Vit D was at 17 Rhumey Dr. Recommed up to 10,000 a day I took 6000 for six months. Level of Vit D rose to 55.

fat soluble vitamins are notoriously difficult to keep levels up with replacements.

Just wondering though, when and why did Vit D suddenly become a big thing? Seems like just about everyone is low in it, but was it always that way? Is it a modern life thing, a modern diet thing? And do all the people who are deemed to have low levels really need replacement? How have the ideal levels been worked out anyway? Not that long back Vitamin B complex was the big thing for replacement. The cynic in me wonders just a little bit whether any of the current focus on Vit D is being driven by companies making the stuff.

Thanks for the discussion I have low D and just started D3 regimen that clearly is insufficient.

One reason we are low in Vitamin D is that we don't get the sun that we used to get. We are encouraged to wear sunscreen all of the time. We have so much smog, etc. blocking the sun rays that we don't get as much. Also, my dr. told me that with these diseases we will always be low on D without supplements. I think it is something they found out in recent years. Vitamin D3 as other vitamins are so cheap that the drug companies wouldn't get rich on them like a lot of other pills.

Just some thoughts.

Possi

thanks jay, that sounds like me.

starting the 10,000 IU today. will stay on that 1-2 months. then retest. since that's what brought my numbers up 10 points in a month. once i'm up. will see if 7000 IU daily will end up being my maintenance dose.

what we know: 10,000 raised it up 10 points in a month. 5000 lowered it 20 points in 5 months (4 points a month). hence 7000 could do it. time will tell.

just seems like some of us need more to maintain are levels than the rest of the population. i too have wondered if its an absorption thing.

the doctor yesterday made a good point for me. with a fatty liver, that may be one of the places where things are not being processed as they should be.

all good points to remember.

1. i do find i need a pretty high fiber diet to keep things going.

2. i am on fish oil, though had this problem before that, so......

3. am on magnesium now. and suspect i did need it. started it for the constipation. but funny thing happened along the way; the calf and foot cramps disappeared.

4. chronic gut and systemic inflammation. that could be the unifying theme for many of us!

will read these in more detail. thanks for the links

i've wondered that too.

i think currently this may be the definitive review:

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13050&page=R1

quite long (over 1000 pages) but the chapters pertaining to all of this can be skimmed through pretty quickly.

this is where i thought i was pushing things with the 5000 IU daily, but i think some of us just need more to maintain things.

this is what i told the first endocrinologist that didn't want to treat the hypothyroidism (now being treated by another endocrinologist) or the low vitamin D (now being treated by most of my doctors):

if i were feeling great, i wouldn't worry about the borderline high or low stuff. but when i feel like crap and worry about losing my career, then we gotta try things. doing nothing is for me worse than trying things and having them fail. at least failures can be checked off a list as something tried so we can keep trying til we find what works.

i'm not sure which of the supplements is most beneficial, but when my doctors started me on the various supplements, little by little i felt better and better between flares, D included, so i figure they must be doing something right. and i don't think its one smoking gun. i think for me its all cumulative. every little bit seems to help.

we've been doing this now for 4 years and are still trying to find the steady state. do feel i'm getting closer, as in 10,000 daily was an excess and 5000 daily isn't enough.

decided after a lot of reading that i'd prefer the daily D3 vs the weekly D2 megadoses. at first that was hard to do as OTC pills didn't come in doses much higher than the 400 or 800 IU. now you can easily get 5000 IU pills, maybe even higher. and pretty cheaply too. my doctors felt this was a good plan. and since blood work is cheap and easy, anything that can be monitored readily this way is worth doing.

i know i'm supposed to wear sunscreen, but other than it in my face moisturizer, i really don't unless i'm going to be out all day which i rarely am. so i get pretty tan in the summer, and still it goes down then without the supplements. not too much smog up here either. but i do think you're right about these diseases making us use it faster than the rest of the population.

its an interesting discussion for sure.

this article has an interesting speculative hypothesis that low vitamin d levels may protect against excess phosphorus - http://suppversity.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/health