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To MrsD:

I just got back from my new doctor getting the confirmation that I do NOT have diabetes. However, she implored me to take a prescription amount (a very large dosage) of Vitamin D. She showed me my level and it was only "15" whatever that means.

She says its very low -this despite me taking some Vitamin D supplements already. I feel she is really onto something here. Still, I asked her to lower the prescription dosage some and then raise it later, because I fear taking such high levels of anything might be too much too fast.

So, I will be taking 5000 mg of vitamin D per day and then return in 2 months to get my levels read.

Does anyone here know if my Vitamin D levels (of 15) is really a concern?
Please help. I appreciate any advice.

On a positive note, I feel this doctor is really trying to help me, and indeed, it seems she already found something that many other doctors have overlooked, including 2 neurologists.

Hi Jesse,

I think you mean 5000 IU -- not mg.(?) As long as it's D3 (and not D2) which can be gotten OTC, you should be on the right track. There's a higher (mega)dose doctors sometimes prescribe, but IME it's usually D2, which isn't recommended anymore.

Vitamin D: A Rapid Review

Doc

--on a blood test is pretty low, though not the lowest I've ever heard of, even on this board.

Still, the low end of "normal" range on most serological tests these days is about 30, with a high of about 100. Many researchers are now saying the 30 is too low and something approximating 70 or so would be more optimal--this is definitely an area of ongoing research.

It is thought that both the modern tendency to stay out of the sun and use lots of sunscreen to help allay skin cancers (Vitamin D is produced through chemical reaction in our dermal layers upon exposure to certain wavelengths of sunlight), as well as our tendency in the modern world to simply be outside less (and in front of computer screens more), and our increasing tendency to be somewhat deficient, through consuming the "standard American diet", in calcium and magnesium may be contributing to lower D levels among the populace.

Take a look at our Vitamin D reference thread (lots of articles/papers/studies):

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/showthread.php?t=1448

I don't know what type of Vitamin D it is, I hope it is the right type. The idea here, is to get my levels up and normal. It seems that my doctor infers (not actually said) that this deficiency may have some serious effect on my PN and nerves in general. I found several web articles where Vitamin D is associated with PN, and a few where the vitamin D therapy actually helped healed pn victims by a huge amount. Below is one of the more promising ones, though whether this is a credible article or not is still debatable. It seems real enough though as it is pub-med I believe.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23304571

Obviously, this caught my interest. Though I'm not diabetic, I hope I get some of the similar healing effects that the person in the linked article did. Surely, the low D level I have, must be having some bad effect on me, so taking the replacement supplement should help some. I have not gotten the vitamin D from my pharmacy yet. Later, I'll post here what type and kind it is, as well as how I feel after a couple of weeks of taking it.

Question: Why is the "D2" type of Vitamin D NOT good anymore?


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Please read other posts here.

I am on an iPHone and have to remain brief.
Anyone reading posts here to learn would know about
VitD by now.
VitD2 does not work much at all in humans.

Your goal is 50 at testing minimum. I tell all newbies about
VitD testing when they first post here.

Read your labels carefully . VitD OTC is D3.
Rx from a Rx from a doctor is usually D2.

5000 IU D3 is a proper dose daily to raise you to a
level of 50.

See you in Sept. this is easy and inexpensive for you
to do. We have had posters here who have reduced
pain by fixing this.

The (quite lengthy) answer is right there in the article I referenced, and in those posts MrsD mentions. Use the advanced search facility, Keyword: "vitamin", and select titles only in the drop-down. Then just look for the threads about vitamin D.

Doc

PN for me has changed my life and my wife and children.With the knowledge I have learned here and reading thousands of like minded posts,I have been able to live a somewhat normal life. Although I still suffer horrible pain from time to time, sometimes for a week or more. My success to combating the pain was all found here and to mrsD which literally saved my life.I have come to terms with this PN and know I probably will never be the normal person I was. The vitamins and supplements I take every day have improved my life 10 fold. All the healing advise I got was from this board. I can only speak for myself and it has worked for me so far but it took months and months and months,but I am slowly getting better. Although I am still on painkillers I have gone 2 days without one. Which to me is nothing short of a miracle. I am not going to let this kill me, taking 10 days off to go to the beach and take the boys deep sea fishing and do nothing on the beach. I pray for all and just know that it can get better and never give up no matter how bad it gets. God Bless.

Hi jesse
I was told by my nutritionist optima levels are between 40-60. My levels were 31,she told me to take 2000 a day. I took 5000 a day for over a yr. My levels only went up to 32. Don't worry abou taking too much ur levels are way too low. If ur Dr gives u a rx take it!
u can take up to 10,000 iu on ur own. Low vit D, can cause osteoporosis, bone pain, cancer among others! Hope this helps

Well, yep - I was in for a big surprise. I got from my pharmacist the prescription they ordered for me. It is only 4 pills!!!

They are 50,000 units of Vitamin D2. I am supposed to take 1 every week, for 4 weeks. Obviously, I am afraid to take such a megadose of this, but it would only be 1 pill every week NOT day, so that's a big relief. However, I'm told my so-called natural level of Vit D is probably more like a 9 or 10, since I had been taking a multivitamin with D in it already for some time.

This is also some evidence that I have an undiagnosed condition that stops me from absorbing normal levels of vitamin D, though we don't know what that is just yet.

I figure that such a low level can't be good. So I plan on taking the prescription as ordered, I just hope I don't react badly to it.

Please go to the vitD thread at our vitamin forum here.

It has vitD video in the title.

D2 just does not work well in humans. I have links
explaining why. You can find D2 new findings on
Google too. D3 is not approved by FDA as a drug..
it is an OTC supplement instead.

I cannot go into detail now but this information is
available on NeuroTalk.

5000IU of OTC D3 daily should get you in range within
3months. It is very inexpensive too.

There is not much VitD in food.
You need 1000IU D3 for every ten points to raise.

Humans are designed to make D from sunlight. And
BTW VitD is not a vitamin... It is hormone.