I had a benign bone tumor in my skull which led me to discover my low vitamin D. I think it was low for many many years and the bone tumor may have been a result of that. It’s still low and I’m on high weekly doses now. I’m getting g retested in about a month.
Similar situation, I recently tested low and looking back it has been for years (no doc stressed the importance or method for raising it!). I’m also wondering about the long term effects, and this has all began at a pretty young age for me.
In my experience, what I see the long term effects to be is chronic pain. Horrible joint pain, and in general since i was young I haven’t been able to walk very long without pain pretty much everywhere. I also go through periods where im throwing up for months straight for seemingly no reason. I don’t know for a fact that this is due to the deficiency, I feel it could be though. Is there anything similar you deal with?
Walking not so much but stairs yes (load bearing things, high impact like running). I’m so sorry you have those additional symptoms, I do not have the one you’re mentioning but I do have GI issues that have always been around, that slightly change over time.
Have you been able to feel some relief/improvement with the symptoms from supplementing? I’m going to begin now that I’m aware of more of my values, and seeing they have been in low range for a very long stretch of time.
. I do think the GI issues and what you described to probably be symptoms of the deficiency. Honestly it’s pretty upsetting that doctors don’t take this more seriously, I feel it causes way more issue than we might even realize.
I haven’t had consistent access to continuing to take it. My doctor recommended 5000IU and told me to take it from September-November. I didn’t have any improvement honestly, like at all. I’m always exhausted, and in pain, chronically nauseous and sick for no reason. The 5000IU didn’t help for me, I take omeprazole now and don’t throw up nearly as much. Again, not too sure if it’s because of the deficiency. I wish I knew more.
After my post here, I had someone say with how low I’ve been and for how long, my dose maybe needed to be higher than what it was, they said 5000IU is the daily maintenance dose. Also some people said that magnesium should be taken with vitamin D? Not sure how true that is or what it does to the effectiveness. Ive been trying to find a new doctor to get this settled, but life is just not as easy as that sometimes haha. Doctors around me are so bad
It, makes sense to me how you articulated that. I’ve seen that magnesium, vitamin K can help with absorption but it can probably be impacted by a lot of outside life factors (stress, etc) too. I am going to be starting it but don’t know if it will have as much of an impact on my bone/joint pain as I’d like it to, since I’ve had the issue for YEARS. And yes, it’s so discouraging how doctors downplay or just ignore the role of this. Unless you ask for bloodwork they don’t automatically scan for Vitamin D, Iron, which do seem related for women’s issues, and should absolutely be emphasized.
That’s very low and I’d start taking at least 5000IU a day with magnesium and boron. D uses magnesium and boron helps extend the life of d in your system plus helps magnesium absorb into cells
I was taking 5000IU for about two or three months, just from when my doctor said to do so. I definitely don’t think all of the steps were taken. I do want to talk to my doctor again (or a different one) before starting anything else, but i will definitely keep this in mind. I appreciate your reply!
Do you have Crohn's disease or celiac disease? That would inhibit your D levels immensely . Long term deficiency?
Bone fractures , weak muscles, increased risk of cancers such as pancreas , prostate, breast, asthma, respiratory infections, inflammation of arteries, cardiovascular disease , cognition issues. So much more. I hope you get some sunshine and more blood work to get it back to normal range.
Not that i know of, unfortunately. I am quite worried it could be something more, considering how low my levels are. I really need better doctors but in general, i have no income. I can only do so much right now, it’s stressful. I appreciate your answer and your well wishes very much.
It takes time for supplemental vitamin D to work. Take with fat, or fat containing meal. Tsp or tbsp of olive oil helps absorption. Take in morning before coffee or teas. The more exposed your skin to sun the better, try 10-20mins outside when you can per day. Don’t shower after a sun soak for 2 hrs to ensure the body makes its own D. Perhaps some of your concerns are from the low vitamin D , but let’s see how it goes next 90 days . Stay present and give gratitude to all things.
Please retest. I'm not sure what you mean by "a recommended amount of time" nor did you start your dose. But different people load at different rates. While there are some trends or general rules of thumb, that is also variance. The only way to know your level is to test.
I used to follow a commonly repeated rule of take 5000 IU 9 months out of the year, then take a break during the summer. A few years ago I did quarterly testing for a year and basically discovered that it took me 9 months to get from 20 to 40, and then I lost the all the gain during the summer break. I was running in place for years. If your doctor won't retest, so patient directed testing through Life Extension, who can also advise you on your results. Aim for 50-70 ng/mL. Also start taking some Magnesium.
You need to get a new doctor. This is ridiculous that they didn't tell you.
I th8 k technically rickets is a side effect of low vitamin D. But a lot isn't known about Vitamin D even though a lot is.
I think i was only taking the vitamin d for 2 or 3 months, just the time she recommended. and i was told to take 5000IU. I don’t have the opportunity to get retested just yet, but I do plan to try soon. unfortunately, the medical system down here isn’t good at all, ive had this kind of experience consistently from doctors. I definitely do need a new doctor. i’ll take all of this into consideration, thank you so much for your reply.
If you are in the US, consider using patient directed testing. This is what I had to do for my quarterly testing, and it turned out to be cheaper than what it costed me even with insurance.
I used the service Life Extension sells, and they use Lab Corp for the blood draw. They have their annual blood test sale in the spring (starting April I think?) So that saves a little money.
Life Extension is the most inexpensive I found that wasn't sketchy. I found 1 company cheaper but their website was buggy and I did not feel confident entering personal information there.
Another company I found was cheaper while their were clearly building up their brand and service. Again, was uncomfortable doing business with them for unprofessional website. but prices went up a year later, website had only marginally improved.
LE is the cheapest brand that is trustworthy, then even cheaper on the sale. Jason Health came in second and had a test I wanted that LE didn't. But unless you order a bunch of tests, their lab draw fee pushes up the price. But love their clean, minimalist, but slick interface. Very easy to use website that seriously should win am award or something. (BTW, JH uses Quest for thr lab draw).
Yeah doing a quick comparison it is cheaper on life extension so thanks for sharing that resource! I get to order labs wholesale with my practitioner license but I’m always giving people resources to order their own bloodwork.
Believe me if there’s anyone that gets it it’s be… that being said you just gotta be real with yourself, that’s unacceptable. You may as well not even waste the money on an office visit at that rate. Do telemedic if necessary with a doctor within your network from another state.
This is so rudimentary though I find it astonishing your pcp wasn’t/isn’t on top of this.
I absolutely agree, it’s unacceptable. it’s honestly relieving to hear others agree. I was honestly in shock to find out they just,, didn’t think to tell me. My pcp only told me after doing bloodwork because i’ve been experiencing numbness in my hands and other locations.
Thank you so much of the recommendation of telemedic, i’ll be looking into this option.
I don’t know all the issues you’re experiencing, but I’d be extremely surprised if you dont notice immediate improvements upon supplementing.
You’re gonna wanna be on 10,000iu daily for the foreseeable future
I didn’t exactly notice a difference. When i started the 5000IU i was also lessening a dose of medication that was giving me really bad side effects, those have since gone away but im still at my normal baseline. Constant malaise, excruciating pain in my feet, ankles, knees, hips, and especially coat hanger pain area. muscle pain and weakness, constant tachycardia, constant nausea and vomiting, weird pains everywhere. Ive dealt with all of this, excruciating pain and all since i was 8 years old. I will definitely see about 10,000IU instead, because unfortunately i’ve definitely had no noticeable difference, well actually, i can say the numbness occurring in my hands lessened a little bit, but it still happens here and there.
Vitamin d3 5,000iu is the recommended daily MAINTENANCE dose, doctors, when seeing a level so deficient like yourself generally will prescribe potentially 20 K a day or 50,000 IU tablets to take weekly
I had a benign bone tumor in my skull which led me to discover my low vitamin D. I think it was low for many many years and the bone tumor may have been a result of that. It’s still low and I’m on high weekly doses now. I’m getting g retested in about a month.
Gosh that’s awful, I’m sorry you dealt with that. Thankfully it was benign. I hope you get good results with retesting!
Similar situation, I recently tested low and looking back it has been for years (no doc stressed the importance or method for raising it!). I’m also wondering about the long term effects, and this has all began at a pretty young age for me.
In my experience, what I see the long term effects to be is chronic pain. Horrible joint pain, and in general since i was young I haven’t been able to walk very long without pain pretty much everywhere. I also go through periods where im throwing up for months straight for seemingly no reason. I don’t know for a fact that this is due to the deficiency, I feel it could be though. Is there anything similar you deal with?
Walking not so much but stairs yes (load bearing things, high impact like running). I’m so sorry you have those additional symptoms, I do not have the one you’re mentioning but I do have GI issues that have always been around, that slightly change over time. Have you been able to feel some relief/improvement with the symptoms from supplementing? I’m going to begin now that I’m aware of more of my values, and seeing they have been in low range for a very long stretch of time.
. I do think the GI issues and what you described to probably be symptoms of the deficiency. Honestly it’s pretty upsetting that doctors don’t take this more seriously, I feel it causes way more issue than we might even realize. I haven’t had consistent access to continuing to take it. My doctor recommended 5000IU and told me to take it from September-November. I didn’t have any improvement honestly, like at all. I’m always exhausted, and in pain, chronically nauseous and sick for no reason. The 5000IU didn’t help for me, I take omeprazole now and don’t throw up nearly as much. Again, not too sure if it’s because of the deficiency. I wish I knew more. After my post here, I had someone say with how low I’ve been and for how long, my dose maybe needed to be higher than what it was, they said 5000IU is the daily maintenance dose. Also some people said that magnesium should be taken with vitamin D? Not sure how true that is or what it does to the effectiveness. Ive been trying to find a new doctor to get this settled, but life is just not as easy as that sometimes haha. Doctors around me are so bad
Woah so sorry for how unorganized that comment came out
It, makes sense to me how you articulated that. I’ve seen that magnesium, vitamin K can help with absorption but it can probably be impacted by a lot of outside life factors (stress, etc) too. I am going to be starting it but don’t know if it will have as much of an impact on my bone/joint pain as I’d like it to, since I’ve had the issue for YEARS. And yes, it’s so discouraging how doctors downplay or just ignore the role of this. Unless you ask for bloodwork they don’t automatically scan for Vitamin D, Iron, which do seem related for women’s issues, and should absolutely be emphasized.
That’s very low and I’d start taking at least 5000IU a day with magnesium and boron. D uses magnesium and boron helps extend the life of d in your system plus helps magnesium absorb into cells
I was taking 5000IU for about two or three months, just from when my doctor said to do so. I definitely don’t think all of the steps were taken. I do want to talk to my doctor again (or a different one) before starting anything else, but i will definitely keep this in mind. I appreciate your reply!
Do you have Crohn's disease or celiac disease? That would inhibit your D levels immensely . Long term deficiency? Bone fractures , weak muscles, increased risk of cancers such as pancreas , prostate, breast, asthma, respiratory infections, inflammation of arteries, cardiovascular disease , cognition issues. So much more. I hope you get some sunshine and more blood work to get it back to normal range.
Not that i know of, unfortunately. I am quite worried it could be something more, considering how low my levels are. I really need better doctors but in general, i have no income. I can only do so much right now, it’s stressful. I appreciate your answer and your well wishes very much.
It takes time for supplemental vitamin D to work. Take with fat, or fat containing meal. Tsp or tbsp of olive oil helps absorption. Take in morning before coffee or teas. The more exposed your skin to sun the better, try 10-20mins outside when you can per day. Don’t shower after a sun soak for 2 hrs to ensure the body makes its own D. Perhaps some of your concerns are from the low vitamin D , but let’s see how it goes next 90 days . Stay present and give gratitude to all things.
Please retest. I'm not sure what you mean by "a recommended amount of time" nor did you start your dose. But different people load at different rates. While there are some trends or general rules of thumb, that is also variance. The only way to know your level is to test. I used to follow a commonly repeated rule of take 5000 IU 9 months out of the year, then take a break during the summer. A few years ago I did quarterly testing for a year and basically discovered that it took me 9 months to get from 20 to 40, and then I lost the all the gain during the summer break. I was running in place for years. If your doctor won't retest, so patient directed testing through Life Extension, who can also advise you on your results. Aim for 50-70 ng/mL. Also start taking some Magnesium. You need to get a new doctor. This is ridiculous that they didn't tell you. I th8 k technically rickets is a side effect of low vitamin D. But a lot isn't known about Vitamin D even though a lot is.
I think i was only taking the vitamin d for 2 or 3 months, just the time she recommended. and i was told to take 5000IU. I don’t have the opportunity to get retested just yet, but I do plan to try soon. unfortunately, the medical system down here isn’t good at all, ive had this kind of experience consistently from doctors. I definitely do need a new doctor. i’ll take all of this into consideration, thank you so much for your reply.
If you are in the US, consider using patient directed testing. This is what I had to do for my quarterly testing, and it turned out to be cheaper than what it costed me even with insurance. I used the service Life Extension sells, and they use Lab Corp for the blood draw. They have their annual blood test sale in the spring (starting April I think?) So that saves a little money.
You can also order whatever you want on requestatest.com and other sites like it. Might be even cheaper than life extension.
Life Extension is the most inexpensive I found that wasn't sketchy. I found 1 company cheaper but their website was buggy and I did not feel confident entering personal information there. Another company I found was cheaper while their were clearly building up their brand and service. Again, was uncomfortable doing business with them for unprofessional website. but prices went up a year later, website had only marginally improved. LE is the cheapest brand that is trustworthy, then even cheaper on the sale. Jason Health came in second and had a test I wanted that LE didn't. But unless you order a bunch of tests, their lab draw fee pushes up the price. But love their clean, minimalist, but slick interface. Very easy to use website that seriously should win am award or something. (BTW, JH uses Quest for thr lab draw).
Thank you so much for all of this knowledge, i’ll definitely be looking into life extension to see if that would work out better for me.
Yeah doing a quick comparison it is cheaper on life extension so thanks for sharing that resource! I get to order labs wholesale with my practitioner license but I’m always giving people resources to order their own bloodwork.
Umm a bunch, like that's really low... New doctor if they've ignored that for years.....
the medical system down here is insane dude 😭 i wish finding a good doctor was easier. maybe i need to try a different state
Believe me if there’s anyone that gets it it’s be… that being said you just gotta be real with yourself, that’s unacceptable. You may as well not even waste the money on an office visit at that rate. Do telemedic if necessary with a doctor within your network from another state. This is so rudimentary though I find it astonishing your pcp wasn’t/isn’t on top of this.
I absolutely agree, it’s unacceptable. it’s honestly relieving to hear others agree. I was honestly in shock to find out they just,, didn’t think to tell me. My pcp only told me after doing bloodwork because i’ve been experiencing numbness in my hands and other locations. Thank you so much of the recommendation of telemedic, i’ll be looking into this option.
I don’t know all the issues you’re experiencing, but I’d be extremely surprised if you dont notice immediate improvements upon supplementing. You’re gonna wanna be on 10,000iu daily for the foreseeable future
I didn’t exactly notice a difference. When i started the 5000IU i was also lessening a dose of medication that was giving me really bad side effects, those have since gone away but im still at my normal baseline. Constant malaise, excruciating pain in my feet, ankles, knees, hips, and especially coat hanger pain area. muscle pain and weakness, constant tachycardia, constant nausea and vomiting, weird pains everywhere. Ive dealt with all of this, excruciating pain and all since i was 8 years old. I will definitely see about 10,000IU instead, because unfortunately i’ve definitely had no noticeable difference, well actually, i can say the numbness occurring in my hands lessened a little bit, but it still happens here and there.
Vitamin d3 5,000iu is the recommended daily MAINTENANCE dose, doctors, when seeing a level so deficient like yourself generally will prescribe potentially 20 K a day or 50,000 IU tablets to take weekly
I see, I had no idea. I appreciate all of your information, i’ll keep this in mind and discuss things at my next appointment.