vitamin D poll

1.  What was your vitamin D level last time you had labs done?  (Keep in mind that, according to the Linus Pauling Institute, it needs to be at least 80 or else you're at risk for stuff like osteoporosis, heart disease and some kinds of cancer)

2.  How much D3 were you taking at the time you had labs done?

What I'm looking for it how much D3 it takes the average post op to maintain a level of 80 or above.  I talk to lots of people about their labs and vitamins and it seems to me that most need at least 10,000 IU D3 a day (that's beyond what's in their multi and calcium supplements), but I've heard a couple say they were doing it on just 5,000 IU daily.  So I just want some more numbers so I can do the math and figure out the average.  I realize this is not real scientific.  But I wanna do it anyway.

For myself, last time I had labs done I had been taking 50,000 IU D3 four times a week, so that would average out to a little more than 28,000 IU daily.  My D level at the time was 142.

mine was over 100, I think in the 120s.  I was taking 50,000 a day.  I have dropped back to 3x a week but haven't had it tested since.

I was in the low to mid 70's at 12,000 per day so I upped my dose to 16,000 per day and will have it checked again in a couple of months.

1. Don't know off-hand. I only go once a year now to my surgeon. I did have it tested mid-year but don't remember off hand what it was. I can check when I get home since that's where I keep my lab tracking sheet. I remember off hand that it was a little higher than the baseline but not by very much.

2. 50,000 IU a day. Still do. Every time I drop down to a "normal" amount, it seems to take a nosedive. I had bloodwork done to confirm it but I can usually tell because I get really bad foot muscle spasms when my D drops.

I didn't know foot spasms are a symptom of low D...since I've increased mine, I do not have the cramps anymore!

I did not know that either.  I have horrible leg and foot cramps.  I woke up last night with a really tough one.  What brand of D3 do you talke?

I think it is Nature Made....it is a chewable-tastes like a sweet tart...I take them 3x per day...they are 1000 IU each, then I get some D3 in my mult and my calcium.

Is that a special brand you buy online, or does Walmart, Walgreens, etc. have them?

Most chain stores carry the brand, but I've only found the chewable D3 at Publix and Amazon.

I would  have to dig out the paperwork to give you the exact number, but it was just over 100 (something between 100 and 109).  That is with a dose of 50,000 units 2x per week.  

My level was only 9 (!) when they did my 6-month post-op labs -- and I confess that, at the time, I did not realize how serious this was, or how many of the things I had been experiencing physically before surgery might have been because it had been that low for a very long time! -- and it was still only 20-something at the 1-year mark while we were messing around with increasing it as they would for a non-RNYer (add 1000 units per day for a couple of months, re-test, repeat).   It took ME taking the initiative -- based on info here -- to bump it up to 50,000 4x per week to get it up to around 70 ( and then, ultimately, higher). I then dropped it to twice a week and have been on that for 2 years.

Lora