Toxic levels of vitamin D in just 2 1/2 months - anyone else??

I have had low vit D for 4 years - when first tested my level was 8 (normal 32-100) so my nephrologist prescribed 50,000 units once a week - even after 3 1/2 years of faithfully taking it - my level still was only 22.  My sleeve surgeon had me to stop my vitamins a month before surgery so who knows what my level was at the time of surgery.  I was allowed to start 2000 units daily of vit D two weeks after sleeve surgery.  My surgeon doesn't retest til 6 months post op but my nephrologist ordered labs last week - I just got back from my appt with him.  And he said to stop the vitamin D immediately - as my lab results said my D level was 121 (toxic level according to the lab and dr).  I can only imagine what the level would be if I had waited 6 months to check it.  And no I do not live in a sunny area  - cloudy Ohio.  Now I have to have other lab work (24 hr urine and blood draw)  to see what else is out of whack - if anything.  On a good note - all lipid results were excellent.  Down to one BP med and glucose levels back to normal.

Anyone else have this happen?  When does your surgeon do labs following surgery?  Wondering if smaller stomach absorbed it more rapidly and effectively.  Dr didn't seem to know.

Paula

All three of my sisters who live in NE Ohio have to take Vit D. Maybe your surgeon would know if your stomach is processing the Vit D more efficiently. Plus the bariatric vitamin regimen might have the necessary doseage of Vit D to keep you in the healthy range.

I doubt the vsg would cause anything like that - hell, ive taken some serious doses of vit D and still struggle to get and keep my levels up post op. 

Maybe it was a fluke? Are they going to retest it? 

It may be a combination of things. A great deal of our bariatric foods tend to be loaded with extra vitamins and minerals, for one. Secondly, a lot of advice is given on the assumption that you have a deficiency pre surgery and will have trouble absorbing post surgery. So we're advised to megadose ourselves with vitamins to stave off any deficiencies, which I'm convinced that very few of us need. I ended up with super high D levels as well at my first post surgical blood workup. When I sat down and looked at it I realized that I was taking a multi plus D twice a day, double calcium that had D, and fish oil that had D. Not to mention what was in the shakes and bars and what I was getting from my diet. I've ended up dropping all of my supplements except a multivitamin, which I only take once a day. My labs are now stellar.

So my somewhat long winded advice is this: take a look at what you're eating. Cut where necessary.

Hmmm, you probably should have it re-tested.  It is really hard (at least it has been hard for me) to get my vitamin d levels to  budge on the upward trend and this is with really supplementing religiously D3 at least 4 x 5000mg per day taking with a healthy dose of Calcium citrate.

Thinking about it more, it is highly unlikely that this is an accurate reading.  Make your doc re-check because you don't want your D to drop.  It feels pretty awful.  I think . . .  I'm just thinking that  amongst other things, it contributes to my joint achiness.

 

All Best,

Layla

 

Like Zee said, if you ever get a weird value on a lab test, do it over again!  They do make mistakes sometimes.

My D level was 7 before surgery. For the 3 weeks leading up to surgery my surgeon put me on 50,000 units per day. My PCP disagreed strongly and said this was too much. However, surgeon said it was the correct amount and PCPs just don't understand bariatric patients.

My PCP insisted I get labs done 2 days after hospital discharge. My surgeon didn't plan to test until 3 months out. I was tested as my PCP requested and my D levels were at toxic levels. I am now on 1000 units per day and we will see how it goes.

Annie

50,000 iu in a week is the problem.  I'm low and take 2000 per day, or 14,000 in a week's time.  50k iu is WAY overkill.  No big shock that you are high.  YIKES!!

I was followed by and Endocrinologist before I had my VSG surgery because of a parathyroid tumor and very low Vitamin D level.  

She put me on Vitamin D 50,000 iu weekly for 14 weeks.  Then she retested me every month and eventually every couple of months tinkering with the follow up dose.  This went on for a year.  I ended up taking 4000 iu daily, which is a combination of what is in my Multi vitamin and taking 2000 iu of straight D3.  She told me everyone absorbs Vitamin D differently and they need to be retested regularly until the level stabalizes.