Vitamin A and D

My last test it wasn't terrible but since then I've added quite a bit extra VIt D and I'm even almost afraid I might be over doing Vit D3.  I was taking 50,000iu for a little over a month PLUS whatever was in my calcium tablets...so I cut out the 50,000 iu cap daily and only took it every few days...then eventually I just stopped it altogether and feel a tiny bit better actually...but still in pain... It scared me one day because I dropped a 32 oz cup of water on my computer keyboard, because I couldn't hold it...and then I was using pruning shears to trim some thin tree branches a day later. The next day, the first joint of my pointing finger (on the palm side swelled so bad and hurt terribly...Then my finger swelled twice it's size and I didn't do anything unusually stressful to my hand...It was so painful I had to wrap it with thick sponge in my hand to hold the entire hand firm but slightly bent or the pain was so bad!!!!! An emergency greater than mine kept me from the doc and after about four days of keeping it wrapped the swelling and pain left....I can still feel a tiny twinge of pain (been about a week since it  began to feel much better).....My neck is much better too...and my elbow remains the most painful....I've been in pain about a month now. My D was 42.3 without the 50,000iu caps...so it must have gotten higher after a month...That's about when I started to notice pain in my neck...then my elbow and eventually my hand...I think I'm just gonna call and make an appointment for early labs and hope the doc will do them for me.  I'm wondering if over doing Vit D3 causes pain too??? I guess I need to research that...I thought I read about pain in the shoulders and neck being a sign of overdose...But which vitamin? I can't seem to find where I read that...

Anita, You might have arthritis.  Make sure you tell the doc about what happened. He might want to test you for RA (rheumatoid arthritis).  I don't have RA, I have osteoarthritis.  I take Plaquenil for my joint pain.

Thanks Lynn...I'm glad you posted this thread because I wanted to talk about this stuff and this was a great thread to start ...I probably do have RA...I had it in my knees before WLS...so I guess it's possible...I've had only mild achy-ness in my knee over the last 4 years and it's been almost non-existant since WLS...No other joints ever hurt  chronically except my neck where I have a compressed disc...so I expected my neck to go in and out of pain now and then.  But the rest is all new and screaming painful...not just achy...So I just assumed it had to do with something recent...I recently found I was deficient or near deficient in most of my vits...so I started a religious routine taking the right ones in high doses...but the doc only retested for my anemia and not the rest of the vits... I tend to either be too passive or over cautious....I know some vits are toxic but usuually it takes years for toxicity to build...so I'm not too worried...but it weighs heavy in my mind...I wish there was some sort of home tests we could do to see how our vits are doing...Waiting for months when you are on a new vit or supp is really hit or miss...It's frustrating!  Hugs!

your last level was 42? Still low.

My 4/07 was 70, what the docs wanted. Then they wanted 100, so 10/07, it was 98. I kept doing what i was doing, so 4/08 it was 160. ? What?

ranges from quest: 20-57
lab corp: 32-100
hospital group: 32-150

Am I a teeny bit high or a whole lot high? Depends on the day and which study, which lab. I had no symptoms of high D, probably because what is really HIGH, has not been determined yet. Vit D is just too new, only measurable since the 1970's.

The achey joints coul be anything, not just vites,. Calcium, magnesium, somethiung food wise in your diet. Some things you can eat for inflammation that don't mess with anything else:
well, Coromega is EFA's
salmon
cantaloupe
strawberries
blueberries
pine nuts

look at Dr. Pericone. I believe he wrote the anti-inflammatory diet, which is a bit strict for me, but my friend raves about it. She's 16 yrs out from a surgery like mine--my mentor.

I'm not saying these have nutritional value for us, but they can calm the mean and angry joints.

It's just strange how it just showed up one day and the pain never left.  It just lingers and the more I do the more it hurts...but it never goes away.  The only place it went away is my neck.  FINALLY!  You would think my elbow would get better and my neck wouldn't since I have to hold that big old head up all day!  LOL  I dunno!   My doc has not retested my vitamins for 4 months after I went on supplementation...That's what made me a little scared because I'm not sure if my deficiencies or near deficiencies are getting better or worse or if I am over dosing...It's all a guessing game what your body will do with supps and which one will or will not absorb.  I really had no clear symptoms...pain is a HUGE symptom...but of what? LOL It's probably me getting old and falling apart at the joints!  LOL I used to have arthritis in my knees...but that all ended after I lost weight..So it kinda took me by surprise to just get this pain suddenly and not in my knees or back or joints that I use more than my elbow and on my weak side to boot.  I have to wonder too if it's Lyme Disease...I had several tick bites this year...and it's the right time frame too..I didn't have any visable signs of it....But I read that causes joint pain too. I actually addded omega3 and the nice guy at Vitamin Shoppe filled my bag with Coromega samples (a months worth)  WHEW WEEEE that is some crazy flavor!  Yipes!  I can't do that everyday...My tastebuds totally wigged out! LOL  I had lime fish taste in my mouth for hours!  The orange was not much better...It's like taking a shot of whiskey for the first time....Makes your head spin! I also started taking my Glucosamine and chondroitin with msm...but I have not been consistant in remembering to take it so it's not really doing me much good if I forget...But that always took the edge off my knee pain.  I just need to make an appointment for labs, I guess.  I hate going to the doctor... I love you lady!  You are always so helpful

Anita, I was achy also and requested my D be checked last year.  It was on the low end of normal, I started taking dry D and it improved rather quickly.  Was experiening it again recently, upped my D and it's help yet again.  Mine hasn't been in the deficient range but I guess the lab range is lower than what my body wants. Good luck with your labs, let me know how things turn out for you. Hugs,

Vitalady posted a reprinted article from Today's Dietician, Vol 8, No 10, P12, of October, 2007, called "Should 'D' stand for "Deficiency"?  It's a 5 page article with some references and Q & A at the end. Basically it states the over half of the US is deficient in D.  This was the same topic of a NBC newscast last week, where a researcher recommended that even children take 1000 IU of D on a daily basis, as well as adults. I know that my initial labs as a post op showed D levels of 8.  Normal range is 30-90. My doc put me on those prescription 50K IU caplets of D, one per week for 12 weeks, and then retested. I did this process 3 times, and my final D was only able to get to 14.  I did some reseach of my own, and it appears that liquid vitamins are absorbed better and quicker in the body than pills. I found a good liquid vitamin, with 600 IU of D, and began taking it. 7 months later, I had my 2 year labs done. The D levels are now at 33, which is within normal limits, but just barely. This "story" and lab results are on my profile page. In an effort to increase D levels, I'm currently taking Vitalady's 5000 IU dry D3 capsules.  So following your labs on a regular basis is very important. I've met some people at support meetings who only do labs 3 months post op and then not again until 1 year. I always tell them to get at least one more lab reading at 6 months, to see how their vitamin levels are being maintained. If you wait too long, deficient vitamins may have already done damage. Current studies also show that people who are deficient in D, and more prone to some cancers, most commonly colon and prostrate.  DAVE

You would notice colon and prostate, but what grabbed my eye was breast and cervical cancers. Interesting, no?

Now that D is considered an ati-oxidant, like A, C, E, it is critical to pay attention and I prefer every 6 months FOR LIFE. If I had stoped checking back in 95 or 96, I'd be languishing at 22 or so, where they thought was good THEN. And we didn't have these high dose products back then, just the old A&D.

It pays to keep checking, and after you tweak it, be sure it was tweak ENOUGH, or not too much, tho it is hard hard, hard for rny or Ds to ever reach too high.

I'm a huge fan of keeping all labs, and op report(s) starting from pre-op til forever. Make a spread sheet, Excel or even by hand. Watch the trends, copy for your docs on your routine appts. ASK if things ere going uppppppp too high or doooooooooowwwwn too low.

Is dry D and dry A a pill or powder?

I take dry A, D, and E in capsule form.  I don't know if it comes in tablets.  You can buy from vitalady.com, Vitamin Shoppe, Whole Foods or any health food store.