Vitamin D question

What dosage of Vitamin D should I be taking while on a 3 week pre-op liquid diet ?   I saw one in the store at 400iu and one at 1000iu.  What happens if I take too much?

While at Kaiser's bariatric program today for a follow up appointment, I learned that they have just added 1000 iu per day to their post surgical vitamin regime.  It is a fat soluble vitamin so you can overdose yourself.  Test results from their postop patients are showing a fairly high number that are deficent in Vitamin D so that was the reason for the change.  I would expect more and more programs to start to add it to the list of recommended vitamins for post ops

The RDA from the FDA is 1000 IUs a day, although new studies are pushing to have the RDA changed to 2500 to 5000 IUs a da (this is for nromal people...not post ops). .  I'd highly recommend a dry  vitamin D, because D3 is absorbed much easier by both preops and post ops. It is rare that a person can OD on D, as a post op, it's almost impossible.  As a post op, your blood will be drawn regularly, and most doctors check your D-25 levels to see if you have enough D in yoru system.  Too much D can cause over calcification of your bones, but again it's very rare that people get too much D...and in 3 weeks before surgery it won't be enough time to over do it (my opinion, not medical advice). Scott

RDA for Vitamin D is 1,000IU per day. Tolerable Upper Intake Levels for vitamin D for adult Men is 2,000IU per day. Although rare, Overdosing of vitamin D can produce Calcinosis, the depositing of calcium and phosphate in the body's soft tissues such as the kidney, (kidney stones) and Cartilage in joints and Calcification on heart valves. Although, it would be difficult to get too much Vitamin D unless you were taking over 2,000IU’s a day. Much new research is pointing to the fact that the standard Recommended Daily Allowance may be set too low. Best Wishes- Dx

 

I have brought the up Vitamin D question before.  I have had kidney stones so too much may hurt me.  My labs came back ok for D.  I just wonder how much malabsortion is going on.  I do know one thing (just me, not science), post op, when I am out is the sun, it will give me energy.  Not it is nice on a winter day to feel the sun on me.  No!  I mean I have renewed energy when I am out in the sun!!  I am like a plant or a solar panel...That is why I am wondering if I am getting the absorbtion from food and the suppliments or from the sun.  I will try and sun bath everyday for at least 15 minutes.  I may be nuts, but we still don't know completely how much malabsorbtion is occuring...Brian

Actually the sun thing might not have anything to do with vits...but sun light is a natural mood elevator....it has the same effect as many prescription drugs....it's one reason that for seasonal depression, light therapy has become the treatment of choice. Scott

The sunlight thing is an interesting question, Brian ..     My N.P. at my doc's office told me that, unless you get 15 mins of sunlight on your skin a day (and it must be natural sunlight, according to her) then you can "take all the Vit. D supps you want but your body will not be able to utilize it" ..  I thought that sounded "odd", since I know so many shut-ins don't get any sunlight but make out just fine with their Vit. D levels ..   I've since talked to some nurses, as well as my surgeon, and they say that is nonsense.      You are best setting your intake level to whatever your blood tests for D. dictate ..  I don't know about the RNY malabsorption rate for D, but I know it is not uncommon for us DS patients to have to take 10K IUs a day (I do), 50K IUs daily, or even 100K IUs daily (as one doc that has had DS herself does) ..  The trick is to seeing how the blood calcium levels (ionized and non-ionized) relate in proportion to the calcium PTH levels, to make sure you are getting an adequate dietary supply of D w/o leaching it out of your bones and teeth ..

Us canucks get somewhat less sunlight than south of the border folks...so we have always known that 1000 units daily can help big time. Last spring a huge study here in Canada showed that Vit D also a great cancer preventative agent too...so that also helped me out mentally. Been taking 2 x 500 unit pills now for about 6 years, and never ever have had any troubles with same. Caution tho, pls DO tell your pcp about this as it can affect other items in your daily pill intake list....or so I was told.  Jim