Vitamin D question (Kelly)

When it comes to buying Vitamin D. Is it best to go with 5000 IU or is it ok to take 10,000? These are taken daily correct?

 And what about the ones that also have Vitamin K in them?

I'm shopping around for more and am trying to figure out which is the best deal for my money.

Thanks for your help!

Well, the best to go with really depends on the dose you need.  What's your vitamin D level currently?

Vitamin D can be taken daily but doesn't have to be.  It's a fat soluble vitamin so we store it in our bodies.  I take 50,000 IU D3 three time a week.

Most post ops seem to need at least 10,000 IU per day to maintain a good vitamin D level (at least 80).

I have never seen vitamin D supplements with vitamin K in them.  I guess if you need to take a vitamin K supplement too, then that would come in handy.  Most post ops don't seem to need extra K, though.

The best deal for your money would probably be the 50,000 IU D3 capsules from vitalady.com.  If you need 5,000 IU per day, then you could take one of those every ten days - but it would be unusual if that was enough.  You probably need at least 10,000 IU per day, which means you could take the 50,000 IU capsules every five days.  If you only need to take it once or twice a week, that means a bottle would last you a really long time.

I had my blood work done yesterday and have an appointment with my PCP on Monday and will know more then. I'm just trying to wrap my head around all this. It's so confusing to me.

They may not have your vitamin D level back that fast.  But if you want to go ahead and order some, I would get the 50,000 IU Tender D3 capsules from vitalady.com.  It's about $25 for 100 capsules and most people seem to need two or three a week, which  means one bottle would last you close to a year.  You can adjust the dose, take more or less as needed, but that's probably the best deal money-wise.  Also, they are very small capsules so easy to take and since most people don't need that much every day, it cuts down on the number of pills you need to take.

Good afternoon Kelly.  Like everyone else I've said a pray and have my fingers crossed for you.

When you say everyone should have their Vit D level at 80 post-op are you speaking just about women?  I saw my surgeons PA (15 yrs experience) yesterday on my 1 year anniversary.  He said my Vit D level was fine even thou it shows at 52.2.  The lab report "Reference Range" shows 30.1 - 100 ng/mL.  The report also has a short guide that shows:  Deficiency    100 ng/mL

Thanks for all your help.

Jim

Nope, I'm talking about everyone, men, women, RNY folks and people that have not had any WLS.  That's based on information from the Linus Pauling Institute at the Oregon  State University.

The "reference range" on lab reports does not mean that that is the range you should be in for good health.  Labs come up with their reference ranges by tested a number of "apparently healthy" subjects, usually employees of the lab, and then figuring out an average of what most "apparently health test subjects" tested at.  All the reference range of 30-100 means is that many of their test subjects were below 80.

The recommendation from the Linus Pauling Institute, however, is based on studies that found people with vitamin D levels below 80 were more likely to have osteoporosis, heart disease, some types of cancer, and other nasty things.

Perhaps your surgeon's PA has not read that research or perhaps he has other reasons to think 52 is an adequate vitamin D level.  I don't know.

Thanks a lot for the quick response and as usual I believe you are right on.  I've only been taking 2,000 daily dose of D3.  What to you suggest and also how long will it take for me to increase my Vit D level to 80?

For some reason when I used the under (deficiency 20) and the over (Toxicity 100) symbols it doesn't show anything in between what i type.  The other two are Insufficiency 20-30 and Sufficiency 30-100.  Crazy.

Thanks again, Jim

If you're at 52 on only 2,000 IU a day, I'd probably double that or go to 5,000 IU a day and I would expect you'd be at 80 in a month or two, probably.   The amount people need really varies - a few people are OK on just 5,000 IU a day, while some need four or five times that much.  I have to take 50,000 IU three times a week which works out to about 28,000 IU a day to maintain a good level.

I also thought I'd mention, many sources (including the Linus Pauling Insitute and the Vitamin D Council) do not think being over 100 is toxic.  They say something like over 200 or over 250 MAY be toxic.  So I would not panic if your level gets a bit over 100.