The last time I went to Kaiser, my doctor ordered some blood tests that weren't the standard ones I usually get when they check for iron, b12, white and red blood cell counts and the results are in. My doctor said I was vitamin D deficient. I'm not surprised. I'm pale and always have been. I go to work when before sunrise and come home after sunset. And if I don't leave the office for lunch, I'm hardly in the sun at all.
So he and/or his counterpart prescribed 50,000 IU and I read up on it and thought that at that level, it would be too much of a shock to my system, so I got 10,000 IU at The Vitamin Shoppe on Monday and had to read up on how to take it again because the doctors never seem to know. Vitamin D is a fat soluble one that should be taken with food, so for the past three days, I've taken it with my lunch since I don't eat breakfast.
For example, when I told my doctor that I worried about osteoporosis because I maintain a dairy-free diet due to Crohn's Disease diagnosed in 1985, he said to "take caltrate two times a day". This, in part, is right, but it's also wrong.
1. You can only take one pill per dose
2. Taking calcium gives you gas
3. Taking the enzyme found in "Beano" helps a great deal in combating the gas.
So I also started to take one Caltrate plus D chewables in the morning (preceded by two Beano) and at night along with my one Centrum chewable in the morning.
And yesterday at lunchtime, after talking to my gf at work about the general all-over muscle ache I thought was associated to the Vitamin D, my body decided to go into excessive urination mode. What is this all about??? And now I'm on the internet again trying to figure out the good, the bad and the ugly of it all. And I left my doctor a message about these new issues.
The good news is that adding calcium back into my diet, even in the form of supplements, has further lessened the effects of Crohn's Disease as long as I continue to restrict my diet of those foods that trigger an acute attack.
More on vitamin D:
From 2010,
5 Things You Need to Know about Vitamin D
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The IOM recommends that, in practically all individuals, the average blood levels of vitamin D be at least 20 mg per milliliter for good bone health. According to Dr. Kovaks, people who have a problem absorbing the vitamin may need to take 2,000 IUs a day to achieve the recommended blood levels.
But can you take too much? According to the IOM report, very high levels of vitamin D (above 10,000 IUs per day) are known to cause kidney and tissue damage, and there is some evidence that lower levels have risks. But anything below 4,000 IUs per day is considered safe.
The bottom line: every person is different, and you should talk to your doctor about the need for vitamin supplements."
