Vitamin D - Osteoporosis Message Board

yellowdaisy · 05-15-2008, 04:35 AM

I am very interested in the role of Vitamin D in osteopenia and osteoporosis. I recently had a blood test and my Vitamin D was 35. The doctor said this was normal (as the normal range at their lab was 20 - 100) but the nurse practitioner said it was on the low side and that I should supplement with 400 IU Vitamin D in addition to the D that's in the Citracal I'm taking (which adds up to 600 IU). Dr. Weil has published that, based on research at Harvard Med School by Dr. Willett, Vitamin D may be more important to bone health than Calcium. And that many people are officially Vitamin D deficient or borderline deficient. My doctors don't seem to know that much about it. Which type of doctor would be most knowledgeable about vitamin d (which I believe is really a hormone(?)) Would it be an endocrinologist?

Thanks for your help.

DesertBloom · 05-15-2008, 01:55 PM

Hi Nickshin: Yes, an Endo would be a good Dr for vitamin D issues, or a Mineral Metabolism Dr. I have vitamin D probs and am seeing both types of Drs. Unfortunately they can't figure out why my D 25(hydroxy), D 125(dihydroxy) and Cal are out of or below normal range.

I hope you have better luck than me on this, but if I had your score on D, they would tell me its within normal range. My lab says 32-100 is normal, but they all vary in range and some feel that the reference ranges should be changed to a higher number like 45-100, but this is still in the debate stage.

Good Luck...

starfish81 · 05-15-2008, 05:26 PM

I'm going to add my 2 cents worth here. Last summer, I was taking 2000IU's of D3; my levels were checked and I was at 100--which is good. I recently saw my naturopath because I had done some reading on treating osteo with Vitamin K and wanted to try this approach. So I'm now on 30-40 mg of K per day, and he told me to take 5000 IU's of D3 per day as well.
Nickshin, you had asked what "kind of doctor" would be most knowlegeable about vitamin D. Call me cynical, but after dealing with this diagnosis for years I haven't much faith in mainstream medical practitioners anymore. My suggestion, if you want to discuss vitamins and their role in treatment, would be to find yourself a good naturopath!

yellowdaisy · 05-15-2008, 09:19 PM

Thanks, Starfish. I agree that they don't seem to know very much about vitamins and such. I don't have a clue, though, on how to find a naturopath. I've heard of holistic doctors, integrative doctors, naturopaths, etc. What is the difference? How do you think I should find a good one? I don't think anyone I know goes to one.

Thank you.

jrose1358 · 05-16-2008, 05:52 PM

I'll add my input also. My family doctor tested my vitamin D levels after I was diagnosed with osteopenia. He seems very up on it. Anyway, mine also came back at 35 (32-100) which he said was considered low these days and according to recent research should be more in the 50 to 100 range so he put me on 50000IU's for 13 weeks. Was just retested and am now at 70 which he thinks is good. He said to take a maintenance dose of 1000 IU's in addition to what is in my multi and calcium supplements and then we will retest after awhile to be sure the levels are staying up there. He said vitamin D is important not only for bone health but also aids in the destruction of cancer cells and is looking like it will be an important element in the prevention and treatment of cancer in the near future. Go Vitamin D! - jrose