Vitamin D: amounts needed?

I started taking 5000 IU of D3 last February. Just over two months later I was tested and I was at 38 ng/mL which was a tad on the low side. I was tested again in late October and had made it to 58 ng/mL which was near where I was targeting.

I have been having my levels tested through the study sponsored at http://grassrootshealth.net. The site also provides plenty of information about Vitamin D deficiency.

The biggest effect that I noticed when I started taking it was the reduction/elimination of depressed feelings. I must of had SAD last January because once I started taking D3 I became very content.

I live in Minnesota and its cold outside.
 
Orchidflower
I was trying to bring up the issue amount of sun that hits the skin and how direct it hit’s the skin. I know going out side when only my hands and face are uncovered must be different then when I have on short sleeves and shorts. I have heard sitting in front of large windows in direct sunlight on cold days can help with your vitamin d.

I’m ADHD and bipolar so I have to pop a pill every day to keep me stable. I also take 2 name brand multi vitamins; one in the morning and one in the after noon. I have to get blood work done 3 times a year and everything stays with in normal ranges.
 
tapper, looks like that company grassrootshealth charges $40 every 6 months for you to send them a blood test. Alot cheaper than the $500+ I paid for a full Complete Blood Count. Thanks for that information.

Yes, my girlfriend was a public health nurse for years and years, and said for me to make sure my mother--who is feeble and never goes outside anymore--sits near a sunny window, which she does anyway, to get sun. So, it works.

From what I've read, wasgotfire, I understand that you need 20 minutes (10 at the least) of sun per day WITHOUT ANY SPF ON which prevents the sun from really hitting you. But haven't read much on how much should be uncovered--except don't wear a hat either so the sun can hit your head. Anyone here know better than I?

wasgotfire: So glad, also, that you really watch yourself with that double-whammy of ADHD and bipolar. So many folks with the bipolar don't and take themselves off their meds. BIG, BIG mistake.
I happen to know these two situations well having been exposed to them by having family members (some ADHD types and stepfather was bipolar--one who wanted to go off his meds). Rough...but you sound as if you are doing a more than excellent job of helping yourself. Congrats!!!
 
Orchidflower
I say less clothing means less time in the sun. Just change it up from the polar bear club.

One of my brothers ended up with bad epilepsy and I ended up what was thought to be bad ADHD as a child. As I grew up I could control more most of the ADHD but started having a lot of slight bipolar sings pop out. Switched up meds and haven’t had any real issues until insurance wants to change what I’m on.
 
Wasgotfire, maybe if you get naked you can get away with 10 minutes. Seems I heard something like that, anyway.
Not unusual to grow out of the ADHD around 15 or so, Wasgotfire. Maybe you did that, too?
 
Orchidflower
That’s not as far as I wanted to take it; I think I would still like to wear briefs. I don’t want to expose parts of my body to sun that has not seen it in years.

I still do a lot of finger counting, over multitasking, mentality ahead of stuff, twitches, and a few other things. I have out grown some stuff and have seen specialists in behavior modification for help in other things.
 
Wasgotfire: I'm sure with shorts and a tshirt on, required sun time is still 10 minutes. With a coat on it would be 20 as I understood it.
 
wasgotfire said:
What is the skin to sun to time contact time?
Could we do more skin to sun contact and drop the amount of required time needed in the sun?
Click to expand...

According to Dr. Davis (see heart scan blog - scro down to vitamin D subject on the left side - have fun - he has 75 posts on it), "We also know that a vacation on a Caribbean beach in a bathing suit will increase vitamin D blood levels to the 80-110 ng/ml range without ill-effect (at least in young people who maintain the capacity to activate vitamin D in the skin, a phenomenon that declines as we age)".

I would assume that you couldn't do it all in one day without major sunburn, at least I couldn't, and with a deep tan, the synsythis must slow down. I've never heard of vitamin D toxicity just from spending all day in the sun, but George Hamilton does act a little strange.
 
I live in northern Michigan, so there isn't a lot of opportunity to get skin exposure to sun in the winter months. I was taking 2,000 IU of Vitamin D daily for almost a year before I had my blood level tested, last April. I was still quite low, at 31 ng/mL. My wife was even lower, at 28 ng/mL. Since then, and after doing lots of reading on Vitamin D, I've been taking 6,000 IU daily. I'll get the same test done next April, and we'll see if there is an improvement (there should be). As someone else said, I do seem to notice a difference in my health since taking the higher amount (although it could be unrelated to Vit. D, I know) - I have not had even one cold or the flu this last year, and my SAD symptoms have lessened as well. Some of the reading I have done indicates that up to 10,000 IU daily should have no long-term adverse health consequences, but it's best to get the blood test done periodically, just to see where you are at. Some of the literature also now indicates that somewhere in the 50 - 70 ng/mL range is where you want to be for optimum health. I'm not a doctor, though, so please do your own research and/or talk to your doc before taking higher doses of any supplements.
 
Well, I can say I bought some D3 vitamins because of the information on this board. I've been taking 5,000 i.u. a day--and plan to for the rest of this Winter (like 7 degrees today that feels like 1 degree, so nobody is out on the street now). I had terrible pains in one leg at night only before, and now they have completely disappeared. Lack of vitamin D? Must have been.
When Spring starts coming I'm dropping the amount to 2,000 i.u., and Summer I am outside alot so down to 1,000 i.u.
All this has confirmed my lack of desire to live up North again, for sure.
 
I think the most important thing is to get a blood test done by your Dr and go from there.

I was tested in October and was surprised to find that my levels were at 24 with the suggested minimum level being 32. My Dr prescribed me 50,000 units to be taken once a month. When I go to my new Dr later this month I am going to get her to rerun the test to see if there has been any change.

I don't think this is a regular test, rather one that you need to request as I did. I asked because a friend had been diagnosed with low Vit D so thought I would check. We both live in California, however we are both extremely vigilant about sunscreen as well. I was surprised that my number was so low given that I was doing boot camp 5 days a week for an hour at a time in the sun.
 
DangerMouse said:
I was surprised that my number was so low given that I was doing boot camp 5 days a week for an hour at a time in the sun.
Click to expand...

I guess that proves that sunscreen really does screen sun.

Ha
 
Vitamin D testing

Apparently self-testing for vitamin D is prohibited in New York state. Any suggestions?:blush:
 
Jerry, I had to get an expensive Complete Blood Count as I hadn't had one in over 6 years. However, there is some firm that test just your Vitamin D count. $40 a month I think it was. I found it on the net. Sorry I didn't bookmark it, but you can easily find it if I did. Worth doing if you have any pains from lack of Vitamin D.
 
My doctor told me to have my Vitamin D level checked last year and the office called to tell me that my levels were too low. They told me to take 1000IU. I also take 1 Caltrate Calcium supplement that has 400IU and a Centrum Silver multivitamin that has 500IU and normally drink 2 glasses of Skim Milk each day. I don't think the doctor's office told me the actual level, just that it was low. I also had my 2nd bone density test done this year and called to find out the result. She told me that she thought she had sent the info to me, but she would check my file. She, the nurse, said that my bone density test results were fine. I said great, does that mean my Osteopenia is gone? She looked at my file again and said no. I go for my physical again in 06/10 and I am going to ask for copies of the bone density tests and the Vitamin D levels test. I hope that they will give me copies.
 
I'm running myself thru physicals now, Dreamer, and everyone from the clinics to the private physicians have given me copies of my health reports. I want them on hand when I move.
I had a bridge made by the satellite office of the fellow who is the President of the Cosmetic Dental Association in Chicago. I moved to be with my mother 3 hours away when she had a stroke and left Chicago, and called them 3 times or 4 times to send my xrays to my new town.
The Dr. there insisted that I come pick them up in person according to the receptionist. FINALLY, my Dentist here called the Chicago Dentist himself, and the guy insisted I come IN PERSON to pick them up. My current Dentist said, "that makes no sense, since she is 3 hours away--completely across the State of Illinois."

NEVER GOT THE XRAYS. Never again. From now on I take EVERYTHING with me in the form of a copy or else I stage a sit-in in their office from Dentist to physicals.

That Chicago Dentist cost me $150 for new Xrays...grrrrr. Not a happy customer here, and, if I ever went back to Chicago, I'd never use those jerks again. And the guy who owns that office (he has the one satellite office) is the President of the Chicago Cosmetic Dental Assn. for years and years. Go figure? And THIS is his crappy policy?

Get all the information you can and take it with you...unless you want to spend an extra $150 because someone runs his business like a fool.
 
Saw a segment on Don Imus just yesterday about vit D. He had a doctor on there who had brain cancer 17 years ago and fought it through surgery and chemo but the discussion lead to alternative treatments and prevention, vitamin D being one. The doc said D was a big help in prevention of prostate cancer. He also said you can carry over the benefits from the summer sun into the winter when you don't get as much. Of course too much of a good thing can lead to skin cancer.:blush:

The discussion also went into how eliminating sugar from one's diet is a big help. No surprise there but this doc believes that it helped him in his battle with cancer. He believes sugar basically feeds cancer cells.
 
I always a request a copy of any test results. My reason for that is I like to look over them myself. I have found that some labs use suggested ranges that are out of date - ie. Thyroid testing. I also find that Drs let some test results slide because they fall within normal range. For example, last time I had my iron levels tested I think the bottom of the suggested range was 33 and I was 34. Now to me that means I should be aware and keep watch on my iron levels. To the Dr it was simply you are within range.
 
I may not understand them (the results), but I sure as heck got 'em now...haha!

Looks like liver for you, DangerMouse!
 
This week I heard an interview with a scientist who is researching Vitamin D. He was asked the question which started this thread. He indicated that at the present time we simply don't know what the "right" preventive dose is, but that it's more than 400 units and probably less than 10,000 units per day, which apparently is "safe". His hunch is that the right level it will eventually be shown to be approximately 4000 units. I think that there will be some variation according to circumstances; for example, the Canadian Paediatric Society recommends 800 units per day for children living in the North, compared with 400 units per day for other children. There is a very high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in people living in the Arctic and your risk will be correspondingly lower the closer you get to the equator, providing that you have skin exposure to sunlight.
 
I think one of the reasons that so many people are being found to be deficient in Vitamin D is due to our lifestyles. Remember the good old days when we used to walk places, or even go outside to partake of activities? Nowadays most people get up in the morning, drive to work, make there way to their cubicle where they stay until the sun is set and they are on their way home.

For myself, I spend far too much time inside watching TV or reading or on the internet. What I really need to do is to start going for a daily walk instead of using my treadmill. However, being in the suburbs I hate walking around because I don't really like creatures such as dogs or deer or snakes. Give me an urban setting any day where all you have to worry about is getting run over by the traffic.
 
I take the 2000 IU every day and have noticed a significant improvement in my mood and well being. I also love 90 degree weather and soaking up the rays in the summer time....can't wait for summer!
 
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