Do you know your Vitamin D levels?

[musicdeb]

I usually have low Vitamin D levels.

8 Signs You Need to Be Getting More Vitamin D - ABC News

 

[DennasMom]

A friend of mine took a sabbatical from work due to being overwhelmed, depressed, unmotivated, and fatigued.... turns out, she was Vit D deficient... it WASN'T work! HA! She got a few shots and now supplements regularly. Here in Seattle, supplements, "light therapy" or a tanning bed are a must.

Seattle - where we don't even get regular sunlight (i.e. natural Vit D) in the summer - is also known for depression, grunge bands, suicides and MS... coincidence??

 

[musicdeb]

Vit D deficiency can be pretty serious and most people and doctors do not think to check Vit D levels. My doctor has been checking my levels for 2 years.

 

[DMikeM]

Anyone think to just go outside for a half hour or so a day? The right foods and a bit of sunlight should be all anyone needs to keep their Vit D in proper order.

 

[musicdeb]

I wish it was that easy, Mike. I'm in the sun everyday for a total of 40-50 minutes, not all at the same time.

 

[broccolini]

Anyone think to just go outside for a half hour or so a day? The right foods and a bit of sunlight should be all anyone needs to keep their Vit D in proper order.

What is this sunlight you speak of?

I think I could lay outside naked all year up here and not get enough vitamin D. As far as food, if you don't like fish or mushrooms, I think you'd be out of luck. Except for the fortified foods, maybe.

 

[DMikeM]

Wow well I looked up ways to get your vitamin D and it really is pretty limited. Fish, Eggs, Shrooms, sunlight, and stuff that has been fortified with D and that's about it. I guess this is why many people suffer from the deficiency and especially during the winter months.

 

[broccolini]

Yeah.

With most vitamins, I would agree with you that a decent diet would be enough. Vitamin D is trickier (iodine too but they put that in salt). Especially in low sunlight areas. Also, I think people in sunny areas have been conditioned to stay out of the sun or to wear sunblock that it might be an issue for them too.

Vitamin D is the only vitamin I take and I take a lot of it. I get the gummi vitamins for the kids and they eat them like candy.

 

[musicdeb]

Yes, we have been conditioned to stay out of the sun which I have done for a few years not realizing that I was robbing my body of Vit D.

 

[NeSaxena]

Thankfully Vit D is the one thing my body has enough of

 

[DDSK]

I just spent 4 days in the desert between Las Vegas and Death Valley, I think my Vitamin D levels are good for now lol.

 

[DMikeM]

haha, I'm sure. I just found out that the medication I take for theat "other thing" messes with your D levels. Plus I take 2 that say stay out of the sun. So I started taking a Mag/Calc/D suppliment to see if anything changes. So far after a week I am not sure anything got better or worse.

 

[broccolini]

I just had my levels checked. Even though I take 8000IUs a day, they are still low. Crazy.

My doctor told me to take 1000IU a day. I told her I already take 8000. She said that 1000 was enough. That makes no sense. I'm not trying to maintain insufficient levels, I'm trying to get them higher.

I think a lot of doctors are not really up to date on the importance of vitamin D. They finally updated the safe level to 4000IU per day. Clearly, that's not high enough for everyone depending on where you live.

I'm going to continue taking 8000IU per day and have my levels checked again in 6 months.

 

[musicdeb]

WOW, that's a lot of Vit D. My doc told me the most I should take is 2000IU. My research also showed 2000IU was the max so not to OD on Vit D.

 

[DMikeM]

I thought you could do liver damage with excessive doeses of VIT D.

 

[musicdeb]

It can cause kidney damage if taken at high doses for a long period of time. Differences of opinion as to what is considered a high dose depending on what website you look at. My doc told me not to take more than 2000IU a day.

 

[raji]

I have had trouble keeping my D levels normal for a while now. This last bloodwork they were at a 20, which is actually better than a couple of years ago when they were at an 11. Sun makes the most difference for me, but clearly I'm not out in it regularly enough, especially in winter, to maintain good numbers.

 

[broccolini]

You have to take a lot of vitamin D before it's toxic.

Here is a pretty good article.

 

[musicdeb]

My last level was 19 in Feb 2014. I've hit the normal levels about 3 times in the last 3 years.

@broccolini, the article I read last night said 50KUI is toxic but I've also read articles that more than 2KUI is toxic. I go by the, "less is better when it comes to vitamins and medications" and heed the advice of my doc.

 

[broccolini]

My last level was 19 in Feb 2014. I've hit the normal levels about 3 times in the last 3 years.

@broccolini, the article I read last night said 50KUI is toxic but I've also read articles that more than 2KUI is toxic. I go by the, "less is better when it comes to vitamins and medications" and heed the advice of my doc.

Normally I would agree with you. But we are all so vitamin D deficient. I don't think there is a magic number for everyone. Remember when eggs were bad? Now they're good. Salt was bad, now it's only bad if you have high blood pressure already. Fat was bad. Now it's actually the sugar that's killing us. How many people died trying to eat low fat crap?

If my levels were normal, I would take less but they are still low and I live somewhere with no sun. We have a lot of MS and serial killers up here.

But anyway, as much as I think most people need more vitamin D, you should absolutely listen to your doctor. Have they ever put you on a limited super-high dose? The 2KUI is old. They've revised it to 4KUI.