Extreme sensitivity to vitamin D - need help!

[Jackpharm]

Help needed please. Started vitamin D3 5000IU on June 23. Started having weird tingling/numbness starting in arm and spread to my leg and face over the next 7-8 days followed by terrible vertigo on a daily basis. Realized it could be from the vitamin D, so I stopped it on 7/2. I realize now that vitamin d has an extremely long half life (16 days) and that I also should’ve been supplementing with magnesium. I started taking Mag-SR (84mg elemental Mg) twice a day about a week ago. I still have these symptoms daily. My vitamin D level is normal-42 (33 last year). my calcium-9.2 at the ER last week. I feel terrible right now and I have a 2 year old daughter and pregnant wife. Do I just wait this out until the vitamin D is out of my system? Double up on the magnesium? Avoid the sun? I’m literally grasping at straws right now. My only other health issue is that I have hypothyroidism and my last TSH level (last week)was 2.2. I am usually closer to 2. Any help is really appreciated

 

[Pyrrhus]

I can't speak directly to your situation, but the anecdotes I have heard regarding bad reactions to vitamin D report that the negative reaction can last a month or so. So you may just have to wait it out...

Best wishes to you.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

@Jackpharm
I went thru several years of bad reactions to Vit D, stopping it, starting it again, stopping it. Finally stopped it entirely for about 2 years, and stabilized from a lot of things by finding my optimum dosing level of magnesium glycinate and pumping tht into my system every day to the tune of as much as 2000-plus mgs a day, along with Vit C.

When I started back on Vit D, I skipped the soft gels, which are loaded with free glutamic acid, which I also reacted to, and went with baby liquid drops, starting ridiculously low and very slowly moving up, holding where I was if I started to feel hinky.

It's taken almost 2 years, but I'm finally at a healthy replacement dose of about 15,000 iu a day, skipping a day now and then just for the hell of it.

I think @Pyrrhus is right .... you're just going to have to ride it out, but the magnesium might help. I'm pretty sure it helped me. I took small doses every 30-60 minutes until all my reactions were under control, and now take at much wider intervals. And still with the Vit C .....

 

[Jackpharm]

I’ve doubled up on my magnesium and I tried an Epsom salt bath last night which definitely helped. The facial numbness is very odd.

 

[PatJ]

This site contains lots of useful information about vitamin D and the necessary co-factors such as magnesium:
https://www.easy-immune-health.com/Vitamin-D-Side-Effects.html

 

[Jackpharm]

Thank you!

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

The facial numbness is very odd.

Admittedly it is off the beaten path. But many of our individual reactions tend to be.

As a Texas friend of mine used to say about any problem without an immediately obvious solution, "Y'all just hide and watch" .... if it's serious, it'll make that clear.

 

[Jackpharm]

It’s almost as if I pissed off my immune system

 

[wigglethemouse]

A few weeks ago I took one gel pill of 5000UI Vit D3 and had terrible vertigo and autonomic dysfunction for several days. The same happened a few years ago with another manufacturer, although I took that for several days not realising it was the Vit D causing symptoms then. I also get dizzy when in the sun.

 

[minimus]

I react badly to vitamin D as well. In my case, I end up with nasal congestion, my sinuses become blocked, and I tend to get a headache and feel dizzy. The symptoms typically last for a couple of days, but I have taken lower doses than you took.

Dr. Paul Cheney, semi-retired ME/CFS specialist, used to recommend that ME/CFS patients try to increase vitamin D by trying to get 15 minutes of sunlight exposure daily, which is much easier said than done for housebound/bedbound patients. If that's not possible and vitamin D levels in the blood are low, then he recommends taking 400 IU of vitamin D daily.

The only time I can tolerate vitamin D in higher doses is when I have also been on corticosteroids, which tamp down inflammation by suppressing the immune system. Might be something to ask your doctors about if your flare doesn't resolve.

 

[Seadragon]

Help needed please. Started vitamin D3 5000IU on June 23. Started having weird tingling/numbness starting in arm and spread to my leg and face over the next 7-8 days followed by terrible vertigo on a daily basis. Realized it could be from the vitamin D, so I stopped it on 7/2. I realize now that vitamin d has an extremely long half life (16 days) and that I also should’ve been supplementing with magnesium. I started taking Mag-SR (84mg elemental Mg) twice a day about a week ago. I still have these symptoms daily. My vitamin D level is normal-42 (33 last year). my calcium-9.2 at the ER last week. I feel terrible right now and I have a 2 year old daughter and pregnant wife. Do I just wait this out until the vitamin D is out of my system? Double up on the magnesium? Avoid the sun? I’m literally grasping at straws right now. My only other health issue is that I have hypothyroidism and my last TSH level (last week)was 2.2. I am usually closer to 2. Any help is really appreciated

That's a high dose. NHS recommendations are 10MCG or 400 IU. Hopefully your reaction will pass when it is out of your system.

 

[Jackpharm]

A few weeks ago I took one gel pill of 5000UI Vit D3 and had terrible vertigo and autonomic dysfunction for several days. The same happened a few years ago with another manufacturer, although I took that for several days not realising it was the Vit D causing symptoms then. I also get dizzy when in the sun.

How long until this resolved for you? I’m 19 days out from when I stopped it and I’m still having major issues.

 

[wigglethemouse]

How long until this resolved for you? I’m 19 days out from when I stopped it and I’m still having major issues.

From the one dose of 5000UI Vit D3 the dizziness lasted about 5 days, and it took about 10 days to get back to baseline. @Pyrrhus reported some folks took a month.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

i

That's a high dose. NHS recommendations are 10MCG or 400 IU. Hopefully your reaction will pass when it is out of your system.

With all due respect to the UK's NHS, and with apologies to you @Seadragon, 400 IU of Vit D is woefully inadequate if you're dealing with a deeply entrenched Vit D deficiency, particularly if you live in a Northern, less sunny geographic location, woefully inadequate if you're trying to increase from sub-optimal to relatively normal Vit D ranges, still inadequate tho probably not as badly if you're trying to maintain reasonably healthy levels of VIt D.

And since most of us are deficient in both magnesium and potassium, pretty much none of the woefully minimal 400 IU dose will be absorbed or utilized by the body in any event, leaving the experimenter believing that Vit D is useless at best, damaging at worst.....

We're all different, so we need to experiment with Vit D doses that suit our conditions and systems best, and Vit D supps need to be taken with magnesium, Vit A, and a source of fat, either animal or any plant form that has some saturated fat in it, like coconut oil.

The current received allopathic wisdom dictates 50,000 .... that's not a typo .... 50,000 IU of Vit D a week until a normal plasma level is achieved. Personally, I find these levels alarming.

Here's what worked, at least in my experience

1. Start with a lowish dose of D, which will vary from individual to individual. I started with liquid dros designed for babies which allowed me to take very small doses of Vit D at the beginning.
2. Follow the protocols of dosing your Vit D along with magnesium and Vit A, and some sort of fat along with the Vit D dose.
3. Increase doses gradually. Know that it's extremely difficult to overdose dangerously on Vit D, particularly if you follow the rules.
4. If you're reacting to Vit D, odds are your system is reacting to being drained of probably already way too-low reserves of magnesium, essential to the absorption of Vit D, which gobbles up large quantities of it in metabolizing.
5. If you're really uncomfortable, and possibly a little afraid of making yourself worse, back off the Vit D entirely and just pump your system with magnesium for a while before resuming the Vit D.
6. Always accompany your Vit D with magnesium, Vit A, fats.

This is the protocol that worked for me. I can;t guarantee that it'll work for you because I dont know wht else your systm is dealing with. I offer it here as a sort of template that you can adjust to your needs and reactions, and use for encouragement. I know how exhausting it gets to have to keep experimenting and trialing.

 

[Jackpharm]

great advice. Thank you @YippeeKi YOW !! what kind of magnesium did you use?

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

great advice. Thank you @YippeeKi YOW !! what kind of magnesium did you use?

I tried just about all of them, but the one that finally worked for me was Chelated Magnesium, by Solgar. It's bound to glycine, with a very sm amount of mag oxide on the side.

I took 50 mgs every 45-60 minutes, depending on the level of symptoms I was dealing with, which at first were excruciating. I chose the Solgar's because that was the only one that came in a nice, oblong tablet form at 100 mgs, so easily titrate-able down to 33 mgs if you have a steady hand and a good pair of wire clippers.

I also upped my Vit A while I was off the Vit D, but you have to be careful there because A is fat soluble and can accumulate in your system. Unlike Vit D, A can be very unpleasant if you take too much for too long. You'll need to decide what 'too much' is for your system. I took a dry form of A in order to avoid soft-gels, which I also seemed to react to.

I hope this helps ..... just keep experimenting til you find your sweet spot ....

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

great advice.

PS ...... Definitely not advising you. Just communicating what worked for me, with the caveat that you'll have to adjust it to your particular needs and reactions ....

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

Thank you @YippeeKi YOW !!

PPS .... You're very welcome, @Jackpharm .... I truly hope this helps. I know the misery, believe me ....

 

[Seadragon]

i
With all due respect to the UK's NHS, and with apologies to you @Seadragon, 400 IU of Vit D is woefully inadequate if you're dealing with a deeply entrenched Vit D deficiency, particularly if you live in a Northern, less sunny geographic location, woefully inadequate if you're trying to increase from sub-optimal to relatively normal Vit D ranges, still inadequate tho probably not as badly if you're trying to maintain reasonably healthy levels of VIt D.

And since most of us are deficient in both magnesium and potassium, pretty much none of the woefully minimal 400 IU dose will be absorbed or utilized by the body in any event, leaving the experimenter believing that Vit D is useless at best, damaging at worst.....

We're all different, so we need to experiment with Vit D doses that suit our conditions and systems best, and Vit D supps need to be taken with magnesium, Vit A, and a source of fat, either animal or any plant form that has some saturated fat in it, like coconut oil.

The current received allopathic wisdom dictates 50,000 .... that's not a typo .... 50,000 IU of Vit D a week until a normal plasma level is achieved. Personally, I find these levels alarming.

Here's what worked, at least in my experience

1. Start with a lowish dose of D, which will vary from individual to individual. I started with liquid dros designed for babies which allowed me to take very small doses of Vit D at the beginning.
2. Follow the protocols of dosing your Vit D along with magnesium and Vit A, and some sort of fat along with the Vit D dose.
3. Increase doses gradually. Know that it's extremely difficult to overdose dangerously on Vit D, particularly if you follow the rules.
4. If you're reacting to Vit D, odds are your system is reacting to being drained of probably already way too-low reserves of magnesium, essential to the absorption of Vit D, which gobbles up large quantities of it in metabolizing.
5. If you're really uncomfortable, and possibly a little afraid of making yourself worse, back off the Vit D entirely and just pump your system with magnesium for a while before resuming the Vit D.
6. Always accompany your Vit D with magnesium, Vit A, fats.

This is the protocol that worked for me. I can;t guarantee that it'll work for you because I dont know wht else your systm is dealing with. I offer it here as a sort of template that you can adjust to your needs and reactions, and use for encouragement. I know how exhausting it gets to have to keep experimenting and trialing.

@YippeeKi YOW !! I was thinking more that if one went straight in at a very high dose as @Jackpharm seems to have done, it may cause issues if you are sensitive to that supplement. Your idea of starting low and slow and carefully titrating up bearing in mind co factors as well is better and safer - and less likely to cause an adverse reaction.

 

[nyanko_the_sane]

Thanks @YippeeKi YOW !! for the great information and advice. My face has started to have numbness on and off. Perhaps I should back off the D. I have been taking it for osteo issues because I practically live in a cave. Not quite like the hermits of Umbria, because I don't actually self-flagellate. Having ME/CFS is punishment enough.

Those caves are actually furnished quite nicely these days.

Perhaps it isn't so bad to be a modern hermit.