I had a physical a couple of days ago. (BP 110/80, PSA normal, cholesterol not great but the doc wasn’t too concerned about it, heart and lungs sound fine.) I’ve heard, anecdotally, that doctors tend to obsess about vitamin D and calcium up here. Nurse Roomie looked up the vitamin D numbers in her book, and I’m either below the recommended level (ng/ml), or at the lower end, depending on which level the number refers to. Doc’s given me a prescription for 50,000 units of vitamin D once a week. Reading a little on vitamin D, it apparently has many more benefits than I was aware of.
Do you pay attention to vitamin D, other than noting that it’s in your milk?
(Aside: Roomie and I were talking about catfish for dinner today. Wiki says catfish is a good source of vitamin D. Other fatty fish are as well, and I like the ones they listed.)
While searching for an answer to my chronic fatigue I read the book The Vitamin D Cure. It seemed to be well researched and well documented and I found it compelling, so I upped my daily intake.
The same thing happened to me last year at my annual physical. I took the 50,000 unit capsules once a week for several months which was supposed to boost my system into making it for itself (I think???), but it didn’t really do any good. This year my Vitamin D levels were even lower. The standard being 30 - 100, and my levels at 20. Now I take 2000 units (otc) every day. I haven’t ever noticed any sort of difference in taking them or not.
I live in SC, USA, so I’m not too worried about my D levels, honestly. I mainly aim for the other direction - trying not to burn my skin off over the summertime.
I will say, if you’re chronically fatigued, check out your thyroid, and also check your vitamin b complex levels. B6 and B12 are water-soluble, so it’s really difficult to get too much, and it can actually perk people up - unlike D, which doesn’t really help that much if you’re just a little low.
B12 was the first thing we fixed. Then potassium. Then iron. Then I tried D on my own (although my nutritional doc later said that I was low and that 40-60% of North Americans are low.)
We’ve cut back on the B6 because I have Benign Essential Muscle Tremors and the B6 seems to aggravate it.
Thyroid tests did not indicate a problem.
Then my current doc tried anti-depressants. No help and I kind of thought that they made things worse.
I think I have *finally *turned a corner with Magnesium, although I am not yet feeling 100%. I am so very much better than I was a year ago though. I have more good days than bad now.
Which is not to say that the other things weren’t needed - they were low too.
(In case you’re wondering how a man could be so low on so many things… see long story of why they removed my stomach here.)
To answer the OP - After testing my vitamin D levels, my GP started me at 5000IU/day for a few months. He was very happy with my levels at the next test, and dropped me to 1000IU/day. Turns out that didn’t keep me in the range he wanted, so I’ve been on 2000IU/day for the last few years.
(He also has me on a B complex and on fish oil. On my own (but with his knowledge), I take glucosomine.)
I never worried about it, figuring my body would produce enough given exposure to sunlight. But recently got a prenatal blood screen done and I’m low so have to take supplements. Seems the combination of always wearing sunscreen and a job that sees me indoors during daylight hours has seen me missing the recommended 2-3 hours across a week. From what I’ve read food contributes only a small amount of the required Vit D intake.
My doctor does the same thing. The general belief seems to be that useful levels of Vitamin D are higher that most people can achieve without supplements, but that was called into question with this report.
I continue to take supplements, but I am not sure it helps anything.
