How long will it take me to make myself REALLY sick? Vitamin D question. x-post

 Kayla - I was planning to make a separate post about this tonight.   Check back later for all the bloody details....

I live in a major metropolitan area with TONS of endos.  NONE are well-versed in DS patients' needs.  Not one.  And the one I was going to retired.  (I see him at the oncology place, so he must be sick, too.)  I went to one other.  He was kind of irritated that I had rearranged my innards and said he had no idea what to look for.  I have contacted several others...diabetes specialists predominate in that field. 

This one is young and, I think, still willing to learn.  Someone who has been doing this forever and who has a "six-patients-per-hour" quota at his big old fancy office is NOT going to listen.  Her approach is along the lines of, "I think this should work better...let's try it and see if it works...if it doesn't we can try more or go back to what you have been doing."

That isn't a bad attitude in my book. 

Hmm, you don't seem the guinea pig type. Is that fur I see growing all over you? Does this mean you're going to become soft & cuddly too?

Anyway, here's a somewhat decent article about the differences between the two Ds. Ignore the part where he says sunshine is better than supplementation because supplementation can sometimes do damage if overdone. That applies to the unaltered.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/10/2 6/beware-of-most-prescription-vitamin-d-supplements.aspx

A regular dichotomy, eh?  I like to keep people guessing!

Most MD's are not going to listen to anything that Mercola has to say.  Hell, even I think he is a quack and I am not a doc nor do I play one on TV.

Dr. K really pushes the sunshine method of supplementing vitamin D. But it won't work if you are covered in sunscreen.

Sunshine exposure: Vit D really appears to be a YMMV issue. I have been in a ton 'o sun without any improvement. Both endo's that I have seen stated individual response can vary dramtically.

If it makes you feel any better, when I asked Endo Doc #1 about what role Vitamin K plays in calcium absorption, he looked at me quizically and said "Well, I thought it helped with blood clotting."      

Actually, I have heard that alternating D2 (yup, the oil caps) with D3 on an every-other-day basis has resulted in increased levels with some D resistant patients.

They make the D2 in dry as well. That would be an interesting experiment to see if switching them back and forth would work.

--g

 I agree.    I was also told that some people are having success with taking D3 with butter and or coconut oil.    To break open the capsule and sprinkle the powder into the oil.  Or take it with whey.

Also, I believe that taking my D and A in sublingual form has been of some assistance, especially with the A.   I've been taking 100 k sub A for a year, and I'm now into the normal range.     D went from 31 to 37, but that dang PTH is a climbing.