Vitamin D levels not rising after high dose, why?

[linusbert]

i had 6 month ago a real deficiency, vitamin D was 4ng/ml.
calcium blood levels started to go low, magnesium and vitamin c were not tolerated anymore.

now i took over the last 4-5 month roughly 600.000 ie in weekly dosages of 35000 iu.
and it is now at ~10ng/ml . and they even measured 1 day after i took my 35k... so it might be even lower maybe?
but how is this possible, i am a beefy boi with 1,80cm (5"10) 130kg (286pounds) so there is that... but a increase by just 5?? i would have expected to be at least at 20-30ng/ml levels.

though it had positive effects, calcium went back up again to good blood levels. also magnesium and phosphat looks ok'ish. potassium isnt that bad either (though they took the sample 2h after i ate a banana).
also vitamin C and magnesium is now much better tolerated again.

so how to get this D up?


current blood work:

 

[Judee]

What brand are you using? I think that can matter.

I like ProHealth D3 Extreme (50K iu). I even feel a little better on the days I remember to take it which ends up being maybe 2-4x per month.

After having low values (less than 20) for years, my last test showed 80. (I also take it with K2 and some Vitamin C.)

The other brand I get a little boost from is Solgar but the amounts on theirs are a lot lower.

Edit: A couple brands made me feel worse. (One of those was Bio-tech.)

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

now i took over the last 4-5 month roughly 600.000 ie in weekly dosages of 35000 iu.
and it is now at ~10ng/ml . and they even measured 1 day after i took my 35k...

Your system depends on sufficient magnesium to absorb and process Vit D .... without that, it can't do much with it. Most of us are fairly deficient in magnesium to start with, when you add in the pretty hefty drain on that that absorbing and processig Vit D creates, and you might ned to top up you mg tank ....

I like ProHealth D3 Extreme (50K iu). I even feel a little better on the days I remember to take it which ends up being maybe 2-4x per month.

my last test showed 80

That's a great level !!!

You might want to do some research on heavy dose Vit D and some of its less than salutary systemic efffcts. I'm fairly brain-buggered right now, so I dnt want to mislead you with incomplete or inaccurate info ....

Good job getting your readings up to such a healthy level !!!

 

[linusbert]

What brand are you using? I think that can matter.

right now i use this, but i might try another brand. tried also dekristol 20k IU, but i am allergic to that so not anymore. thats a problem for me , finding a pure one, the vendor i use at least vouches by laboratory for their ingredients. also it must be VEGAN as i cannot do lanolin/sheep wool due to allergy.
also i do get bad effects from MCT sourced from palmtreeoil. and cheap supplements probably all use palmtreeoil when its not stated otherwise. coconut oil i tolerate much better.


when i had such a deficiency 5 years ago i had a similiar situation. i took high doses for 10 days a 20k iu and then a frequent high dose like 5-10k a day. after 2 month i checked blood and it increased from 8 to 12. actually like now. but side effects were strong.
then after another 4 weeks of like 5-10k every other or otherother day. i suddenly was at 88ng/ml.
maybe i just need to continue and measure again in 3 month. could it be some body stores which suck it up first, like my fat? got lots of that. maybe first the fat cells suck it all up and when they are saturated the value in blood jumps up crazy?


yea magnesium is really hard for me, i still get the high blood pressure issues from it as well as from potassium.
k2 i did use this time.
maybe i should have offset k2 to another day?


its just annoying the whole pharma industrie and also supplements all use those cheap ingredients, put a mixture of so much garbage into meds which their sole purpose is to treat a condition. why is this necessary. it should be forbidden!

 

[Judee]

finding a pure one, the vendor i use at least vouches by laboratory for their ingredients. also it must be VEGAN as i cannot do lanolin/sheep wool due to allergy

You reminded me that I saw a Dr Berg YouTube video recently where he showed how someone could use mushrooms to make their own natural Vitamin D supplement. It was Vitamin D2 though but high dose. Anyway it was just kinda interesting so I thought I would mention it.

maybe i just need to continue and measure again in 3 month

That may be. Hope you can get your numbers back up there somehow.

 

[linusbert]

You reminded me that I saw a Dr Berg YouTube video

you watch Bergi ? love him too, thou that video i didnt see. i will not grow my own mushrooms but i could give D2 a try. though i have sometimes very bad reactions to mushrooms, i do not eat them. though i like the taste.
btw there is another Berg. Dr Sten Ekberg or so(?) who does also very good videos of the same kind. he has a little more focus on food though.

That may be. Hope you can get your numbers back up there somehow.

thank you, i really need to, my asthma and allergies suck so much.

 

[linusbert]

one more question, could it be that those high dose droplets are just not effective because not to much area to absorb?

the one time i got my vitamin D up to 90 was when i used 1 droplet = 1000 IU . for a big dose i have to use 20-30 droplets.

now i got a high dose product, 1 droplet = 10.000 iu , so its just 2-3 droplets.

also dekristol a 20.000 wasnt effective for me, maybe for the same reason... probably i should order 1k drops again *sigh* . i did this to prevent contact with too much MCT oil which is not good for me... but maybe this is necessary.

 

[Judee]

So are you using them under the tongue (sublingually) or on your skin (topically)?

I assumed under the tongue but since you have them anyway, why not try topically? After all that's how we get Vitamin D from the sun. ???

Anyway just a thought.

 

[linusbert]

topical doesnt work much, i tried that, did nothing to blood values.
sublingually i could try again, right now i have the idea to put the droplets directly over my food so it disolves with food mass.

i did previously either put it in my mouth and swallowed after like 1 minute or so after launch.

 

[Judee]

Most of us are fairly deficient in magnesium to start with, when you add in the pretty hefty drain on that that absorbing and processig Vit D creates, and you might ned to top up you mg tank ....

That's good to know. I read what you typed a few days ago and it didn't go in the brain. Came back just now and read it again. It finally processed. I'll try to make sure to add some Magnesium when I take the D and others. Thanks!!!

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

That's good to know. I read what you typed a few days ago and it didn't go in the brain. Came back just now and read it again. It finally processed. I'll try to make sure to add some Magnesium when I take the D and others. Thanks!!!

 

[linusbert]

just wanted to give a update for all whom interests.

now after taking some serious high dose of vitamin D (35k iu a week) for the last months, i can now indeed tolerate magnesium and potassium and also vitamin C again! ... i think.
(despite my blood levels of D still being badly deficient).

also my diabetes seams to improve. its like 20-30 mg/dl lower on average than before. i guess its like 0,5-1% A1C.

before when i took magnesium or potassium or both, i got symptoms of calcium deficiency + symptoms of magnesium toxicity, breathing difficulties like i need to think about breathing or it would stop while snoozing, also some reflexes got worse, i got some minor difficulties swallowing. seams also be fine now.
the only last thing, increased blood pressure after mg / pot i need to validate, but so far i have not had high episodes of blood pressure so it could be promising too.


what i also took was active b complex once a week, 2-3 times a week 5mg vitamin k2 mk4, Alpha ketoglutarate. and vitamin C.

 

[linusbert]

i just checked vitamin A , its border line deficient.




anyone knows a ratio in which to take Vitamin A to Vitamin D.. right now i am on high Vitamin D supplementation, but i feel i need to add retinol.
westingon prince does mention a ratio but it does not say what it compares, IE to IE or absolute per weight.

 

[cheeseater]

Of course vit A and D (and E and K) are fat soluable vitamins. In order to absorb fat soluable nutrients you need adequate pancreatic enzymes. Fecal Elastase (FE1) tests are cheap and accurate. Most accurate for serious PE deficiency, and for borderline PE deficiencies-- not so helpful.

 

[Shanti1]

could it be some body stores which suck it up first, like my fat?

Hi @linusbert. Yes, vitamin D is thought to be sequestered into the adipose tissue, so those who have more fat often have lower vitamin D (maybe there are other reasons too). My experience has been that heavier people sometimes need 10,000IU a day or more to get into a healthy range. Best to take with a meal containing fat. I'm glad that you are able to tolerate magnesium and vit C again.

 

[linusbert]

Of course vit A and D (and E and K) are fat soluable vitamins. In order to absorb fat soluable nutrients you need adequate pancreatic enzymes. Fecal Elastase (FE1) tests are cheap and accurate. Most accurate for serious PE deficiency, and for borderline PE deficiencies-- not so helpful.

those have been fine in the past. in blood as in stool. in blood there is even a little too much of lipases.
there is a problem with the gallbladder though, it has a polyp somewhere and fatty foods tend to give me discomfort sometimes.
i tried digestion enzymes from pig as well from mold but it doesnt help.

es, vitamin D is thought to be sequestered into the adipose tissue, so those who have more fat often have lower vitamin D (maybe there are other reasons too). My experience has been that heavier people sometimes need 10,000IU a day or more to get into a healthy range. Best to take with a meal containing fat. I'm glad that you are able to tolerate magnesium and vit C again.

so my fat is sponging it up. guess when i am done with my high dose cure i am like Obelix, sucked up with vitamin D for life. if i loose some kilos i might have good vitamin D levels for decades .
i am trying to ramp up from 35k to 70k now, which is basically 10k a day. but it gets tough with side effects.

 

[Shanti1]

so my fat is sponging it up. guess when i am done with my high dose cure i am like Obelix, sucked up with vitamin D for life. if i loose some kilos i might have good vitamin D levels for decades .

i am trying to ramp up from 35k to 70k now, which is basically 10k a day. but it gets tough with side effects.

Yeah, I get side effects from oral vit D too, fatigue and brain fog. Right now I'm using it transdermally (which seems to be fine) and trying to get some sun every day, but I'm overdue for a vitamin D test to see how that is working.

 

[linusbert]

oh boy the 100k D i took last week did really kick in - in a not so good way. i would say f'ck the blood levels and go after feeling. i clearly had symptoms already before with 35k which were tolerable, other blood values like calcium did normalize therefore D had its effect.
i definitely will go back down to the 30k range after my body recovered. maybe even 20k.
- values are per week / not daily.
probably the blood values not rising with high dosages is rather a cofactor problem. i try to identify what cofactors the body is missing.

one good thing i 100% attribute to the high D intake is that i got the best glucose values in my blood since years. sometimes they even go down the 100 mg/dl mark.. like 90mg/dl. thats great, considering the values were in the 150-180mg/dl range before.

i recently view a video were they explained D metabolism. they said that D will be activated by cytochrome P450 i the liver. so far i believe this is also used for detoxification?
i wonder if those who are intolerant to higher dosages of D actually suffering from intoxication by inhibition (overuse) of P450?

 

[linusbert]

i wonder , my bones a hurting a bit and making cracking sounds on places which were hurt in the long past.
its related to the vitamin D, started with it. whats going on?

 

[cheeseater]

It has been long known that if a person has a shortage of Vitamin D the parathyroid gland will cause your bones to dissolve a bit looking for it. Not to anthropomorphise a gland, but that is what happens. Then there are other reasons for bones to thin that have nothing to do with vitamin d. Some vitamin D is seen as a sort of insurance policy against thinning bones.