Why would my vitamin D drop so drastically in the summer of all times?

My vitamin D has always been wonky, even pre-surgery I was on a supplement.   Pre-surgery it ranged from 15-40 and I always took vitamin D, albeit in pretty small doses.

At my 6 month visit, my D was hovering around 35, and I upped my daily intake to 10,000iui  (twinlabs dry D3).   I take a ton of calcium with D as well, so its probably closer to 12,000 by the end of each day.   

My NUT called today saying my vitamin D dropped drastically to 12 on my labs taken last week.  Given how much I'm already taking, she didn't think the normal 50,000 once a week made any sense (no kidding?)

Oddly, though, my ferritin which has been steadily falling since surgery doubled in the last three months, responding to my increase of carbonyl iron.  And my B-12 was over 2,000.   So its not like ALL my absorption is down, just D, in the summer while I'm getting plenty of sunshine in addition to never missing my plentiful doses of D.

My Magnesium was down just a tinge, everything else was good.   

Anyone have any clue why it would drop so much, so quickly?

What type of Vitamin D are you taking? If its a prescription one it isnt the best kind of you. You need to buy a Dry Vitamin D. I personally take 5,000 MG every day. which works for my levels right now.

I take two of the twinlabs dry D3 5,000mg every day -- not the prescription, not the kind in oil, not the D2

Bio tec makes a 50,000 iu vitamin d3 dry.  I get it from amazon.  100 capsules for $20.00.  Small and easy to swallow.

Thank you, I will look for it.

Do you buy the "capsules"?   I want to make sure they are not the oil based gel caps.

It's very common after RNY.  There are three spots in the small intestine where vitamin D is absorbed, and in a typical RNY, two of those spaces are bypassed.  So now there is only one spot instead of three where you can absorb it, so a lot less of what you take gets absorbed.

According to a lot of research, we need our D level to be at least 80.  Most post ops that I've talked to have to take at least 10,000 IU D3 a day to maintain a level of 80, and many need more than that.  For instance, I have to take 50,000 IU D3 three times a week to keep my level around 100.  I've talked to three people that could maintain a level of 80 on just 5,000 IU D3 a day and no one that could do it on less than that.  And I have talked to a LOT of people about their labs and vitamins.

Okay, so I'm just not taking enough.   Is there a prescription for the 50,000IU, or should I just take 5 (ugh so many pills) of those 5,000's I've been taking?   Clearly I wasn't good at maintaining D before surgery, and so I'm going to deal with this issue if I don't up my dosing.

There is a script for 50,000 IU D2 but not 50,000 IU D3, and you definitely want D3.  D2 has to be converted to D3 in the body and it takes a lot of D2 to make a little D3.

You can order 50,000 IU D3 capsules from vitalady.com, which is what I take.  Or you can take five of the 10,000 IU D3 pills you've been taking, whichever you prefer.

Thanks Kelly.  I have to order the bigger units of Carbonyl Iron too.... so I'll order both when my current stash depletes.   It would be nice not to take so many of the same stinking pills every day!!!!