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Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

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Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#231

Post by spfzero »

jjeaff wrote: post #206
spfzero wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take 5000 IU D3 a day, in a pill that combines 180 mcg of K2. K2 is important for calcium transport. My most recent tested level was 38 ng/ml. I'd like it to be above 40. I also make sure to get a lot of sun, because I think the measured benefits of D3 blood levels might be partly a proxy for sun exposure. A good resource for managing your serum D3 is https://www.grassrootshealth.net

I do similarly. The k2 because I read it can be extra important if you have a history of kidney stones.

Well and K2 is involved in transporting calcium into bone. So it helps if you are worried about your D3 supplementation altering your blood calcium levels.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#232

Post by ZIMD »

plus wrote: post #215
devaboone wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi, I'm the wife. High dose Vitamin D can cause elevated calcium levels (meaning over 10.0 mg/dl for adults over 40, it can be a little higher for younger adults). I usually don't see that occur with doses at 2-3 K IU daily. You can also check your Vitamin D 25-OH levels (the level that will be done if you just get a standard "Vitamin D level") and these should be in a reasonable range. What constitutes reasonable ma…

This is entirely anecdotal, and I don't have an expert's opinion on this, but I believe I was suffering from Vitamin D toxicity. I had been taking 5000 IU/125 mcg of Vitamin D3 daily for several years, and one day I started experiencing painful and distressing heart palpitations. They persisted on and off for months, until at one point near the beginning of quarantine I ran out of Vitamin D supplements. I went a few…

Fairly likely you are magnesium deficient...magnesium is a critical cofactors to vitamin D and even moderate D3 intake can trigger symptoms such as muscle cramps and heart rhythm changes. Unfortunately no easy way to accurately test a magnesium level, as it’s mostly intracellular and blood tests are pretty much useless

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#233

Post by hda111 »

ColanR wrote: post #167
devaboone wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the study that is cited on your link. It was a review article about Vitamin D, not a study on Vitamin D toxicity. And in fact, in the references for that article, there is no study cited directly related to Vitamin D toxicity that I can see. The cutoff at 10K is largely someone's opinion. I cannot say how many people will be harmed by taking such a high dose, but I know with certainty that toxicity at that dos…

Thanks for the response. I'm curious what your wife thinks about this article [0], mentioned elsewhere in this discussion. It makes the case that the current RDA for Vitamin D is based on a statistical error, and that the recommended dose should be closer to 8000 IU for young adults. [0] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28768407/

8000?? EFSA recommends a reference value of 1000 IU. And a tolerable upper intake level of 4000 IU.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#234

Post by sizzle »

devaboone wrote: post #143
wpasc wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you mind elaborating on what you mean by "wacky" levels? I can't tell from your comment if that means high or low. Asking as a Vitamin D supplement user who uses 2-3k IU a day

Hi, I'm the wife. High dose Vitamin D can cause elevated calcium levels (meaning over 10.0 mg/dl for adults over 40, it can be a little higher for younger adults). I usually don't see that occur with doses at 2-3 K IU daily. You can also check your Vitamin D 25-OH levels (the level that will be done if you just get a standard "Vitamin D level") and these should be in a reasonable range. What constitutes reasonable ma…

Do you recommend vitamin D2 or D3 supplementation?

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#235

Post by blurbleblurble »

davidwitt415 wrote: post #153
blurbleblurble wrote: post #78

I've been very frustrated in my attempts to raise this issue with the local health department where I live. I was brushed aside, and was told "correlation does not imply causation". I doubt that the person on the phone wanted to get into a conversation about dynamical systems or nonlinear data analysis, so I didn't even go there. Instead I sent a letter full of references to published research, and citing other lette…

A simpler explanation is profit motive; it doesn't 'pay' to promote free/low cost alternatives. Most of western medicine is geared this way, imo.

I agree, and don't believe your explanation is all that different from mine. Market driven medicine implicitly favors people who for whatever reason find themselves in the position to pay for care, and slowly but surely culls those who aren't.

People with the power to regulate health care "markets", to shape the incentive structures and make them less overtly biased in favor of wealthy people, sometimes they do this and sometimes they don't. Currently, at least in the US, in the midst of this unfolding crisis, the power balance seems skewed toward the "let's take a violent trek toward 'herd immunity' as soon as possible" decision makers, many of whom are more or less blatantly eugenic.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#236

Post by piva00 »

devaboone wrote: post #190
r0fl wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a “not low dose” of vitamin D? Would 5000iU a day still be low? 10,000iu? Is it really possible to have enough vitamin d exposure just from diet for someone who lives in a northern state which doesn’t get nearly as many sunny days as a place like florida or california?

5000 IU is high dose. 10,000 is really high. A more moderate dose would be 1000 to 2000 daily. If you live in a northern state, your Vitamin D level will vary with season. And with increased use of sunscreen (which is a good thing), it can be hard to get enough Vitamin D. I'm not opposed to anyone taking Vitamin D (I take it actually). I just want people to take it in moderation unless there is a very clear reason fo…

What is the current scientific consensus on how to take Vitamin D? Daily doses? Single very large doses spaced every fortnight?

I've tried searching the internet before about Vitamin D and it's surprisingly confusing, both about dosage as about intake routine. Also confusing that daily requirements are contested to be way off to our real needs, it's just a lot of misinformation lingering around that I, as a layman, can't really parse it.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#237

Post by FreelanceX »

amanaplanacanal wrote: post #195
FreelanceX wrote: post #123

Would it be reasonable to hypothesize that, through lack of sun exposure and ensuing vitamin D deficiencies, lockdowns kill more people than they save? (that is, the increase in mortality would more than overcome the decrease in cases) We cannot know for sure of course, but is it unreasonable to even consider?

My state started locking down early, but at no time were people not allowed to go outside. Closing bars seems unlikely to contribute to vitamin D deficiency, for example.

But strong lockdowns in which you're not allowed to walk outside unless you have a good reason happened in a lot of countries.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#238

Post by partyboat1586 »

devaboone wrote: post #169
crawfordcomeaux wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this material affect your advice? https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28768407/

No, it doesn't. I haven't had a chance to really critically review the studies that are cited in that article, so I can't give an in-depth answer as to why that article is wrong. But I know that my recommendations are based on patients I have treated. And I have treated thousands of patients with parathyroid, calcium, and Vitamin D problems. That is all that I have done for the last 6 years, in fact. I've never had a…

This study was based in Finland where they get very few hours of sun for a large part of the year.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#239

Post by partyboat1586 »

seamyb88 wrote: post #152
conorh wrote: post #89

I've mentioned this before, but my wife is a parathyroid surgeon (parathyroids are the glands that regulate the calcium in your neck) and would beg you to PLEASE monitor your calcium levels if you are supplementing with Vitamin D. She often sees patients on high doses of Vitamin D from well intentioned doctors, but with out of whack calcium levels because of it, and the patients can be very sick without understanding…

I recently stopped taking my (self-prescribed) dose of 1,000 IU Vitamin D3. Before this I was on 2,000. I work all day and rarely leave the house, sometimes for a couple of weeks. I thought I was doing the sane thing. A good number of months in and I start getting all of the symptoms - lethargy, constipation, stomach and intestinal pain, urinating very frequently and feeling like I had a kidney infection. Bloods came…

1000-2000IU is a low dose your blood work came back normal. All those symptoms are pretty generic as well, I'd look elsewhere.

Re: Vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 mortality [pdf]

#240

Post by kovach »

devaboone wrote: post #155
mellosouls wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without a reference to go by a quick Google indicates toxicity is only likely by taking far above recommended levels (max recommended is 4000iu daily) for an extended period. Presumably people on those kind of doses are taking it under medical supervision, or are idiots/under the control of idiots. I am not a doctor, but without further information it seems that as ever, following the guidance on legit supplies speci…

There are some very vocal people who argue that the risk of toxicity is very low. The studies aren't great. But for most people, taking a moderate dose of Vitamin D will be safe. Unfortunately, I have treated many patients who come to me with high calcium levels due to taking Vitamin D. They do not have parathyroid disease (I have treated thousands of patients with parathyroid disease). They have simply been taking h…

Would you mind telling us what the medical literature says about deaths from Vitamin D overdose? Around how many people in total have died from taking too much Vitamin D?
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