Recent vitamin D media will have you wanting to throw your vitamin D away… BUT I encourage you to read this first.
The media is notorious for making things be the cure all one day and death provoking the next.
Let’s use our brains here on this one…
1) There’s a lot of data to support vitamin D
2) You can get a test to know if you actually need it or not and you can retest your D levels to see where you’re at.
3) You can try it and see if your symptoms (joint pain, hormone imbalances, fatigue, weight gain to name a few) improve
4) No supplement is a cure all – and they are not like clothes, one sized fits all when it comes to dosing
Like any supplement out there – you have to assess if it’s going to benefit you or not.
Test and not guess to look at progress (same goes for any supplement).
Have I seen cases of excess vitamin D?
Yes.
Is it as life threatening as mentioned in the media?
Not in the cases I’ve seen with oral supplementation.
Injectable vitamin D has shown to have higher rates of reactions and I have seen this in my practice as well.
The point here – know the dosage you need and if you’re questioning it – get your D tested.
Is there controversy on D testing and accuracy?
Yes.
So what do you do here?
Testing is better than guessing completely.
What have I seen in my practice?
Many people who have low vitamin D levels on blood tests feel better with 2-5,000 IU daily dosing.
I’ve had a couple clients mis-read directions I’ve written and dosages on bottles, especially liquid dropper forms.
The highest level of vitamin D I’ve seen in the blood was over 300.
This was in the case of a woman taking a dropperful a day vs a drop of vitamin D a day.
She realized it, we tested and stopped the D.
Great news – the woman is still alive and doing well.
I do not recommend high dose (over 5,000 IU of vitamin D) for prolonged periods of time unless someone has consistently low D.
Consistently low D requires monitoring and management of symptoms.
There are genetic mutations that can keep D from being absorbed properly however, there are no genetic or regular tests to tell you how much D you actually need.
So herein lies the problem.
Another thing to note…
…sometimes elevated calcium can go with rising D levels.
You stop the D and keep retesting to see how the levels change.
Sometimes it takes a while.
The most important thing is to stay on top of your levels by testing 1-2 times a year and assessing what works best for you.
As with anything that’s deemed “good or bad” in the media the most important thing is to discern if it’s “good or bad” for you.
Medicine – natural or conventional is not a one sized fits all situation.
Everyone is different – this is why it’s key to track your symptoms and approach anything you adjust from food to supplements as your own research study.
The more you’re connected to your body and how it responds to your interventions the better you’ll be at determining what’s helping or hindering you.
Feel like you’re not sure if you could figure out if something is helping you or not?
This is where having a guide, a doc like me, can help you along the way.
If you’re looking for a guide to help you learn more about your body to get ahead of the changes that show up with aging – click the link below and let’s chat.
Here’s to discerning what works for you,
Dr. J Krause
