Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => The Knowledge => Health & Fitness => Topic started by: TigaSefi on 03 March, 2018, 10:26:55 pm
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Thanks everyone. I’ll just keep on riding indoors/outdoors when the weather lets me. :)
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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.
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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.
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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...
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The problem with the advice is that it is predicated on a normal range which may not be accurate.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5480134/
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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?
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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.
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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.
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I was just thinking that the normal range would be more likely in the latitude that we were evolved to live at.
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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.
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Evolved to live in???? I think that is another thread🤪
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DLux 3000 is my one at 75mcg.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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... :-)
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Mega dose Vitamin D can have side-effects!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervitaminosis_D)
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Mega dose Vitamin D can have side-effects!
They are the ones prescribed by doctors... typically they equate to something like taking 50 cod liver oil capsules or so. If they have side effects, it's not something most people notice. My wife took them for a while... no side effects.
My point is that there is a reason why the OP has been prescribed a very high dosage. I can't see any medical reason why he/she should refrain from exercise
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My Seven Sea Fish oil capsules contain 5 micrograms (200 international units) per capsule.
My Sainsbury's Vitamin D tablets contain 25 mcg/1000 iu each, so each tablet contains 5 times as much a a 'cod liver oil' capsule.
Neither is a prescription medicine but people ought to be a little wary...
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My Seven Sea Fish oil capsules contain 5 micrograms (200 international units) per capsule.
My Sainsbury's Vitamin D tablets contain 25 mcg/1000 iu each, so each tablet contains 5 times as much a a 'cod liver oil' capsule.
Neither is a prescription medicine but people ought to be a little wary...
My wife was prescribed 10,000 IU, so that's like 50 capsules of cod liver oil... at the time the consultant (endocrinologist) said that you can't increase levels from low with off the counter products and high strength was the only way.
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That's generous, cos ten little Sainsbury's (1,000iu) tablets are cheap and easy to swallow.
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A few years ago when I tested at 9 (norlam being 50 of whatever units were used), I was told to take 5000iu pills once daily. I repeated that the following year, but I've not been doing it for a while - I should probably do it again next winter.
My daughter has been prescribed 25ug daily to bring her levels up.
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Sainsbury's 25mcg (1,000iu) Vitamin D tablets: 180 for £4.
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I think that's what we gave her when she point blank refused to take the liquid vitamin D she was originally prescribed. Couldn't blame her, it was really unpleasant!
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The Sainsbury's tablets are small and almost tasteless. Suits me fine...
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Vitamin D supplementation should be considered in the context of the availability of other fat soluble vitamins in the diet; in particular A & K
https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2009/04/07/tufts-university-confirms-that-vitamin/
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On my blood pressure travels, I keep reading with increased regularity that Vitamin K-2 is important to take in conjunction with Vit D-3 as it directs the calcium that Vit D mobilizes into the bones and not to the other places in the body[like the heart and joints] where it's not wanted and could cause problems in the future.
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Well I got my dose from the sunshine today :thumbsup:
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Well I got my dose from the sunshine today :thumbsup:
Haha great isn’t it! I took my last dose yesterday. Will have blood tests next week. Gonna go up Box Hill tomorrow for a wee jaunt before a 300km on Saturday! That should be tons of Vit D coming my way.
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Due to my ongoing seasonal lurgy which is causing a persistent cough & fatigue, I had a blood test the other day. All OK apart from slightly high cholesterol (6.67) and what the GP described as rather low levels of Vitamin D. 25 , where the norm would be 75 - 150 , so it's been suggested I get some over the counter supplements. Off to the shops I go I suppose.
"Vitamin D was low at 25 and a normal range is 75 up to 150 and anything above 50 is acceptable and I suggest you purchase vitamin D supplement Hux D3 20,000 units from the chemist and take one a day for 2 weeks equals 14 and then one every 2 weeks and we can recheck vitamin D in 2-3 months to make sure getting better."
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the prescribing guidelines in Derbyshire state
"Patients who continue to be at risk following deficiency correction should be encouraged to make lifestyle changes such as increasing dietary intake of vitamin D, increasing safe sun exposure, and to purchase OTC supplement containing colecalciferol 800units (20microg) daily from their local pharmacy, health food shop or supermarket. Note preparations containing 1000 units (25 micrograms) are considerably cheaper to purchase than those containing 400 units (10 micrograms) or 800 units (20 micrograms) and are suitable for maintenance."
If the bloods show a level of less than 30nmol/l we prescribe a short course and after than its over the counter.
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Sainsbury's 25 microgram (1000 unit) Vitamin D tablets are listed as £6.00 for 180 today; that's a whole 3.33p each.
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Well a week on the supplements & my reading now shows 50, so that's an improvement. I did a fair amount of walking at the weekend & while tireder than usual wasn't totally knackered.
I've still got this dry cough & post nasal drip which is annoying me a bit. Some sites suggest nasal irrigation, though I don't think that sticking my Waterpik pressure flosser up the schnozzle is a good idea...