Vitamin D Registering Optimal

Day 4 of being back to work! Yeah! I'm glad yesterday wasn't a work day or I don't think I would have made it but today I felt good ... well rested after a long sleep. It was nice to see my colleagues who were away last week! It surprises me, though, how quickly I get tired. I was pretty tired when I left work this afternoon.

I picked up my Vitamin D test results (they take a long time) that I had done on January 20th, just before I started the high doses of Vitamin D (20,000 IU per day for one week, followed by 10,000 IU per day for three weeks) and after I had been taking 4,000 IU per day for a while ... I can't remember how long.

I'm happy to say that my Vitamin D levels have moved up into the bottom of the optimal range! That's good! My previous test showed levels of 74 nmol/L and now my levels are at 127 nmol/L.

I found the following chart in this Vitamin D Information Sheet (pdf). It generally reflects most of the guidelines I've seen, with only slight variations. I've put the "normal levels" from my Saskatchewan Health Region lab report in red.

• Below 20 ng/ml (50 nmol/L) = deficient (below 25 nmol/L)
• Below 30 ng/ml (75 nmol/L) = insufficient (25-70 nmol/L)
• 30 – 60 ng/ml (75 - 150 nmol/L) considered sufficient (no listing)
• 50 – 80 ng/ml (125 – 200 nmol/L) considered optimal by some groups (70-250 nmol/L)
• Over 100 ng/ml (250 nmol/L) = excessive (no listing)
• Over 150 ng/ml (380 nmol/L) = toxic (over 250 nmol/L)

This explains why my medical doctor told me that my 74 nmol/L was "normal", while my naturopathic doctor told me it indicated deficiency. My research leads me to strongly side with my naturopathic doctor and I marvel that my medical doctor didn't even encourage me to increase my Vitamin D intake to aim for something more optimal, considering I was at the very bottom of a rather broad range. Well, he wouldn't have tested my Vitamin D at all if I hadn't asked him on behalf of my naturopathic doctor. This experience (among others) reminds me of the importance of educating oneself and taking charge of one's own health. I also know now not to trust doctors to look out for my best interests. Well, not my doctor anyway. Maybe you have doctors who are more proactive and who believe in preventative medicine instead of just band-aid solutions. Note to self: get new doctor before I become even more jaded.

Kevin is still sick today. He spent the day on the couch probably sleeping more than anything. He's still sleeping.