Vitamin D Very Low

Had my six-month labs drawn last Thursday.  Got a message from the NP at my surgeon's office early yesterday morning, advising me that my Vitamin D 25 Hydroxy level was 15, with the standard range being 30-80.  The NP told me that she was going to fax a prescription to my pharmacy as soon as I messaged her about my Vitamin D intake.  I sent her that info and she faxed the prescription over.

About an hour later, the prescription was ready.  I went over to the pharmacy to pick it up.  When the pharmacy tech picked up my order, I asked him if the Vitamin D was oil-based or dry-based.  He had no clue at all, so I told him to get the pharmacist for me and he did.  I asked the pharmacist the same question.  She said only that Vitamin D was in "gelcap" form.  I had my suspicion that it was oil-based and explained to her that my Vitamin D had to be in dry form.  She went back to look at the pharmaceutical info for the Vitamin D and the first ingredient was soybean oil.  I asked her if she could get it in dry form and she said that the highest formulation for dry Vitamin D was only 1,000 and the 50K that I needed was only available in an oil-base.  I refused the prescription and she said that she was going to call the NP to see if the NP has any other alternative.

When I got home, I sent a message to the NP, advising her that I had refused the prescription because it contained soybean oil.  She asked me if there was a reason that I could not take the 50K in soybean oil and also recommended that I take the Vitamin D that way.  Otherwise, I could pick it up OTC and have to take too many pills a day.  I responded that only about 20 percent of oils can be absorbed in our re-arranged intestines and didn't think that I would benefit from an oil-based Vitamin D.  Plus, Dr. D requires that all vitamins for those with the DS be in dry form.

Looks like I may have to order the Vitamin D thru Vitalady.com.  I don't know if I should get the Vitalady Tender Dry or Biotech Dry Vitamin brand.  I seem to recall a debate between Diana and Michelle on one of her vitamins a few months ago but don't know if Vitamin D was involved.

It was....oh dang, I don't remember now what it was. Upcal D I think? It wasn't the vitamin D. Biotech and Vitalady brand are pretty much the same, D-3 as cholecalciferol.

If I were in your shoes I'd take 100,000 IU daily until I hit the top end of the lab values. Mine bottomed out at 9. Three months of 100,000 IU daily got it to 27, six months got it to.....um, now I can't remember the exact number, but it was under 50. Might have even been under 40. I'll have to dig out my records and look. I'm about to have labs again at almost ten months of 100,000 IU daily.

I've used both the Biotech and Vitalady's brand with no discernible difference in the results.

Elizabeth, I remember Diana posting about the UPCal-D, but I don't remember her and Michelle debating about that. 

I did review the info in my secure clinic account about the Vitamin D.  Seems that the NP prescribed 50K to be taken only once weekly.  It is very contrary to Michelle's recommendation that at least 50K of the dry form should be taken daily.

Thanks for the info!  And best of luck on your next labs!

Yeah, Michelle was involved in that subject too. The upshot was that she agreed Diana's right about the labeling being misleading at best, I think.

Non-op's with D deficiencies usually take a weekly or twice weekly dose of D. We are very different, of course, and on this subject it's a good time to just smile and nod at the doc doing the prescribing and follow the course that is being shown by many DS'ers (and RNY'ers) experience to be what works. It's not like you're going to poison yourself.....not that anybody really knows what vitamin D toxicity is or how high your levels have to be or for how long to get it.

Here's an interesting site about vitamin D: www.vitamindcouncil.org

I clicked on the link that Ronnie provided.  That posting was the reason I literally dumped my UPCal-D down the drain in my kitchen sink after less than a month and switched to the Vitamin Shoppe Calcium Citrate with Vitamin D.  I was supplementing the UPCal-D with the BA calcium citrate.  Now I take the BA and Vitamin Shoppe brands of calcium citrate.  My calcium level was within the standard range at my most recent six-month labs.

The Vitamin D Council link has very interesting info, and I have bookmarked it for future reference.

What do you mean when you say your "calcium level"? You mean calcium as measured in your blood? That's virtually *never* going to be off, because of how tightly your body regulates the blood levels. You need to know how your PTH and/or calcitrol levels are, as well as all the vitamin D numbers. (There are three D values to check, I believe.)

Vicki, I don't know if this is the post you were talking about from Michelle but I think it is so I'm going to paste it here along with the link to the thread.  If its not what you were talking about just overlook me.

Post Date: 5/26/08 10:15 pm Diana very kindly helped me word this to reflect the numbers accurately. Don and I have been working on this for awhile. We still use these products ourselves, and blood levels are perfect, and that's "my definition" of perfect. Don's completely out of osteoporosis and moving back almost to cross the line into good bones again. I've moved, but not as far.**********It has come to our attention, that we carry several calcium citrate products that have questionable label information. The products themselves have helped many customers stabilize their calcium levels and in some cases improver their T-Scores when bone density is monitored by DEXA scan. Nature’s Science Calcium with D & Magnesium; Calcium 750; SciFit Osteo Enhanced and Global Health UpCal D report calcium amounts as 500 or 750mg Calcium Citrate. These amounts refer to calcium salts and not elemental calcium. Elemental calcium is approx 1/4 of the total weight of the calcium salts. Therefore the 500 mg and 750 doses only contain about 125 mg and 190 mg elemental calcium citrate, respectively. The manufactures say that the label may be misunderstood, but fall into proper regulations for product labeling. The OR IGINAL UpCal D with the larger scoop an grittier formula was 500mg elemental calcium.We have been looking into higher dose calcium IN CAPSULE and/or powdered form. As these products have been recommended by many doctors and clinics we have elected to not remove the products from our shelves until we have an economical alternative.The real concern is in the results achieved in using these products. They have provided many customers with an easy to use, high quality calcium citrate at a acceptable price. The proof of effectiveness is in your test results. However, we want our product labels to reflect more accurately the actual content.*** MichelleRNY, distal, 10/5/94
http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/ds/a,messageboard/action,r eplies/board_id,5357/cat_id,4957/topic_id,3617398/

 

Ronnie, yes that's the thread I had in mind.  As I posted to EN earlier, that thread was the reason I literally dumped my UPCal-D down the drain in my kitchen sink and switched to other brands.

Thanks for the link!

Hey Elizabeth...when you get your D levels back, could you drop me a PM and let me know?   I see that your D levels have risen slowly...maybe there's hope for me yet.   I had heard that D is slow to tank and slow to bring back up.   Mine only went from a 24-25 after two months on 100 k IU.   I am hoping that going up to 150 k for a while will at least get me in the 35 range.   My doc says that's when they start seeing PTH levels dropping off a bit.   thanks!

Hey, I'll be so THRILLED when I finally get those levels into a decent range I'll probably take out a flashing ad here on OH to announce it :-p. My PTH levels dropped quite a lot once I crossed into the 30's.