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Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

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Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#91

Post by smeej »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #78
chimeracoder wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I should clarify by what I obviously meant that doctors would not recommend that as a DAILY dose - daily implying long-term use is okay. Yes, and I'm saying that this does in fact happen.

Concur - I was diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency and my doctor prescribed an initial regimen of prescription tablets at 50,000 IU and then suggested 3,000-5,000 IU daily.

Might also depend where you live. My doctor did as yours, but I live in northern New England where we don't typically expose our skin to the sun for months at a time. Perhaps doctors closer to the tropics assume at least a low level of sun exposure?

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#92

Post by ein0p »

JohnMakin wrote: post #4

I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for 5+ years. This is nearly 10x canada's recommended winter time dose for adults under 70. After years of struggling with severe joint pain and mental fog/depression, among other things it was discovered that I had critically low vitamin D. They prescribed the 5000 dose but told me at least 10 times how I should NOT continue this high…

That’s most likely because Canada’s RDA for this is far too low. I take 5000IU daily during winter. I know this is the right dose for me because I actually test my blood for vitamin D deficiency twice a year, and 5000IU puts it smack dab in the middle of the normal range. In the summer I take 2000IU.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#93

Post by alejohausner »

This is very confusing! Our skin can make lots of vitamin D. Lots if not more than this case describes. A quick search yields the following:

"A whole body exposure to UVB radiation inducing the light pink color of the minimal erythema dose for 15–20 min is able to induce the production of up to 250 μg vitamin D (10,000 IU)"[1]

Surely naked homo sapiens got a bigger dose wandering around the highlands of Ethiopia 100,000 years ago. What kind of perverse logic led to setting the RDA to 600 IU daily?

It makes no sense. The patient didn't have hyper parathyroid disease either! Very weird.

1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4642156/

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#94

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #90
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #76

I'm currently taking 10,000IU per day in an effort to control psoriasis, but it's a bit of guess work really and trying stuff to see what helps. It's somewhat annoying that I've had a dermatologist order some blood tests, but they were only targeted for whether I can safely take acitretin (a retinoid). I wish there were cheap home-tests for various blood levels of minerals and vitamins like there are for things like…

Taking vitamin D daily did wonders for my psoriasis. Over the years it had gotten to the point where I was breaking out in patches all over my body, and only getting worse as time went on. I went from like 2% coverage to 20%. Started taking vitamin D and am now back at 2% (where it has sat for 4 years now since I started).

That's what I'm hoping for.

I had an outbreak of erythrodermic psoriasis (usually just have mild plaque psoriasis) over the winter and had it all over my trunk, arms and legs - approx 80% coverage. Luckily it wasn't as severe as it could be (no hospitalisation necessary), but I had a lot of trouble with body heat regulation for a while.

I ended up using topical steroids which cleared it up remarkably quickly, but am now trying to reduce my usage of that (stopping steroids can be a trigger for erythrodermic psoriasis) which has led to it becoming more pronounced again.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#95

Post by dsp »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #75
JohnMakin wrote: post #4

I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for 5+ years. This is nearly 10x canada's recommended winter time dose for adults under 70. After years of struggling with severe joint pain and mental fog/depression, among other things it was discovered that I had critically low vitamin D. They prescribed the 5000 dose but told me at least 10 times how I should NOT continue this high…

You can literally get 10,000 IU of vitamin D a day from just being out in the sun, particularly if you're fair-skinned. That would suggest that people who work outdoors would be chronically overdosing.

What I’ve read suggests that vitamin d toxicity from sun exposure isn’t a thing because your body self regulates production.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#96

Post by ndsipa_pomu »

ww520 wrote: post #79
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #76

I'm currently taking 10,000IU per day in an effort to control psoriasis, but it's a bit of guess work really and trying stuff to see what helps. It's somewhat annoying that I've had a dermatologist order some blood tests, but they were only targeted for whether I can safely take acitretin (a retinoid). I wish there were cheap home-tests for various blood levels of minerals and vitamins like there are for things like…

Does more exposure to sunlight help? I remember there’s UV light treatment that shines for a few minutes.

It's useful for normal plaque psoriasis, but I'm currently recovering from an erythrodermic psoriasis episode and UV light is not recommended for that. Psoriasis can be a tricky condition, as too much UV light (i.e. sunburn) can trigger it - UV therapy usually has to be carefully controlled.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#97

Post by detourdog »

JohnMakin wrote: post #4

I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for 5+ years. This is nearly 10x canada's recommended winter time dose for adults under 70. After years of struggling with severe joint pain and mental fog/depression, among other things it was discovered that I had critically low vitamin D. They prescribed the 5000 dose but told me at least 10 times how I should NOT continue this high…

About 5 years ago I got a new doctor that noticed I had Ricketts level vitamin D. They say in New England everyone has a deficiency but I also spent the previous 15 summers in dark server rooms. My level was 9 on the scale they use and the cutoff level for low level is 31.

I have been taking between a 1,000 to 2000 units daily and just this year made it to 31.

My doctor looked at my labs on-line and sent message telling me to boost my intake to 2,000. I was crushed having finally made the goal of being low on the chart. I started immediately and had my appointment a few weeks later. During the appointment she asked how much I was taking I responded 2,000 since she told me to a few weeks earlier. Her response was that I should double that.

I decided that she had already told me to double it a few weeks earlier so I didn't boost my intake to 4,000 like she prescribed. I will see next year what my level is.

I'm doing better than I have in a long time but I also gave professional systems administration.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#98

Post by jfghi »

detourdog wrote: post #97
JohnMakin wrote: post #4

I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for 5+ years. This is nearly 10x canada's recommended winter time dose for adults under 70. After years of struggling with severe joint pain and mental fog/depression, among other things it was discovered that I had critically low vitamin D. They prescribed the 5000 dose but told me at least 10 times how I should NOT continue this high…

About 5 years ago I got a new doctor that noticed I had Ricketts level vitamin D. They say in New England everyone has a deficiency but I also spent the previous 15 summers in dark server rooms. My level was 9 on the scale they use and the cutoff level for low level is 31. I have been taking between a 1,000 to 2000 units daily and just this year made it to 31. My doctor looked at my labs on-line and sent message tell…

How much progress do you think is possible only using dietary adjustments and getting a couple hours of sunshine per day?

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#99

Post by tiffanyh »

JohnMakin wrote: post #4

I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for 5+ years. This is nearly 10x canada's recommended winter time dose for adults under 70. After years of struggling with severe joint pain and mental fog/depression, among other things it was discovered that I had critically low vitamin D. They prescribed the 5000 dose but told me at least 10 times how I should NOT continue this high…

> I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU

Believe it.

When one of the most trusted vitamin companys (Nature’s Made) sells a 5000 IU single pill dosage that can be found at any drug or grocery store in the US - it nots surprising that people buy and believe 5000 is ok.

https://www.naturemade.com/products/nature-made-extra-streng...

If 4000 IU is the max dosage anyone should take, it shouldn’t be allowed for a compnay to sell a 5000 unit dosage.

Re: Story of Vitamin D Toxicity (2022)

#100

Post by ozim »

ein0p wrote: post #92
JohnMakin wrote: post #4

I struggle to believe that a physician told her to take 5000 IU of vitamin D daily for 5+ years. This is nearly 10x canada's recommended winter time dose for adults under 70. After years of struggling with severe joint pain and mental fog/depression, among other things it was discovered that I had critically low vitamin D. They prescribed the 5000 dose but told me at least 10 times how I should NOT continue this high…

That’s most likely because Canada’s RDA for this is far too low. I take 5000IU daily during winter. I know this is the right dose for me because I actually test my blood for vitamin D deficiency twice a year, and 5000IU puts it smack dab in the middle of the normal range. In the summer I take 2000IU.

From the article:

*Of course, there is a selection bias in who comes to me. There are people out there doing just fine on 5000 units of Vitamin D daily. I only see the ones who develop high calcium levels. But I see enough of them to know that this is not an exceptionally rare occurrence. I have been to lectures in which physicians have claimed that Vitamin D toxicity almost never occurs. In my experience, this is false. I have seen many cases of Vitamin D toxicity in people who were taking the recommended dose from an over-the-counter bottle.*

I am also doing 4000IU in the half-autumn/winter/half-spring time and none during summer and doing blood work to test the levels and I am keeping it in 40ng/ml and from the article:

*...her blood Vitamin D level had risen to 79 ng/ml. This level is within what many labs call the normal range, between 30 and 100 ng/ml, but levels above 70 are almost always a result of high dose supplementation, and I have seen toxicity with levels between 70 and 100 ng/ml. (A better “normal range” based on what I have seen would probably be between 30 and 60.) Vitamin D builds up over time, so the longer someone is on a high dose, the more likely she is to develop toxicity.*

Lady in the article was taking 5000IU daily for 5 years.

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