Hi all with problems with taking vitamin D, it does seem to be vitamin D week on the forum, so Ill put what I just wrote out for someone else here as it may help point people with problems taking it in the right direction.
There are three different known categories of things that can cause problems, when taking vitamin D
They are interactions with other medications.
Undiagnosed diseases, which you shouldnt take vitamin D with.
A lack of co factors.
Vitamin D3 interacts with some drugs. On this page it says what these drugs are
http://www.drugs.com/drug-interactio...itamin-d3.html so if youre taking any other medications make sure that they arent on these lists before taking the vitamin D.
There are certain diseases that you are not supposed to take vitamin D with; they are diseases such as Parathyroid disorders, Sarcoidosis, lung cancer, non Hodgkins carcinoma and tuberculosis. You shouldnt take vitamin D with these diseases because it will cause a rapid rise in calcium levels, if anyone is having a bad reaction to vitamin D they should get there calcium checked to see if it is high, and then if it is, get further investigations to find the underling missed disease. The most common cause is Parathyroid disorders, there is an interesting tread going on here that explains that most doctors dont know how to diagnoses this properly and that it has the same symptoms as CFS and causes bad reactions to Vit D,
http://forums.phoenixrising.me/showt...n-participants
If people have a lack of co factors which are vitamins and minerals that are needed to absorb vitamin D it can cause some side effects the co factors are Magnesium, zinc, boron, vitamin A and vitamin K.
A lack of magnesium is the main one that causes side effects, raising vitamin D levels can unmask the symptoms of magnesium deficiency which are things like muscle cramps, pain and twitching and palpitations etc. I went through this myself not to pleasant but bearable and resolved with taking more magnesium. Co factors are explained in more detail here
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-cofactors/
So if people are having bad reactions to taking vit D check that youre not taking another medication that interacts badly with vitamin D.
Get your Calcium levels checked to rule out other diseases that you shouldnt take vitamin D with and ask your doctor to make doubly sure that you dont have any of the above diseases.
If all that is OK the problem is probably a lack of co factors like magnesium, if you can, get a good naturopath to look into it they are well trained at this, the interaction between different minerals is very complicated, taking too much of one will lower the levels of another, so it is best to get advice from an expert in this e.g. a Naturopath.
In my opinion it would not be wise taking Calcium with vitamin D unless you have been told to do this by a doctor, vitamin D increases calcium levels, so your calcium levels will rise naturally when taking vitamin D, if you are taking calcium as well you may end up with too much, another reason not to is that Calcium and Magnesium are antagonists so taking too much calcium will lower your magnesium level, if your bad reaction to vitamin D is caused by a lack of magnesium you will only be making it worse. The other reason is that, the reason why you are not supposed to take vitamin D with any of the diseases listed above (Hyper parathyroid etc) is that when you take vitamin D with these diseases it causes Calcium levels to rise dramatically, if you have one of these diseases and it hasnt been diagnosed and you then take Vitamin D and Calcium as well, your Calcium levels will sky rocket and you could end up in deep trouble!
When taking large doses of vitamin D always make sure you get your levels rechecked to make sure that you are not taking too much.
And always get a Vit D test first before taking it, it will help you to see what level of treatment you need if you need any at all.
Hope this helps someone
All the best