I'started taking 4,000iu of D about a year ago when my first D test showed my D levels were only at 20. After a few months of taking supplementsi I got the level up to 50ish. My doc told me anything over 40 is good and I should cut my D intake down to 2,000iu to maintain that level. A few months on 2,000iu and my levels were back down to 30. So I went back up to 4,000iu daily. After many more months on 4,000iu my latest test shows my D levels are only up to 38. Not impressive. Now, reading around this site, my doc's suggestion that "anything over 40 is good" seems low. It seems the consesus around here is that optimal D levels are more like 80-100. At the rate I'm going that seems an impossible goal. I think I'm going to bump up to 6,000iu, but is that enough? Should I get really aggressive and go for 10,000? This is so frustrating. Why is it so darn difficult to get D levels up?
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GFAi - asthmai, sinusitis/rhinitis, tendonitis, low back pain, hypothyroid. Started abxii 1/9/08. Azi 250mg/day, doxyii, tiniii, 5,000iu vitD, rhodiola, SAM-e
Sunni- one thing to make
Sunni- one thing to make sure is that the tests come from the same lab so you know you are comparing apples to apples. There appears to be variability in the results between labs. There is enough evidence that D is used in such a host of processes in the body that those of us with chronic infectionsi and inflammationi are likely to use more depending on what we are dealing with at any given time. I see the consensus levels as 50-100, and for those of us who are ill I'd myself consider going for around 70 (I'm not up there myself yet). From all this, I'd say 40 is too low, especially considering the variation you are reporting.
I'm curious though, do you get die-off type of reactions as you increase your dosage? I certainly have, hence my slow increase.
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CAPi for Cpni 11/04. Dxi: 25yrs CFSi & FMSi. Currently: 250 aithromycin mwf, doxycycline 100mg BIDi, Tinii 1000mg/day pulses; Vit D2000 units, T4 & T3, 12mg Iodoral
Jim, I had die-off the
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GFAi -
asthmai, sinusitis/rhinitis, tendonitis, low back pain, hypothyroid. Started abxi 1/9/08. Azi 250mg/day, doxyi, tinii, 5,000iu vitD, rhodiola, SAM-eHi Sunnivara,I had
Hi Sunnivara,
I had additional die-off in the form of aches and pains, sinus troubles, additional rosaceai symptoms, etc each time I bumped my dose up by 2000iu a day. Most of these additional symptoms ended after @ 3 months on each level dose for me, but I remember that my impatience in jumping from an 8000iu dose to 10,000iu dose too quickly made for a huge reaction. It was even worse when I was just on 4000iu in combination with the CAPi antibioticsi...
There's no rush. You want to get your blood levels way up, to as Jim says probably the 70 or even 100 range (if you find as I did that you get more benefit by going to the 100 range), but you don't need to flatten yourself out in getting there. One thing you might use to help you get over the hump of the reaction at each new dose level is Ibuprofen, however. It really seemed to calm the reactions for me. I wouldn't want to stay on it forever (since IMHOi logically one might expect it to possibly prevent a comnplete immunei response to pathogens), but if it works in getting you over the hump of reactions while you're getting your 25(OH)D blood levels up, what the heck...
Hope this helps. Hang in there...
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Treatment for Rosaceai