I've started taking 5,000 IU of Vitamin D daily, and I feel amazing

Way more energy, far less depressed, less groggy in the morning. The flu has swept through my office, and I've stayed healthy. I've been taking the liquid form, so it doesn't have to be digested like capsules. Has anyone else experienced this? DL MDs, is this OK to continue until spring?

• Do you take it once a day or is this the liquid that you need to take 5 times a day to be effective?

• I'm doing it too mainly for my skin. I can't tell any big difference in energy. What kind are you taking? I know some vitamins are superior to others.

• Most ppl are Vit D deficient. Especially those who cannot be in the sun daily (which is nearly everyone). Go up to 6000IU per day. 10,000 is the cutoff where regular ingestion becomes toxic. 10,000 once in awhile if you forgot a day is okay, but generally, work with 6000 and see how it goes. In the sunny months, you could try 2000IU per day, unless you're a real sunhound.

  ND%20advice

• You only need to take it once per day, to be effective.

• Dr. Mercola has tons of info on Vitamin D. When the weather gets warm, for me the best thing to do is go in the back yard near sunset, remove my shirt and sit in direct sunlight for 15-20 minutes. Because it's sunset, the rays/radiation aren't anywhere near as severe. 20 minutes of sun gets you 20,000 IUs of natural D. Best way to do it.

  http://www.mercola.com

• I use D Drops. One drop per day in a glass of water is all you need.

• R6, are you a doctor? No. Because that's ridiculously under-dosing to the point of being ineffective. I posted my doctor's recommendations. If you have no deficiency (which nearly everyone does), you need 5 drops just to get to 2000IU which is the daily amount needed. If you're deficient, you'll do much better with 15 drops. Daily.

• Anyone from a northern climate will tell you vitamin D is THE survival tool for winter. Russia's military used to give it to the army, running back to the 1950s.

• You seem to have some serious anger issues, R7. Maybe lack of Vitamin D isn't really your problem.

• I'm taking Sundown Naturals liquid, once a day. Tasty orange flavor. $6.99 at Rite Aid.

  OP

• Ya got me, R9. I get perturbed when misinformation is given and it could hurt health. Vit D is important stuff.

• Great info, R5.

• I take 10, 000 once a week. Doc prescribed, btw.

• That is another myth. Nearly all your Vitamin D is absorbed through your eyes, not your skin, so even if you're covered up head to toe, as long as you're not wearing UV sunglasses you'll be fine. 600 to 800 IU is all you need with 4,000IU being the upper limit. People don't understand vitamins and Vitamin D technically isn't a vitamin as you can make it yourself. That is a key mark of vitamins that your body can't make it. Vitamins are catalysts. Look at it this way, if you light a stove, the flame is the catalyst that lights the stove. If you use a tiny match or a blow torch it still lights. It doesn't matter how much fire you use. The minimum is enough to get it started.

• You guys seem smart...do you believe that caffeine/coffee depletes Vitamin D? Other vitamins?

• If I take more any than 400 IU's per day, I get a massive headache. Which tells me that I'm not that D-depleted anyway, since my body only seems to like smaller amounts of it. I've heard the vitamin D is necessary for your body to digest & process calcium. So it's possible, OP, that the D you're taking is allowing your body to take in much more calcium from your diet than before and it may be the calcium health benefits you're feeling. I don't know, just thinking out loud.

• [quote]That is another myth. Nearly all your Vitamin D is absorbed through your eyes, not your skin, so even if you're covered up head to toe, as long as you're not wearing UV sunglasses you'll be fine. Citation please for some scholarly research that backs up this assertion. Your eyes can and do produce Vitamin D. But, they do not make all that we need, or anywhere near it. And 400-600 IUs a day is inadequate for the needs of most people.

• R4, Vit D, or any vitamin, absorbs better when taken in small doses throughout the day. 400 3x day is better than 1200 all at once.

• I had a Vit D deficiency test and my score was 11 (normal is between 50-60). My doctor put me on a 50K therapeutic dose (a once a week pill) which brought my score up to 49 after 10 weeks. I'm now on a maintenance dose of 5000 per day. I didn't really feel all that different afterward.

• My MD, who specializes in nutrtion, advises his patients to take 4,000mg of D3 each day, not plain D.

• [quote] are you a doctor? No. Because that's ridiculously under-dosing to the point of being ineffective. I posted my doctor's recommendations. R7, the poster never said what his/her dose was. What ever doseage R6 is taking depends on the concentration of vitamin D drops. You don't know how much is in one drop

• Good point, R21. I made an assumption that all Vit D3 drops are 2000IU per 5 drops, which is what my bottle is. R14, maybe? The S.A.D. lights say you must keep your eyes open and be facing in close proximity to their lights in order to reap the benefits (don't get cheap knockoffs - they don't have the light spectrum needed). I too have heard that Vit D drops don't work for some; that it can only be obtained from the sun. The sun is the best, most natural, and cheapest. But if you live a modern life and have a deficiency, anything that mitigates your unnatural indoors-based life could benefit your health. It's worth trying. I'm thankful I feel less fatigue and blues when taking it, so I'll keep on. R15, plenty online says caffeine strips nutrients. But so does sugar, and so do the phytates in all grains, seeds, nuts and beans that were not soaked before consumption (phytates keep seeds viable and dormant in nature until the rains come to sprout new life, but phytates strip nutrients from human bodies). It comes down to: how much time can you dedicate to creating health? Doing everything right takes a lot of work. Just do your best and make as many healthy choices as you can. R16 with headaches - were there other ingredients in the product? Is it a quality brand? I'd give it up too if I suffered. Just like I gave up fish oil due to burps and gas. I just eat sardines and smoked wild salmon instead (NW only, as that's the only side of the U.S. that has trustworthy wild fish). My doc says multi-vitamins are more useful when your daily dose is spread throughout the day, but if you are busy/forgetful, it's better to take them all at once than underdose. Her advice about Vit D differed when I asked if I should split it with Brek/Lun/Din and she said no, just once per day. I think it has something to do with fat-solubility, but I can't remember.

• Yes, R22, I've done homework on different vitamin chemical forms and I buy the most digestible (and unfortunately very expensive) types of supplements. For example, I buy a brand of vitamin C that has the hugest amounts of acerola - the bioflavinoid enzyme (in most plants, along with their C) that allows vitamin C to digest effectively into one's intestines. In other words, if you buy cheap, generic vitamin C with none of these "bioflavinoid" enzymes, then you're simply shitting your money into the toilet and your body isn't absorbing any of it. With pretty much any vitamin supplements, you have to do a little research and make sure you're buying a specific chemical form (i.e., trace minerals should have the word "chelate.") that's well-digestible for human intestines. Because the majority of vitamins are not.

• Isn't it true that if you get more Vitamin D your body will become Vitamin A deficient? Aren't these two vitamins in competition?

• No, r24.

• [quote]My MD, who specializes in nutrtion, advises his patients to take 4,000mg of D3 each day, not plain D. There are two forms of Vitamin D: D2 and D3. You want to supplement with Vitamin D3 as it is better absorbed and more bio-available. D2 is hardly even sold in drug stores or supermarkets. It is mostly used to supplement foods, like cereal and bread. [quote]4,000 IU being the upper limit. That is simply not accurate. [quote]Published cases of toxicity, for which serum levels and dose are known, all involve intake of ≥ 40000 IU (1000 mcg) per day. I urge you to look at the information that is provided by the Vitamin D Council (linked below). For some parts of that website, you need to be a paying member, but some very good general content is free.

  http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/what-is-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-toxicity/

• There may be a link between Vitamin D over- supplementation and kidney stones. Google "Vitamin D Kidney Stones" for the pro/con discussions.

• I'm afraid to take vitamin D because I had kidney stones.

• I was chronically low, so my doctor gave me the super stong dose for a bit and then down to a maintenance dose. Over all I have more energy and reserves. Odd thing though it seems to make my drowsy or maybe just relaxed so I take it at bedtime. Is that odd?

• I'm on 50,000IU 2x a week. I feel nothing.

• R28, you should have your D levels tested to see where you fall in the range. It might be helpful to take D3 under the advice of a doc, who can tell you how much and what to watch for. But yeah, if you've passed a stone before, it might not be worth it in the meantime. Most of us have some amount of malnutrition, actually. If the choice was mild malnutrition or passing a stone, I would not choose the stone! Also, do you drink a lot of water? Hydration is very helpful for preventing kidney stone problems (not necessarily 100% effective, but highly helpful).

• damn

• [quote]But yeah, if you've passed a stone before, it might not be worth it in the meantime. Most of us have some amount of malnutrition, actually. If the choice was mild malnutrition or passing a stone, I would not choose the stone! "Mild malnutrition" is not really the choice, however. If you look at the exceptional benefits of Vitamin D, you might not so easily dismiss it. I had a kidney stone 17 years ago. My Vitamin D levels are in the healthy range because I take 5,000 IUs a day (and have for a few years). But, my urologist, who is monitoring the Vitamin D levels once or twice a year, told me to make sure that I took B vitamins, calcium, and magnesium -- along with an adequate amount of water -- and I would never have another kidney stone. So far, so good.

• Placebo effect in action.

• It doesn't matter how effective the vitamin D is, if you use the "a-word" to describe yourself, you're a douche

• A word? What do you mean? To whom are you referring? Also, good info R33! That could save a few people who can't afford tests and doctors some money, while still promoting health. That's why I go on and on whenever I have health info. The more we can share helpful info that one of us has researched or paid an expert for, the more everyone has access.

• I try to drink a lot of water, R31

  R28

• The "A-word" is amazing.

• It also clears your skin. Anyone have that reaction? I had a pimple a day for years and found out I was deficient. Start taking about 2000 IUS ,and skin clear for years since.

  TMI but want to help

• The Vitamin D Council agrees with R7's recommendations. Most adults will need between 5,000 and 10,000 IU per day, though people with chronic health conditions such as autism, MS, cancer, heart disease, or obesity may need as much as double these amounts.

  http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/

• I've been taking 5k IU of Vitamin D 5x per week, but I can not feel any difference. The only supplement that has made a difference for me is magnesium. I was having restless leg syndrome at night. After taking a magnesium supplement the restless leg syndrome went away and I feel calmer overall.

• From what I heard about kidney gravel R28, from Dr. Joel Wallach (who's right about 50% of the time and full of shit 50% of the time), is that it's caused by a lifelong calcium definiency. According to Wallach's theory (I can't vouch for its accuracy, mind you), since bone cells die when they don't get enough calcium, they flake off into your bloodstream and eventually collect in your kidneys. It does make sense, because most people with stones are older and have had more time for their bones to deteriorate. The reason I think this is possible is that every person I've ever known with kidney stones has flat-out refused to take any vitamin supplements their whole life. I've never heard of a person actually getting stones from taking a bunch of vitamins even once (and I've worked jobs in the medical field). I know this is strictly anecdotal and not proof, but it does provide some food for thought.

• Well now you have R42. I was taking high doses of Calcium, too high, and came down with a stone. I stopped high dosing and have been fine since.

• Save yourself some money.. I used to take 3000 units of vitamin D a day because I never got out into the sunshine.. now I go for a half an hour walk with face and arms exposed, every day.. either before 10am or after 2pm.. and my vitamin D tests have come back robust.. and I'm saving 50 bucks a month on pills.

  Goodmorningsunshine:)

• I take 5000 units of prozac a day with some vallium and a whisky chaser every day.. sometimes every hour.. and I feel terrific!

  Liza

• [quote]now I go for a half an hour walk with face and arms exposed, every day Hello, UV skin damage!

• [R46] Before 10am or after 2pm!

• It's the end of the world, and I feel fine!

  REM

• Calcium pills have the potential of causing kidney stones.

• Vitamin D poisoning produces symptoms like the OP describes. And then the skin turns yellowish and the fingernails come loose. It's a terrible way to go, shouting, "But I feel so goooooood!"

• I've been taking a sublingual B12 for years that was advertised on TV and it has helped. I've heard that it's very overpriced and the same basic thing can be bought at other places. Any recommendations?

• To the person who started the thread, are you maybe a vegan? Vegans and vegetarians have the most food allergies and vitamin problems. Eat enough meat, eggs, and some fish if you can get it and you'll be fine.

• R40, please be careful with a 10,000IU daily dosage. Work with a healthcare practitioner on that, because 10k daily, over time, is a dangerous level. I could see for a short time, though, or not every day... R51, you can get higher quality supplements, cheaper, if you get them from health care professionals (some therapeutic grade supps are not available without going through a doctor). But it could be any number of modalities: naturopath, chiropractor, chinese medicine doc, homeopath. Call around and ask what they recommend, do they sell directly, and how much. I was taking what my health food store said was a high quality vite, and my doc showed me how the levels were lower than what hers offered, and her prices were cheaper too. I now use a brand called Omnivite.

• .

• OP I've started taking that dose daily and I feel good and I have avoided all the illness around me. So far so good. I've been hungry all the time, however, which is not good.

• What is the absorption rate of softgels? Internet searches puts it at 5-20%. That can't be right.

  Would ask a doctor if I had insurance