Author Topic: Vitamin D  (Read 8018 times)

Vitamin D
« on: 03 March, 2018, 10:26:55 pm »
I had to have some blood tests and now I’ve been prescribed Vitamin D supplements at 20,000 IU two times a week for 7 weeks. Is this extreme and can I still ride? GP never said I couldn’t ride. I suppose I can ask etc.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #1 on: 03 March, 2018, 10:40:51 pm »
I'm taking mega doses of Vitamin D (3 x 25 mcg daily) because my neurology consultant suggested it might be helpful. It does not make me feel any different. I can't see that this should affect your riding.

IanDG

  • The p*** artist formerly known as 'Windy'
    • the_dandg_rouleur
Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #2 on: 03 March, 2018, 10:47:01 pm »
I take about 40 micro grammes/day - I have suffered with depression for a long time and was found to be vitamin D deficient - I have managed to take control,of my depression since staring on the supplements, may be coincidence

fuaran

  • rothair gasta
Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #3 on: 03 March, 2018, 11:58:18 pm »
Most people in the UK are probably deficient in Vitamin D over the winter.
I don't think there's any reason to avoid cycling, unless you have been specifically advised not to? Doing some exercise may help with Vitamin D levels, and help prevent osteoporosis etc.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #4 on: 04 March, 2018, 09:27:44 am »
Thanks everyone. I’ll just keep on riding indoors/outdoors when the weather lets me. :)

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #5 on: 04 March, 2018, 02:29:36 pm »
Very interesting how this seems to be rising up medical consciousness.  There are real problems from taking vast amounts of Vitamin D.

BUT

The suggestion is that the normal range for vitamin D was derived from blood tests on lancashire mill workers around the turn of the last century. They might have been compatible with life but were not necessarily the best level.

I like a large number of my colleagues take regular Vitamin D supplements .

(I am not however an endocrinologist)

A vitamin D test also costs about £70 so you only get one in most places.  Once you are found to be low you just stay on supplements.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #6 on: 04 March, 2018, 03:19:22 pm »
Some seemingly sane advice here

https://www.nhs.uk/news/food-and-diet/the-new-guidelines-on-vitamin-d-what-you-need-to-know/

Note particularly the “low level of vitamin D” does not necessarily equal “vitamin d deficiency”. Also that most individuals of Northern European origin get enough from sunlight and a balanced diet April-September assuming of course exposure to sunlight.

Guidance for supplemental vitamin d and suggested dosage for “normal” adults is here

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-d/

although I don’t think that mentions depression as a symptom of deficiency, which some other websites do. Or it may be a vitamin d supplement holps moderate depression.

Personally I’ve never taken vitamin supplements of any type, not for any particular reason, just it never occurred to me.



We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #7 on: 04 March, 2018, 03:57:23 pm »
I was deemed to be vitamin D deficient in 2014 and given the 20,000 IU twice a week for 7 weeks, then a gap then a retest and after that I was prescribed 1x 800IU a day which I do take. In my case I had random symptoms like a specific kind of tinnitus and palpitations/balance weirdness which cleared up once I started supplements.  I haven't been retested since pre-regular supplementation but part of that is the virtual impossibility of getting blood out of me and negative effects I get from trying...


Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #8 on: 04 March, 2018, 08:55:09 pm »
The problem with the advice is that it is predicated on a normal range which may not be accurate.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #9 on: 04 March, 2018, 09:01:29 pm »
I now take a Vitamin D supplement because I am a night worker and my employer has advised we all do, particularly over the winter months when we are all SAD prone. There has been some research that suggests many people could benefit from doing this over the winter. No special precautions needed on these supplements.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #10 on: 04 March, 2018, 09:41:37 pm »
The problem with the advice is that it is predicated on a normal range which may not be accurate.

Indeed. So how have you and your colleagues arrived at a suitable level of supplement, and what is it please? I’d be interested to know.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #11 on: 04 March, 2018, 09:51:38 pm »
Hi guys, I am not diagnosed with depression. Some interesting stories here. Usually I am commuting daily even in winter on my bike but not since I left my job in mid December.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #12 on: 04 March, 2018, 10:07:59 pm »
We have no idea what the appropriate dose is.

However we know that any ‘normal range’ not done on people spending most of their day outside and done during the smogs of the 1920s is probably not ideal.

If somebody wants to look for the normal range in Italy or California and compare it with the UK I would be very interested.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #13 on: 04 March, 2018, 10:33:19 pm »

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #14 on: 05 March, 2018, 08:54:46 am »
We have no idea what the appropriate dose is.

However we know that any ‘normal range’ not done on people spending most of their day outside and done during the smogs of the 1920s is probably not ideal.

If somebody wants to look for the normal range in Italy or California and compare it with the UK I would be very interested.

Let me rephrase my question then  :)  what level of supplement do you take?
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #15 on: 05 March, 2018, 09:26:24 am »
If somebody wants to look for the normal range in Italy or California and compare it with the UK I would be very interested.

Surely a normal range would be found amongst those living in East Africa and not wearing many clothes.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #16 on: 05 March, 2018, 11:04:10 am »
I use a sub lingual vitamin D spray with one squirt per day throughout the autumn-spring.


East Africa may not be best as skin pigmentation may then have an effect.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #17 on: 05 March, 2018, 11:11:11 am »
I was just thinking that the normal range would be more likely in the latitude that we were evolved to live at.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #18 on: 05 March, 2018, 11:16:12 am »
I use a sub lingual vitamin D spray with one squirt per day throughout the autumn-spring.


So potentially a lot more than the 10mcg recommended - I looked at one, from Holland & Barrett - where it states the Government recommeded dose, but says "one spray delivers 75mcg vitamin d". There are of course many many more varieties available, often at higher concentrations.  I guess not all the spray dose gets absorbed.
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #19 on: 05 March, 2018, 11:16:51 am »
Evolved to live in????  I think that is another thread🤪

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #20 on: 05 March, 2018, 11:18:25 am »
DLux 3000 is my one at 75mcg.

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #21 on: 05 March, 2018, 11:23:33 am »
Evolved to live in????  I think that is another thread🤪

Why? Since Homo Sapiens evolved in East Africa wouldn't the amount of Vitamin D generated by exposure to sunlight at that latitude by the normal or standard amount for a human? You would have to compensate for the amount absorbed forma  hunter gatherer diet as well. Seems more logical than looking for a "normal" level in an envoironment that isn't really our natural one.
I think you'll find it's a bit more complicated than that.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #22 on: 05 March, 2018, 02:03:36 pm »
DLux 3000 is my one at 75mcg.

I take 3 Sainsbury's 25mcg tablets per day - same dose, different presentation.

My neurologist said up to 4000 units (100mcg) per day had few adverse effects.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #23 on: 05 March, 2018, 02:07:53 pm »
Evolved to live in????  I think that is another thread🤪

Why? Since Homo Sapiens evolved in East Africa wouldn't the amount of Vitamin D generated by exposure to sunlight at that latitude by the normal or standard amount for a human?

Yeah, but then the mutants came along with their pale skin and ability to digest lactose and so on and changed the rules.

whosatthewheel

Re: Vitamin D
« Reply #24 on: 05 March, 2018, 02:25:39 pm »
I had to have some blood tests and now I’ve been prescribed Vitamin D supplements at 20,000 IU two times a week for 7 weeks. Is this extreme and can I still ride? GP never said I couldn’t ride. I suppose I can ask etc.

You don't need much to maintain, but if you want to increase levels, then you need mega doses. There is no side effect and no reason why you shouldn't ride your bike...

Even more so if it's sunny... :-)