[Feel the Burn]

Is Vitamin D availabe OTC ?,, I swear I am just coming apart daily,, every nerve in my body feels like a live wire,, the tremors are getting worse, but blood test show no increased SED rate,, CPK is in normal range, 99 on a 0-200 scale, I dont know what my D level is, it was low in the past, thank you mrs D,, your very knowledgeable

[mrsD]

Yes, D3 is OTC... pick a capsule version, or liquid so it is absorbed better. (I don't think the dry ones are absorbed as well)

There are many many available now:
http://www.iherb.com/search?kw=d3#p=1&sr=0

If you know your D3 level, use 1000 IU / 10ng increase to figure out your dose. The research says most people can take 2000IU safely without a test. But if you don't get any sun at all, I'd start with the newer 5000IU daily.

Both hubby and I use the 5000IU in fall/winter/spring and none in summer.

[drswami]

I am wondering what to make of these B-12 blood test results. All taken this year. None of the doctors i have seen have any idea. they all think the 2nd reading was a mistake, but i figure if i was taking 20,000 per day for three weeks it could well have been correct. Since the Nov 23 test i have started on 5000 a day again, on an empty stomach.

My main interest here is that even though I was consuming 1000mcg per day for the past six months, the level has dropped. Any insight would be much appreciated.

March 17............162 pg/ml
Started talking 20,000mcgs per day. sometimes without food

April 7 ................5297pg/ml
Took 1000mcg per day with food (a different brand)

June 2.................879pg/ml
Continued taking 1000mcg per day with food

November 23........849pg/ml
Started on 5000mcg per day again.

[mrsD]

We had a poster here, and I have seen on the net a couple of times comments from a lab technician in the US that most testing places (at least here) cannot go up past 2000.

What may have happened to you is that when you started, with that 20mg daily, you flooded the serum, which then went to storage both in the liver and spinal fluid, and when that was normalized, your readings dropped. If you had depleted your liver and CNS you would have had symptoms and been in a bad way. It takes time to recover the levels in those two places.

Many informational sites say that our livers' if in good shape, can store enough B12 to last 5 yrs. This is because we evolved in an ice age where food was hard to get sometimes. Being hunter gatherers we had lean times and rich times.

[drswami]

thanks mrs D.

what do you think of the fact that the level has dropped even though i have been taking 1000mcg's per day over the last six months?

does this mean that none of it is being absorbed.

a gastroenterologist i saw said it was too late to find out why my b-12 count was initially so low, because i had already started supplementation.

is he correct?

[mrsD]

Yes, basically if you get that low there is only one reason...
failure of intrinsic factor.

Readings in the 800's are not that bad. Sometimes the real answer eludes us. Just do what you need to do. I think 5mg daily is plenty, for most people.

See what happens over 3 or so months.

[nanmiya]

Hello, no one seems to have posted here for a while, but I'd like to ask a question here as it seems to be the appropriate spot.
My Primary is going to test me for my B12 and D levels when I have my physical in January. (about 1 month from now.) I have been taking a B complex and multivitamin as well as a few other supplements for two years, and D3 since this summer, and it does not seem to relieve symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. I am wondering if the supplements can mask a b12 deficiency when I am tested? I read somewhere that Folate in the supplements can mask anemia while neuropathy progresses. Should I stop taking the supplements in the month leading up to the test? Or should I just continue and thereby know whether I am absorbing the vitamins or not?