Vit D is involved in immune health as well as bone health. Beginning about a year ago I started taking 1000 IU a day 4-5 days a week in addition to the 400 IU in my multi. Last winter was the first in many years that I only had 1 cold for the winter--and that in late March. And after all that I was still deficient.

So all you gardeners who think you're getting Vit D from working out in the sun without sunscreen, maybe not. More Drs are taking notice and ordering blood tests.

And DH who has been taking even more Vit D than me was in the low low normal range, so she recommended that he also up his dosage to 3000 IU a day.

For what it's worth.

Tim and I have begun taking vitamin D too, and I think it may be keeping us healthier. At least, I hope it is.

Dawn

I took 1,000 iu of D twice a day. Vit D was in my Citrucal and my multi vitamin, and it was also in the Fosamax that I was taking for bone strength. I had to stop all forms of D for about three months. I got rid of the Fosamax (It had been 8 years). I stopped the D supplement, and now take the multi, and Citracal.

My doctor told me that Vitamin D is not regulated, and doctors are having a problem with the dosage. I told him what I was taking, and he said that I have no idea what I was taking. It could have been 20 times that because it is not regulated.

I think that D needs other vitamins to be absorbed. Do you also take Magnesium and Calcium?

I can really sympathize with you about having this problem. It takes awhile to get the help you need from a medication, and we don't know for sure what we are swallowing. Since it is not regulated, I hope that Citrucal and Centrum are using the correct dosage, but we don't know. Do you think your source of D is reliable?

Since I was taking too much and you and your husband are low, I wonder if you are taking the same product. Maybe what you are taking is going right through because of other ingredients in the vitamin. I think I would be tempted to get 3 or 4 brands and alternate. Also, isn't it in some foods?

I do know that if you periodically feel sick for a few minutes during the day, and that feeling goes away, then that is a symptom of an overdose. The sick feeling does not come with swallowing the vitamin.

Do you use a moisturizing lotion everyday that has a sun block in it?

Good luck.
Sammy

The Dr said to take D3 in divided doses, so will take with each meal and in 6 mo go back for another test. There is some D in commercial milk but I don't drink much, as it gives me sinus congestion. The only other source is a multi with 400 IU in it, the RDA, which many drs feel is inadequate. So we will see what happens in 6 months.

I found out last March that I have vitamin D deficiency.
A bone density test was taken (blood work) to check it out.

My Dr. advised taking Caltrate 2-3 times a day with meals and don't take it with any other medications. The vit. D adhears to other medicines and doesn't get absorbed in the body. She also suggested 15 mins. of sunlight each day.

Normally, I have much more than that as I'm sure most of you do. Don't wear hats, gloves or sunscreen. I usually get a very dark tan in the summer but by the time spring arrives it is gone.

Milk is a very good source of vit. D and sometimes I crave it. The Dr. suggested 2 percent milk, cottage cheese, Cheese and yogart, 3-4 times a day.

There are lights that are very similiar to sunlight that you can purchase. They help during the fall, winter months.

She also mentioned that the older you get the harder it is for your body to absorb vit. D. and maintain a healthy level.

I'm due for a check up next month so I hope mine is much better.

Teresa

Teresa, good luck. Hope your next test shows sufficiency.

I reported this to my allergist, and thought it was my new 15 grain bread that I like. When I said that I also was taking the Vitamin D, he said that was it. I stopped all vitamins for a couple of months (it takes time to get D out of your system), then when I restarted I never resumed the extra D.

About 3 months later when I went to my internist, he checked for D with my blood work, and it was at a high level. It was safe, but he said not to take anymore D supplements - that what is in Citracal D plus mag. and Centrum were sufficient.

Speaking of Citracal, did you all know that a serving is two pills?

That is bad advertising in my book. I didn't notice that early on for about 2 years.

Sammy

Tim has been exposed to so many people with flu at his job this year that it is not funny, but so far he has not come down with it. He usually gets a flu shot at work but missed it this year because he wasn't there the day of the flu shot clinic.

I should add that Tim is one of the healthiest and most fit people I know....he works out every day and takes lots of supplements, etc., and seldom gets sick. The swine flu has him really worried though....the D-FW area has had quite a few swine flu deaths and the latest was a man in his 50s who died Monday. Until recently, I had no idea vitamin D was considered an antiviral either.

As a breast cancer survivor I know a bit about the vitamin D/survival connection.

Adequate levels of vitamin D are helfpful in preventing a recurrence of breast cancer. One fairly recent study showed that what mattered was the vitamin D levels in a woman at the time of diagnosis. If a woman was deficient in vitamin D at the time of diagnosis, her cancer was 94% more likely to spread and she was 73% more likely to die within 10 years.

At the time I was diagnosed, they were not routinely testing for vitamin D levels, so I do not know if my levels were adequate then. However, my cancer did not spread, and it has been over 10 years and I am still here. So, I am going to make the assumption that because I was diagnosed with cancer in my late 30s, my body still might have had adequate levels of vitamin D then and that might be one reason I am a survivor.

The ultra-high dosage the doctor recommended for you has been proven to bring up your level more quickly than lower dosages of vit. D taken over a longer period of time, and it works for the majority of people who take it for a limited period. However, you cannot take that much for long and some doctors are not comfortable with recommending the mega-dosages.

It surprises me that so many of us gardeners have vitamin D level issues because I bet we eat more veggies than the average non-gardener and we are out in the sun a lot. I do use sunscreen strategically (meaning I spend some time in the garden without it) because I want my body to absorb some sun in order to help with vitamin D levels.

Vitamin D is vitally necessary for health and a deficiency in it is linked to many health problems, but it doesn't get a lot of attention most of the time---certainly not the same attention vitamin B or C or E get, for example. It puzzles me, though, that so many people are deficient in Vitamin D nowadays. A lot of organic food and alternative and integrative medicine proponents believe one reason is because so much of our foods are processed nowadays and also that conventionally-grown produce has much lower levels of all nutrients than it used to. I wonder, though, if something in our diets is interfering with the absorption of vitamin D.

There is a new study out showing 1 in 5 children are seriously deficient in vitamin D and I bet we can blame that on diet.

Dawn

I did a web search and found one site that recommended 5,000 IU a day for healthy adults over the wintertime, and just today got a medical newsletter that recommended 4,000 IU, so I'm certainly not going to worry about getting too much at 3,000 IU a day.

Tim just upped his to 5000 IUs a day because he's so worried about the swine flu. Everyone who works for him has already had it...or their wives or kids have had it....so I think if he was going to come down with it, he already would have.

That is odd about the bathing interfering with the production of Vit. D---guess it is one of those unintended consequences.

Cod liver oil! Yuck. I'm glad it comes in gel caps and I would't take it from a spoon either. I remember that from our childhood.

Dawn