Good Morning. Vitamin accountability post

Attention! Ok, LWs, who is on track with their vitamins?  Speak up!  I-can't-hear-you!

--gina

Me. Labs happening q6months at this point although we will test calcuim and D3 again soon.  Spreadsheet done to track.  Multi and calcuim morning and evening before bed.  Calcuim after lunch, iron and C mid afternoon a couple of days a week.  B12 sublingual noon a couple of days a week.  Per Drs orders, I stopped the D3 and lowered the calcuim for 3 months to retest. 

how high was your D3 that you stopped it completely for 3 months?  It can drop really fast especially in that long a period of time.   I dont know how much you were taking or how high you were but when we are way too high, we usually just need to take it less often and it drops to where we need but stopping altogether for 3 months sounds drastic.

My D level for an unknown reason went up to greater than 150 - they couldnt measure it, so we dont know how high it actually got.  It was 112 - 3 months prior and for the past year and a half plus  I didnt make any changes to it, so it seemed really weird that it went up so high.  My Endo was concerned that it was so high, so she had me stop it for 10 days and get retested.  I went in for my retest and it went down to 110 in just 2 weeks, so it goes down real fast when we cut it completely (I was on 3 times per week) - so she had me go back on it but 2 times per week instead of 3 tmes per week.  She retested it in 6 weeks and it was still 110.  She really didnt want it that high, so she had me cut it to once per week and that was a big mistake - in 6 more weeks, I plummeted to 52.  So, in 3 months, I went from somewhere over 150 - could have been 160 or could have been 200 or more - have no idea but anyway - I went down over 100 points in 3 months and I was still taking it - I was taking it 2 times per week for 6 weeks and 1 time per week for the other 6 weeks (only 10 days with nothing) - so I cant imagine what would have happened if I went off it completely for the entire 3 months - I think I would be back where I started preop at 16 or so.

I know you have to listen to your doctor but sometimes the doctors dont have the experience of what happens in these cases.  I have seen quite a few others go through the same thing as you are - there levels were too high and there doctors had them stop the D and when they got retested - they were shocked when there levels plummeted.  the High dose D3 really works, so when it is stopped it is no suprise that it would go way down.

I am just giving you my experience and also the recommendation from vitalady when my doctor had wanted me to stop it, she told me to make sure I dont stop it for more than a few days.

**Like**

it wasn't but 120.  i do think I will add some back in.  I hate going without it.  I have 2000 and 50000.  I was doing 50000 3x a week when they cut it out.

how long has it been since you stopped taking it completely?  120 isnt that high, doctor our levels go over 100 and go crazy and sometimes it is warranted and other times it is for no reason.  Yes, the range is 30-100, so going over 100 is high but what they dont realize and dont understand is that the D that we take is water soluable, it isnt in oil, so it takes more to get toxic.   You can still have side effects from it though.  I spoke to my kidney doctor about it when my levels were so high and he knew all about the D we take and he said my levels werent toxic but could have been causing my serious problems with kidney stones but we will never know since by time we tested my urine, my levels were way down.

I see post ops that get advise by someone I wont mention to take the Dry D3, 50,000 units daily and then wonder why they end up with D levels of 200 or higher.  That is way too high and no one should take doses that high especially when they arent getting labs done for 6 months - the stuff works too well.  I went from 36 to 97 in 2 months taking it only 2 times per week at the beginning, I can only imagine what would have happened if I would have taken it daily for 6 months.

For you, having taken it 3 times per week and ended up with a level of 120 = Ideally we want to be between 80 and 100, I think I would have cut to 2 times per week or 2 times per week for week 1 and 3 times per week for week 2 and alternate.  I know when I cut from 2 times per week to once per week,  I dropped from 112 to 52 in 6 weeks.

I really think you need to go back on the 50,000 unit ones  = if you are afraid to take too much, only take them once per week, that is still much less than before and I am sure you have plummeted a great deal by now and will need to get your level back up by now.  It is a tough area to play with.  I do hope it works out and I do hope you can get your level checked soon.

Im doing good, taking them at least 4 times a week now

Getting back on track from having to take a break from them due to the jaw surgery. Never got the liquid ones due to finances so just went without for a few weeks...

I have labs due next month so I should know what I need to adjust then.

Liz

   I'm pretty much on track. I use an iPhone App called "RxmindMe" which has an alarm and registers a little red circle if I fall behind.  After a really low D lab -- 19 -- I've been much better and trying to follow the Vitalady RNY plan and added additional D.  The combined vitamins are a blessing.
    I'm still trying to find the right time of day to take the iron/vitamin C.  Early morning doesn't work because I'd like to eat. I've tried early evening but it doesn't seem to set well then. 
~~Christine

I moved my iron to mid afternoon away from everything else I take.