What to take with vitamin D?

[hope32]

So my MS specialist told me several years ago that he advises all his MS patients to take 3000-5000 IU/day of vitamin D, so I have been, usually 4000. A friend just told me you're not supposed to take it by itself though because you won't absorb it properly, and that some things can hinder vit D absorption? I didn't find out all the details though so I figured I would ask here, knowing you guys would know! What should I be taking/not taking with this vitamin D? And if I've been taking it on its own, is it likely it hasn't been doing any good? My Vit D was tested this fall (for the first time) and it was at the very bottom of the normal range, which I found strange considering I've been on megadoses for several years.

[Bob698]

Get educated about suppliments.
More importantly, get educated about the suppliment industry.
For example, in the US suppliments are held to same exacting standards as fast food and snacks. I'm not kidding.
As far as the USDA is concerned, you can take whatever you want as long as it doesn't give you food poisoning. That's why that bottle of non-prescription pills doesn't cost 400 bucks.

Seriously, ask your doctor about this stuff. Be skepticle if the promises seem too good to be true. Do some digging and find out the proper dose of anything before you swallow it, then figure out if you can trust the company that sold it to you.

[Sequoia]

I'm not aware of any foods that are contraindicated with Vitamin D, but I'm not a health professional. Perhaps Tara will know.

Here's a list of drug interactions:

http://www.rxlist.com/vitamin_d-page3/supplements.htm

I just take my daily Vitamin D with whatever I'm having for lunch.

[Hawkeye]

I don't know if this is what was being referred to, but my research has shown that it is beneficial to take calcium to assist in Vitamin D utilization. Many believe, too, that Magnesium help with Calcium absorbtion.

For the past two years, I've taken 5,000 I.U. of Vitamin D, 1200 Mg of Calcium, and 400 Mg of Magnesium. I think the combination has been of benefit in reducing the fatigue that was laying me out. Even if it is the placebo effect, I'll take it, if it keeps on working!

[Sequoia]

No, it's the other way around. Vitamin D helps with calcium absorption/utilization.

http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info...lth/nutrition/

[Apple-]

Food based! Synthetics will go right through ya

[hope32]

Interesting! Thanks for the information.
And yep, I talked to my MS specialist about it, but like I said, *all* he said was to take a megadose 3000-5000 IU/day, that it wouldn't hurt and might help; he had no other information for me about it. It was a friend who's taking Vit D for other purposes who mentioned taking other stuff with it so I thought my well-educated MSWorld peeps might have more info for me.

[JerryD]

Hope,

Your doctor didn't presume to tell you that he would shoot you an IV of vitamin D, did s/he? That's usually 20,000 to 50,000iu's. Now, that's a megadose ! Any wonder why it wouldn't do any harm ?

I've been taking 5000iu's daily for a year and I am now in the middle of the safe range. I am going to keep on doing this until I am told to stop by my doctor. He checks my levels frequently. Your doc should do this every few months.

I don't know what you need to take with vitamin D . Sorry I haven't looked it up.


**Post broken into paragraphs by Moderator for easier reading. Many people with MS have visual difficulties that prevent them from reading large blocks of print.**

[hope32]

No, no IV. The megadoses he referred to were 3000-5000 IU/day which I guess is considered a megadose compared to the US RDA? He hasn't said anything about checking my vitamin D levels, but from what I'm reading on this board it seems like he probably should be. I should look at the paperwork for the blood work I get done routinely for Betaseron and see if Vit D is looked at there. It was my PCP who checked my vitamin D levels this fall, when I was having a bunch of weird symptoms that seemed like an MS attack yet my MRI showed no new lesions.

[Ted Hutchinson]

Human skin, if you lay naked under the midday sun and DON'T get sunburnt creates between 10~20,000iu of vitamin D3.

It doesn't seem sensible to me to think of a half/quarter of the vitamin D your body naturally produces if given the chance as a MEGA amount.

It's the action of UVB on the 7 dehydrocholesterol molecule near the surface of your skin that's involved.
Obviously 7-dehydroCHOLESTEROL is in the CHOLESTEROL family. So anyone with LOW cholesterol or who is lowering cholesterol through diet or taking cholesterol lowering medicines will also be reducing their ability to create vitamin d from sunlight. The amount of cholesterol in our skin tends to decline as we age so older people naturally have a lower ability to make vitamin d. In a similar way our ability to make MELATONIN (another natural anti inflammatory agent) also declines as we age.

The range of individual response to vitamin D supplements is around 100ng/ml difference between the lowest and highest responders so it's impossible to guess how much vitamin D any individual requires. Weight, diet, skin tone, cholesterol level all come into the equation as does where you live, Town/Country makes a big difference as traffic particulates (including aircraft exhaust) block UVB reaching ground level. So generally vit d levels are getting lower globally year on year.

The only way to be sure is to get 25(OH)D tested twice yearly until you are able to work out how much vit d your body requires to stay around 50~60ng/ml although I do appreciate some people may want to go a little higher.
In the UK one of our NHS pathlabs (CityAssays) offers postal Vit d blood spot tests for £25 or £30 International so if you can't find cheaper they may be a option.

[JerryD]

Bob698,
You can say what you want about the supplement industry, But, am I not correct that someone died this year after taking Gilenya ?
Don't get me started with this 'negative nellie' crap !
If you don't believe in the power of supplementing, that's your choice. But the MS news in the recent months have been discussing/adressing this vitamin D topic.
Yet, I have been supplementing vitamin C, B complex and calcium since the 1970's. Too bad i wasn't hip to the vitamin D debate, then. I have been in pretty excellent shape until being dx'd with PPMS.
So you can say that the supplements I have taken in the past were worthless. I never took any vitamin D until lately. But I rarely had a cold or the flu or a day of work lost because of illness ... until the MS dx.
Good luck to you

[Cindarelly]

I have been taking 5000 i.u and just had mine tested it was a 13 I had not been outside much.. but I had been out some.

SO I think a person can easily take 10000 a day.. I am now taking at least 20000 i.u and staying out doors as long as I can be out.. in the range of 30 min or so at a time.. a day.

I will have the dr re test in a few months. I do plan on lowering it soon. I think I will not go below 10000 again.

[JerryD]

Cindarelly,
If you are supplementing with 5000 iu's daily and you think you want to do 10,000 iu's daily, I think you need to give the supplements time to raise your levels.

Like all of the natural products, you need to give them time to work. I do not disagree you could raise your test numbers. But I would go slow. Do 5000 iu's for 6 months and get tested. Then if you think you need to increase your dose, go an added 5000 iu's daily to 10,000.

But I know that a conventional MD can go a lot higher by IV, so the higher dose isn't too much. But if you reach the safe zone you need to go on a maintenance dose. Good luck

[Cindarelly]

I have been taking D for a very long time at the 5000 dose. I had fallen behind I assume during a bad spell of not going out over a period of months.
( my assumption) I have to get some prior number from another work up.. (see what the dr is referring to as OK)