Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I've been dealing with a few puzzling health issues lately so my obgyn tested my blood. Everything came back great, not anemic, great cholesterol levels. But, I was very low on vitamin D. I do not get much sun, but I'd say about the same as most people in this area get during the winter. I am wondering if my body has an issue with absorbing it for some reason. Anyway,he recommended a 6000 IUD daily for 2 months. He gave me a company of which to go through as they make a rapid replenish version. I've been taking this for about a week now.

While reading some things today I realized that D2 is vegan while D3 is not. Of course I ran to check my bottle.. and it's D3. Does anyone know of a rather potent D2 supplement? I'd like to continue to take 6,000 IUD daily as he recommended, even though this new supplement might not be "rapid replenish" whatever that entails. Thanks!

You're probably going to have a hard time finding that in a non prescription. I have a 2000 IU D supplement. If I were you I'd ask my doctor for a D2 supplement. You may also be able to get injections that aren't D3.

I take this: http://www.amazon.com/Vitamin-D2-2000-I ... B000LVGFDO so in theory you could take three of those day, but I'd still check with your doc to make sure they think it's ok.

High dose D2 does exist in prescription form and is often prescribed.

most people in the climates closer to the Poles have Vit D deficiency. Frequently we work inside all day, and then when outside told to wear sunscreen constantly, even put it in our moisturizer. So I doubt you're alone, its more likely that others haven't gotten checked.

The same thing happened to me last spring. I just bought the 1000 iu vegan D2 and took three to four every day for a month. My levels were fine after that.

Also, my omni husband just had blood work done and the doctor was "amazed" by how low his D levels were. So it is not only a vegan issue.

another 2000 IU supplement, I'm taking these

I don't have anything helpful to add, but I wanted to say "Vitamin Hunter D" would be a cool username.

Vitamin D is a common deficiency so don't feel like a failure, my non-vegan fiance was deficient and needed a regimen of D! I was too, severely. My bones and joints ached. That sucked. I took the 50,000IUD twice a week without it even crossing my mind about D2/D3. I'm the one who failed at veganism! shiitake.

What is the safest highest amount you can take?

On a daily basis for maintenance (not to necessarily overcome a deficiency) - the new recommendations for vitamin d just came out and the upper limit is 4000 IU, which should definitely be enough. It's not easy to find that much in a pill because the recommended daily amount is only 600IU.

You're not alone with that! I didn't think about the D2/D3 thing either and bought it in liquid form to avoid gelatin, good job for me! Haha! I had bought D3 and then a fellow vegan pointed out that D3 isn't vegan but D2 is so next time I need D again I'll just get D2. I tried taking it in high amounts and I started getting sick from it (headaches, trouble thinking) so I can only take a little at a time.

I had the same problem with Vitamin D. I had a bone density test at 28 years old and had osteopenia, which is what you get before osteoporosis. For me, I consider vitamin D a medicine that I will make an exception for medicines when I don't have a good alternative. I take D3 because I wasn't getting good levels on the D2. There are two kinds of D3 - from fish and from lanolin. I take the lanolin one 'cause I guess that's better than fish. Blue Bonnet has 1000 IU and 2000 IU in the V-caps for this. I saw on another thread that there is a D3 that uses lanolin as a starter, but in the end is grown in something plant-based. I will probably switch to that when I run out of the ones I have now. They are marketing it as vegan.

When they first saw the D deficiency, the Rx'd me the 50,000 IU once weekly for 8 weeks. That was D2, but those capsules come in gel caps (with gelatin). If you have to take that, I guess you could buy a veggie gel cap if you wanted and transfer them, but I just took those. It was only 8 pills for me.

Obviously you have to make your own decision on what you want to do about the deficiency. The research is mixed on whether D2 or D3 is better, but it also depends on what is happening in your case. In my case, I personally took D2 first, with poor results (except for the 50,000 IU, which is dangerous to do long term), then switched to D3.

Good luck!

I also had a bone density test at around age 35 or so, and was told the results were consistent with osteopenia. But I was also told that not many women in that age group get tested, so it's apparently not really known what would even be "normal" results; the baseline just doesn't exist, or at least it didn't several years ago, for women that young.

I would also suggest to anyone who has D3 to please just take it rather than throw it out...get D2 next time if that makes you more comfortable. Also with gel caps, you can totally bite into it and just suck out the insides in your mouth and spit out the empty capsule. Doesn't do much for the animal, but maybe you avoid mad cow or whatever the human form is called.

No one will ever get Creutzfeldt-Jakob from a gelatin capsule.

That's an interesting point, JillW, about there not being a good baseline for younger people getting bone dentistry scans. I think they told me that they just had to compare my bones to an old person, and that my bones were worse than the average old person. At least that's how I understood it.

I wish I would have thought about biting the caps and sucking out the insides when I had to take those - seems like a good idea when there isn't another alternative.

haha - I said "bone dentistry" instead of "bone density" - I can't get dentistry out of my brain!

oops again - I accidentally posted the same thing twice.

Haha I love "bone dentistry" it's cute!

So for people who were very low - did your normal blood test show that, or did you specifically get tested for vit d? Also, were you taking any supplement at all before the diagnosis? I take...800 iu every day but I still think my levels are low, maybe absorption problems. Just wondering if any of you were taking an average strength pill before needing to take wowza levels. Also, have you gotten follow-up tests yet that show improvement? (Hope you are all improving!)

For me, I specifically asked for the vitamin D. My doctor was just like..."so are there any tests that you want?" - which btw, I've never heard a doctor asking before... so I was like sure, test D, b12, iron, some other stuff I can't remember...
I think I was taking 400 IU D2 at the time, not sure though - that might have been for my second test. I had to get it tested a bunch of times until I found the right dosage. I'm on 2000 IU now.

Thank you! I swear my gp told me 400 IU last week.

The same gp refused to give me a VitD test last year saying it was difficult to become deficient, even though I said I avoid being out in the sun (it makes me feel ill). Now she's said that I should be making sure I get enough VitD because it's been discovered people with my illness can be deficient in it.

I've been refused a Vitamin D test, too! and b12 and iron! having insurance through my school means they won't do ANYTHING ever. I had one doc even tell me that blood tests weren't necessary because I could get everything I needed from a vegan diet. She also told me not to worry about breast pain even when I told her I was concerned because my mom just had breast cancer.

anyway, the point is that doctors can be really dumb! You should be able to find 2000 IU in a pill pretty easily.

So normal blood levels are 25 - 100 (if I remember it right, I know 25 is the lower limit. Also can't remember the units). I was only at 23 when he said "omg your gonna died take this pill or ELSE". And my aches are still here after three weeks. Vitamin D was not the culprit. Why are doctors such dicks who cant wait to prescribe a pill instead of looking deeper into the issue? Ugh.

I can't remember if I asked to be tested, but probably I did. When my doctor got the results he called me in, just because he wanted to see what a person with that low of Vit D levels looks like. Then he proceeded to share the wisdom that he was surprised because my skin was white and I wasn't Muslim (this was in the Netherlands). Because Muslim women cover their arms, etc. Not because there is practically no sun for 6 months a year and not always a lot in summer either. So yeah, doctors do some things well but certainly not everything.

I think the minimum blood level of vitamin D is higher now (the recommendations changed a few years ago I think). Can't remember what it is though. I think my level was something ridiculous, like 9. I do remember it being 13 once.

Here's a summary of everything about the new recommendations. http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD/

the health professional tab has the info about blood levels.