Can an excess of vit D build up in your system and what are the side effects.
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11/ 4/08 3:15pm
Hi tmscholes: Interesting question. I would ask your Dr if there are symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, because I've never heard of it, unless you are taking an amount way beyond your Drs or the RDA's recommendation.
If you want to find out what your level of D is, you can have a blood test to check it. The tests name is 25 (OH) vitamin D3. Different labs will give you slightly different normal ranges, but at my lab the normal range is any number greater than 20 and less than 100 with optimal levels at greater than 30. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) is 1,000 IU's of D3. If you have a vitamin D deficiency, your Dr *may* discuss taking a larger amount of D, but therapeutic doses are given through prescription only.
Here's a link from the Vitamin D Council on D toxicity.
Good Luck
10/ 5/09 3:44pm
Hi philene, welcome and thanks for your question. The National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends taking 1,000 IU's of D3 daily if you are 50 or older. If you are under 50 then the RDA is 800 IU's. This figure would change if you've had a vitamin D test and you score came back as deficient or extremely deficient. If your score falls in either of those two areas, then your Dr. would have to decide how much extra to take, to bring up the score.
You can take either D2 or D3, which ever you prefer. D3 is recommended by many as the preferred choice, but studies done on this reported by the NOF, say that taking either one, D2 or D3 is ok. If for some reason you want to take both, then you would add up the totals of the two and not go over 1,000 IU's a day (making that 500 IU's of each). Just be sure to check with your Dr. to see if the RDA (recommended daily allowance) is the proper amount for your tested D scores.
If you haven't had a vitamin D test, you may ask your Dr. to order one to see where you storage levels are at with regard to D. If you can get some sun, where you live, then you could cut back on the oral D, but many of us can't get that much unprotected (without sunscreen) sun, so we use oral D. Also, as we age it becomes more difficult for our skin to synthesize D the natural way, so most rely on taking oral D2 or D3.
When you say vitamin D I'm assuming you are referring to D2 (ergocalciferol) check you vitamin bottle for this name, so you'll know which it is, and D3 is (cholecalciferol).
If you have another question feel free to post again.
12/22/11 11:23pm
It is very difficult to take in an excess of Vit. D, it would require an extremely high dose of vitamin D over a period of time. It cannot happen at the doses recommended, even by people taking higher doses once their blood test shows they are insufficient.
Symptoms would first show up as abnormalities in the blood that can be determined usually with a routine metabolic profile.
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By tmscholes— Last Modified: 12/22/11, First Published: 11/03/08
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can you take vit D and vit D3 at the same time and if so how much of each?