 in the darker seasons and that has been working well for me.

Vitamin B12 is water-soluble and therefore should not cause accumulation in healthy people.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D_toxicity

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#48
post #6

Taking 130,000UI per day for 20 months is insane. Most of the over the counter doses are ~ 5000UI. I'm curious, as to what was the patients diet like? Vit D is a fat soluble vitamin and its my understanding that one needs to eat healthy fats for it to be absorbed by the body.

I take a 60K softgel monthly, and I believe it has vitamin D in an oil carrier.

50k is what I’ve seen some friends get for extremely low vitamin D, and on a similar time interval to your prescription. But you don’t want to be taking that every day. Let alone two to three of them.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#49
post #15

On this page it says the recommended dosage is 600 IU https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessiona... Are there any other opinions?

My doc has had me taking 15,000 IU for four years or so. So, some other opinions.

Your doctor also had you coming back for blood work yes? High doses are meant to top up your liver. Once that works your serum levels will climb and you would cut back.

Re: How Much Vitamin D Is Too Much? A Case Report and Review of the Literature

#50
post #15

On this page it says the recommended dosage is 600 IU https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessiona... Are there any other opinions?

Your blood levels tell how much vitamin d your body is holding onto. In addition to not getting enough sun you could have an absorption problem, in which case they may try other things but one of those is just cranking the dose.
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