Vitamin D Level Experiences from My Support Groups and Self

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to make a quick post regarding Vitamin D.   As we've learned from the information here, Vitamin D can help us avoid getting sick this winter or at least make any illness less.

Well, Vitamin D also has some link to fibromyalgia, in my opinion.   I run two support groups and asked ALL my folks to get their vitamin D tested.   It's a simple blood test.   ALL of us came out with very low vitamin D levels!    I'm also a member of several online support groups and a large number of those folks have also gotten tested and also have very low levels.

Now, some of these folks living in sunny Phoenix, some are even on beaches in Florida!   A couple are sun worshippers, admitting to being outside day in and out.    So, somehow, despite plenty of rays from the sun, their D was still low.    Several of us also take good multivitamins, I know mine says I'm getting the recommended daily allowance of D.

So now, I am taking in 2500 IU's of liquid D3 daily in addition to my multivitamin.    Some of the other people I know were put on mega doses, 50,000 IU's weekly for 12 weeks and then retested by their doctors.    We all seem to have trouble getting our D back into the normal range and then keeping it there.

I don't know if it's the fibro affecting the D, the D affecting the fibro or quite what, but I do know that with taking the additional supplement, I feel a bit better.    My pain has been out of control for some time, and I can say that it's a bit better of late.   Adding the D liquid has been my only change.  

So, I highly recommend asking your doctor for a blood test to check your levels of vitamin D.   Once you know that number, it's easy to see if you need the mega doses, just a good additional supplement, or if you are getting plenty of D in other ways!  

Take care everyone!

Aimee

Mardy's Note: This was originally posted by Aimee in October of 2009 in the recipes/food area of Lumigrate as there was a lot of activity at that time by people with fibromyalgia in that Forum -- the "foodies" had found us!  .  There were supportive comments you might want to follow along with, related to other's experiences with supplementing Vitamin D and FMS / MS.  The link to that 2009 topic (Thanks Aimee!) is: www.lumigrate.com/forum/vitamin-d [1].  May this all help YOU "Be well!" (and until then 'Be better!') 

ALSO, NEW for the fall/winter cold/flu season 2011/12, we built a unit about Vitamin D starting with a post by Robin Thomas - if you click on Forums and scroll down a little ways there's a section that's about cold/flu/allergies -- things that EVERYONE would seek out.  ND, MD, RPh added their comments, among others so well worth the read. Personally, my vit D levels were low even after all that is in my Jarrow bone builder and the amount typically recommended by the drop product (see Gary King's comment on the piece), so it was recommended I take that dose in the months I'm in the sun and increase even more for winter.  I now tend to 'chase bugs away' and it does correspond with vit D and other things I've worked on to change/improve.