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High daily doses of vitamin D3?

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
Somebody has asked me the following. I thought I would throw it out here and pass on any feedback that came back:

I was just wondering if anyone has any info on vitamin D3. I've attended somebody who has prescribed megadoses of this. He claims he can cure me [of ME] but I a bit concerned about side-effects. I'm just wondering has anyone any experience of vitamin D3

Edited to add:
requester said:
Started on 30,000 units daily and now up to 70,000 daily.

Have been assured no toxicity at this level but I am wary of this advice.
 
Last edited:

Sushi

Moderation Resource Albuquerque
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19,935
Location
Albuquerque
The question is: what are the megadoses he is talking about? Some might say a megadose was 5,000 IU; someone else might say 20,000 IUs. I am on a protocol from an MD that includes 10,000 IUs. This will give me a lab score of about 100 for Vit D 25 (the usual test). Edit: my calcium is normal.
 

Dolphin

Senior Member
Messages
17,567
The question is: what are the megadoses he is talking about? Some might say a megadose was 5,000 IU; someone else might say 20,000 IUs. I am on a protocol from an MD that includes 10,000 IUs. This will give me a lab score of about 100 for Vit D 25 (the usual test).
Thanks. I have asked them.
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
Somebody has asked me the following. I thought I would throw it out here and pass on any feedback that came back:
Do blood tests indicate that this person needs a mega dose of D3? Cure them of what? And they need to be sure to get their calcium levels checked as Vitamin D can push the levels up too high and that is dangerous.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
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5,524
Location
U.K
they need to be careful with Vit D as it acts as a hormone in the body. If they have underlying bacterial infections such as Lyme or Cpn it can cause herxheimer reactions - particularly reported in people with Cpn.

My Dr advised against it as levels of 1.25 oh were normal, but the regular test was lowered - this could drive inflammation. I didn't believe them so took about 3,000 iu a day for about 5 days and sure enough I got a massive increase in inflammation - including severe joint pain.

On the other hand, some years ago Dr Myhill prescribed it for me and it really helped my cognitive issues.
 

ErdemX

Senior Member
Messages
113
Location
Istanbul
There is a Megadose Vit D protocol found by Dr. Coimbre for MS and other autoimmune diseases and I think there should be a discussion about it here in PR. In his protocol, daily doses are extremely high (like 80.000 IU) and while the doctor monitors some blood levels, the dose might be kept that high for years. He claims that he has a very high success rate in stopping (not curing) MS, but those are only his claims.

The long video link with subtitles are below, and it explains the approach throughly..


As I haven't been getting any improvement with my current treatment, I just wanted to give it a chance. I've been taking 80.000 IU daily for 4 weeks now.

I never had a worsening or more inflammation from it. Actually, this doctor thinks that those megadoses should decrease and control inflammation driven by immune system. But so far, I can't say I'm any better. I will test my PHT and calcium levels and probably carry on one more month.
 
Messages
42
they need to be careful with Vit D as it acts as a hormone in the body. If they have underlying bacterial infections such as Lyme or Cpn it can cause herxheimer reactions - particularly reported in people with Cpn.

My Dr advised against it as levels of 1.25 oh were normal, but the regular test was lowered - this could drive inflammation. I didn't believe them so took about 3,000 iu a day for about 5 days and sure enough I got a massive increase in inflammation - including severe joint pain.

On the other hand, some years ago Dr Myhill prescribed it for me and it really helped my cognitive issues.
I have been using Solgar Vit D3 for some time but you do have to be very careful not to overdose on Vit D like Justy says,
 

barbc56

Senior Member
Messages
3,657
Do blood tests indicate that this person needs a mega dose of D3? Cure them of what? And they need to be sure to get their calcium levels checked as Vitamin D can push the levels up too high and that is dangerous.

Yes! I developed kidney stones. I am also susceptible to them, however, this can also happen by taking too much of D3. So I now supplement with very low dosages of D3. I can't take calcium supplements but am suppose to increase my dietary calcium.

Edit.

You can have normal or low blood levels but a 24 hour urine test can show elevated calcium if your kidneys leak calcium.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
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5,524
Location
U.K
Your doctor should be checking your 25(OH)D to check your Vitamin D levels. The 1.25 -D test is used when calcium levels are high. You can have a normal 1.25 -D test and have low levels of 25(OH)D.
I may be confused, it may be the other way round. I can never remember which si which.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
I may be confused, it may be the other way round. I can never remember which si which.
I checked - my 25 OH was low - at 10.6, while my 1.25 was normal range at 34.6. I was told not to supplement as it would raise inflammation and this is exactly the experience I had- I was in agony when I started on Vit D at only 2-3,000 iu a day. But maybe this is because I have Cpn?

Vitamin D3 has also been shown to play an important role in host defense against pathogens by promoting the production of the human antimicrobial peptides, cathelicidins (LL-37). These cathelicidins have been found to have broad spectrum antimicrobial activity, showing activity against a variety of pathogens.
While cathelicidins (LL-37) have been shown to have little or no direct effect against C. pnuemoniae, Vitamin D3 has been shown to disrupt the mechanism that the intracellulari forms of C. pneumoniae use to prevent normal celluar apoptosisi, and it is believed that Vitamin D3 is active against the intracellular forms of C. pneumoniae through this mechanism. The resulting die-off effects from Vitamin D3 can be quite large, and symptoms of secondary pophryia can also be dramatically increased. Vitamin D3 levels should therefore be increased very slowly when treating a C. pneumoniae infection!


http://www.cpnhelp.org/vitamin_d_1
 

Mij

Messages
2,353
@justy that could be the case, but when I took 3000/4000iu's a day for over one year my 1.25 Hydroxy went above normal ref range and I felt terrible. too.
 

ErdemX

Senior Member
Messages
113
Location
Istanbul
By this, do you mean preventing MS from worsening? I don't think he can make such a claim

He claims that something like in %90 percent of MS patients, the MS activity stops. If there is a permanent damage, it stays but he says that some patients gain some of their abilities back to some degree, like movement, balance.. He claims that maybe ten times in this video :) I know it sounds so weird. But it also doesn't look like a way to make money.