Dry Vitamin D3 Help

Okay, yet another question for you all! It recently came to my attention (thank you Kelly) that the D my doctor has been having me take daily is not a type we RNYers can utilize. So... I'm switching to dry D3, a form we can! (I take 50,000 iu daily)

My question, is *for those with good D labs* ... what brand do you take? I see vitalady has a brand, but I'm a little nervous to try it, because I used her iron and had terrible labs. I realize that doesn't mean her D will have the same results, I'd just feel better if I heard from those who are taking her brand and have good labs...also, there are some other brands, both those sold by her, and others. So..what do you take?? Any recommendations?

Thanks!

I use those 50K IU dry D3 daily at this time. My D labs have improved a lot.  She has both her brand and another--both made by the same company I believe. I looked online for other sources of 50K IU, and I did find this "other brand".  Her brand is made by a pharmaceutical co. with her brand placed on it. Nothing new with this practice, it happens with "store brands" on many food items, etc.  You'll likely only see the 2 brands easily found, both basically the same, except for the label.  I don't need iron supplements, but there are multiple types of iron. I would assume your doctor would have made a recommendation about which iron would be best for you--assuming you told him the type of iron you were using.  "Terrible labs" may not indicate a poor product, just low dosages or were you taking with your calcium citrate? If you took it at the same time as your calcium, you likely got very little benefit of the iron supplement. DAVE

Thanks Dave. I will give them a try. This has been very educational! Meanwhile, regarding the iron, I wasn't taking it with calcium or anything, but like Kelly said, it may have been a form I just didn't do well with. I seem to be doing okay with the stuff I take now...next labs will verify whether or not that is the case! Anyway, thanks, I think I'm going to try the vitalady brand!

I use the vitalady 50,000 IU D3.  There aren't many choices of brands if you want a big dose, and I need a big dose.  I don't want to take five pills of 10,000 IU each or ten pills of 5000 IU each.

Dry D3 is dry D3.  Any brand should work fine.

There could be several reasons her iron didn't work for you.  I assume you mean you took it but your iron level was still low?  There are a lot of types of iron and hers is carbonyl which most people absorb pretty well but some don't.  If you don't, that really does have nothing to do with whether or not her D3 will work for you.  I understand your nervousness, but it really is two totally different things.

She carries two other brands of 50,000 iu but if her brand works, I'm fine with trying it...I just wanted to hear from those who do, if they had good labs!

Yes I did mean I took it, but it was still low. In fact it went down so my doc said to try something else.
So, there are different forms of iron too?? Geeeeze!!!! I'm learning so much and it seems like over three years out I should NOT be this ignorant about my vits!! Maybe all this info will finally bring some stability to my labs. Good grief! LOL

Hmm... this sure explains a lot. Thanks again...

There are LOTS of different types of iron.  I never realized that before I had RNY and started learning about vitamins and stuff.  I would have figured iron was iron.  But no.  There is ferrous sulfate, ferrous gluconate, ferrous fumerate, carbonyl - which is what vitalady sells and usually works for most people, plus some others.

I use the Dry D3 from Bio Tech _-  I believe it is the same as her stuff, packaged for her.  I would be careful taking it daily though.  The stuff works really well and taking it daily might really skyrocket your labs.  IF you do, make sure you get your labs tested in 1 month to see what is going on because if you wait too long, they may be way to high.  I started at 36 and within 2 months of taking then 2 times per week I was up at 97.  Prior to that I was taking the prescription stuff for 2 years preop and only went from 16 to 36.  The stuff relaly works.  Then I went down a bit and went to 3 times per week where I stayed for almost 2 years and maintained around 100.  Then out of the blue, my levels skyrocketed up to greater than 150 - they couldn't even measure it - too high.  So, now I am  back at 2 times per week at 85.

As far as taking her iron - which one were you taking?  the 25mg chewables? or the 60mg capsules?  How many did you take? IF you took the chewables, did you take them with vitamin C? 200mg of C per 30mg of iron.  THe 60mg ones already have the C in them. You also need to take them atleast 2-4 hours away for all calcium and thyroid medication.  If your iron and ferritin levels were low, then you should have been taking up to 300mg per day to get your levels up.  IF you tried that with no success, then the next step is to add Heme iron - Proferrin. Also available at that website - 2-3 per day - broken in half and taken with calcium in addition to the tender irons.  If you take all of this and still no success, then you are probably a candidate for IV iron infusions but these 2 types of iron are the 2 best there are.

Hello,

Thanks for the info, that's very helpful. It's good to know it's THAT effective! I was wondering about my levels then going too high. But I do go for labs in a few months, maybe I'll schedule for next month tho. I heard that D doesn't get too toxic, but it's probably a good idea to check it all out...

As for the iron, I was taking the chewables, and even tried doing more, with no luck. Doc finally said try another form. Yes I did take them with C and apart from calcium. Kelly mentioned they may have just been the form I don't do well with. I did have to have the infusions PRIOR to surgery, I was already anemic. And then plumeted again after taking the chewables. So he switched me to a script strength and at 100 bux a pop I couldn't afford it so they suggested the kind I take now, which is an OTC brand of soft gel. It doesn't seem to upset my stomach at all, and I'm guessing the labs are okay because they didn't mention upping or switching. I will check when I go in...

Thanks again! You guys are great!

If you were taking the chewables - they probably weren't working because you weren't taking a high enough dose unless you were taking 10 or 12 of them a day.  People take up to 300mg of carbonyl iron at one time when there iron and ferritin level are low and then they are better off taking the capsules which I think actually work better because they have the necessary vitamin C in them.  It might be worth a try.  The capsules are 60mg each and you can take up to 5 at a time.  The OTC gel caps are pretty useless to us, we don't absorb anything in oil and if you are, I would be shocked. I can't see anyone absorbing something in oil  and not absorbing carbonyl.  To absorb the ferrous irons in oil, you need tons of acid in your stomach which just don't have after gastric bypass and if you are on a PPI - that makes it even harder for you to absorb it.  Many times doctors don't tell us things are bad because to them if we are in the normal range - even if by one point, they consider it normal.  Also, if you recently had an IV infusion, your levels will be good for awhile, but the trick is to take something good to keep them there rather than something you wont absorb and have them plummet faster.

You also might want to try take some Proferrin with the Tender irons - the proferrin are very strong and most absorbable iron there is.  Postops take 2 or 3 at a time - with there calcium - break them in half to absorb them better.  You take the carbonyl at night and proferrin in the morning and the combination usually works great for those with really tough absorbtion troubles. I Really think it is something you should look into.  If you were anemic preop, then I really don't think the OTC in oil is going to do anything for you = it is less affective than the prescription stuff too.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for the info. I'm going to double check my levels at the next labs. I just looked over my last two labs and they were still climbing pretty well so I think I might be okay. But if it turns out they aren't still in a good range after all then I will look into this further. I don't think the ones I take now are in oil...they are just in a capsule (which I seem to do best with) rather than tablet, but I will go double check! Anyway, thank you it was very helpful info!
Lisa
PS I had the infusions 3 1/2 years ago, preop...