Is 5,000 IU of Vitamin D enough for you?... It's not for me!

[HRTstudent]

So to continue our story of vitamin D, I recently got some blood work re-checks on Vitamin D 25-OH. If you recall, somewhere around 8 months ago I updated everyone that 10k IU of vitamin D brought me from the 30's to the 90's. So I decided to drop my dose in half since I got to that upper quartile goal. What happened?

Well, in about the same span of time it took me to go from the bottom of the range to the top, I went from the top to 40. That's with taking 5,000 IU everyday and maybe missing a handful of days. I take this stuff with me when I travel even. I'm a bit surprised.

The federal RDA for vitamin D is, I believe, only 600 IU. So, I expected my level to drop, but not THIS much! It is worth noting that I got less sunlight in general due to winter, but I never got a what might be considered a lot in the first place.

At this point, I think I will take the ol' 5k with breakfast and dinner for a month then drop it to an average of 7,500 IU per day.

What's your vitamin D update?

[AnabolicDoc]

That's pretty surprising. I was reading on UpToDate the other day that if your skin tone is light, just a few minutes in the sun can produce a significant amount of vit D. I think the daily RDA is 800 units, which is ridiculously low. The funny thing is just a few years ago the RDA was 400 units daily.

[ramble]

20 to 30,000 is about right for me. Keeps me in the 400 range.

[HRTstudent]

20 to 30,000 is about right for me. Keeps me in the 400 range.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the range I use is the standard 25OH D in the States which is 30-100 ng/mL.

[HRTstudent]

That's pretty surprising. I was reading on UpToDate the other day that if your skin tone is light, just a few minutes in the sun can produce a significant amount of vit D. I think the daily RDA is 800 units, which is ridiculously low. The funny thing is just a few years ago the RDA was 400 units daily.

This test result made me consider the possibility that even a little sunlight a few days per week is the ideal situation. In the winter it's not reasonable for this to happen with many people, unfortunately.

But I'm thinking that 15 minutes 4-5 times per week of mid-day sun is far more powerful than vitamin D supplements that are dosed anywhere close to the RDA. (A standard multivitamin with 400-800IU of vitamin D might as well have none!)

[kelkel]

Always love this Vit D talk. My BW is coming up in about a month so I'll compare and contribute here. Currently doing 50K IU Drisdol (D2) 1 pill per week and 5K IU D3 daily.

Side-bar. I'm going to get a Cholesterol Advanced Particle test (Lipo Profile) this time as well. Has anyone here had one of those done out of curiosity?

[LT75]

I am Vit D deficiant to begin with. I think my first level was 19 when I got it checked. Started taking 3000iu's a day of D3 12 weeks ago. Got it up to 22. Now I am taking 5000iu's a day. We will see what it will be at in 8 more weeks.

[phaedo]

Always love this Vit D talk. My BW is coming up in about a month so I'll compare and contribute here. Currently doing 50K IU Drisdol (D2) 1 pill per week and 5K IU D3 daily.

Side-bar. I'm going to get a Cholesterol Advanced Particle test (Lipo Profile) this time as well. Has anyone here had one of those done out of curiosity?

How come you supplement with D2, given it's poor conversion/absorbtion rate and your already supplementation of D3? ... just curious...

[austinite]

Doc has me on 5,000iu 5 days a week and 50,000iu D2 twice weekly.

@kelkel, also curious about lipo profile - never had that done.

[AnabolicDoc]

I am Vit D deficiant to begin with. I think my first level was 19 when I got it checked. Started taking 3000iu's a day of D3 12 weeks ago. Got it up to 22. Now I am taking 5000iu's a day. We will see what it will be at in 8 more weeks.

You might want to ask your doctor to prescribe you 50,000 units weekly until your level normalizes (preferably D3). Or try getting a few minutes of sunlight every day. There are many adverse consequences to low vit d, such as low test, hypertension, impaired calcium absorption, osteoporosis/osteopenia, etc.

[AnabolicDoc]

The federal RDA for vitamin D is, I believe, only 600 IU. So, I expected my level to drop, but not THIS much! It is worth noting that I got less sunlight in general due to winter, but I never got a what might be considered a lot in the first place.

You were right about the RDA. From webmd: "Guidelines from the Institute of Medicine increased the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin D to 600 international units (IU) for everyone aged 1-70, and raised it to 800 IU for adults older than 70 to optimize bone health. The safe upper limit was also raised to 4,000 IUs."

Also this is a great site for some info on vitamin d.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Vit...hProfessional/

They point out that even though the normal range is considered bw 30-74ng/ml, ideally levels should be over 50 and definitely under 125.

[Papiriqui]

Interesting Stuff!!!

[powerlifterty16]

i do 10k per day...15-20 if ive missed a day....and during colds 30

So to continue our story of vitamin D, I recently got some blood work re-checks on Vitamin D 25-OH. If you recall, somewhere around 8 months ago I updated everyone that 10k IU of vitamin D brought me from the 30's to the 90's. So I decided to drop my dose in half since I got to that upper quartile goal. What happened?

Well, in about the same span of time it took me to go from the bottom of the range to the top, I went from the top to 40. That's with taking 5,000 IU everyday and maybe missing a handful of days. I take this stuff with me when I travel even. I'm a bit surprised.

The federal RDA for vitamin D is, I believe, only 600 IU. So, I expected my level to drop, but not THIS much! It is worth noting that I got less sunlight in general due to winter, but I never got a what might be considered a lot in the first place.

At this point, I think I will take the ol' 5k with breakfast and dinner for a month then drop it to an average of 7,500 IU per day.

What's your vitamin D update?

[HRTstudent]

How come you supplement with D2, given it's poor conversion/absorbtion rate and your already supplementation of D3? ... just curious...

The D2 is prescription. Also called Drisdol.

Some guys are prescribed it because their doctors offer it or whatever. While it may be inferior, pharmacy companies cannot make any money off the D3 form... so for money reasons (from the perspective of the pharm industry) D2 is prescribed.

[kelkel]

How come you supplement with D2, given it's poor conversion/absorbtion rate and your already supplementation of D3? ... just curious...

Like HRT said, doc prescribed and it seems to work well for me. Insurance covers it so why not!

http://examine.com/supplements/Vitamin+D/

Doc has me on 5,000iu 5 days a week and 50,000iu D2 twice weekly.

@kelkel, also curious about lipo profile - never had that done.

Labcorp offers it. Called their NMR Lipo Profile. It's a more accurate way of determining risk for heart disease, stroke, etc. My cholesterol has been getting better and hopefully with the addition of Slo-Niacin (thnx Anabolicdoc) more improvements will be seen on BW next month. Figured why not get thorough!

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2007/mar2007_atd_01.htm

[HRTstudent]

I have no idea what your cholesterol is or how aggressively you treat it, but it seems appropriate to point out that cholesterol is very important to our bodies, especially the brain. I believe cholesterol makes up a majority of the dry weight of the human brain.

Also worth looking into the whole statins being worthless if you're into cholesterol management.

[Moparman]

Hmmm doc prescribed me 50000 iu of d3 twice a week. I have a script too. Insurance copay is $10

[kelkel]

I have no idea what your cholesterol is or how aggressively you treat it, but it seems appropriate to point out that cholesterol is very important to our bodies, especially the brain. I believe cholesterol makes up a majority of the dry weight of the human brain.

Also worth looking into the whole statins being worthless if you're into cholesterol management.

Absolutely right. Also the precurser to T. I'm on a non-statin as my cholesterol runs heriditarily higher. I'm not a fan of statins. I want to see how this lipo-profile plays out and possibly come off the non-statin as well.

http://www.betternutrition.com/lower...solutions/1225

[AnabolicDoc]

I've heard the argument that bc of the increasing prevalence of coronary disease despite widespread statin use that cholesterol management may not be as important in regards to the development of heart disease and atherosclerosis. I'm not sure if this is what is being referred to regarding statins being worthless. Can someone elaborate please?

[AnabolicDoc]

Guessing I should've probably read kel's link before my prior post. Just noticed it now.

[GotNoBlueMilk]

My baseline was 25. I started taking 10,000 and got it up to 35. A year later, and no improvement, I switched to sublingual 5,000. That got mylevel up to 55. The sublingual is something you may want to try if you are not absorbing an oral dose well.

[rockmon]

Hmm, interesting. I visited my TRT doc on Wednesday and she mentioned that I should be taking 4,000 - 8,000 IU's D3 per day. I will look at my BW once it comes back.

[FRDave]

I just got my blood results back today for D3 and went from 28 to 66 on a scale of 30-100 while taking 10,000iu daily.

Dave

[kelkel]

Guessing I should've probably read kel's link before my prior post. Just noticed it now.

Doc is doesn't seem like many people / docs run that test. Seems the more I read about the cholesterol controversy the more important that test becomes. Look forward to it.

[AnabolicDoc]

I've never even heard of it before but if I had to guess I would say that it's an assay of triglycerides, HDL, LDL, IDL, VLDL, and chylomicrons and chylomicron remnants. But this is just an educated guess and I will read up on it. Thanks.

[AnabolicDoc]

Always love this Vit D talk. My BW is coming up in about a month so I'll compare and contribute here. Currently doing 50K IU Drisdol (D2) 1 pill per week and 5K IU D3 daily.

Side-bar. I'm going to get a Cholesterol Advanced Particle test (Lipo Profile) this time as well. Has anyone here had one of those done out of curiosity?

Hey kel,

What happened with your cholesterol advanced particle test? What was the outcome?

[smilee2000]

So glad I found this thread. I just got back results and my Vit D is 32 (30-100) scale. Unbelievable as I thought I got enough sun in the Winter but apparently not. I have been on 5k D3 daily last couple of weeks but I am bumping it to 10k a day. In another thread I posted my blood results the other day and will update it when the rest of blood work comes in but I wanted to get in on this thread cuz I had no idea how important Vit D was until I got active in this forum and a vet told me to have it checked. This forum is now my new bible to keep my body in check. My Dr. sure as hell isnt doing it, he didnt even have it checked on my labs.

[kelkel]

Hey kel,

What happened with your cholesterol advanced particle test? What was the outcome?

NOT happy with it doc! Referring to my results that is. I'll make a thread on it sometime today if possible and post my results as well as how you interpret it.

Re Vit D and this thread. Just had that retested as well. Came back at 80 which I'm happy with. My D protocol is 50K IU prescription D2 once per week along with 5K D3 daily.

kel