Vitamin D deficiency

Hello All,

After reading through various posts I got my wife, who is Beta thal minor, checked for Vitamin D levels. We were always under impression that those living in tropical areas (we stay in India) do not have Vitamin D deficiency. How wrong was our assumption !!

The report findings are as follows:

*25 (OH) VIT D2  (LCMSMS) 1.20 ng/ml
*25 (OH) VIT D3  (LCMSMS) 4.59 ng/ml
*25 (OH) VIT D TOTAL  (Vit D2 + Vit D3) 5.79 ng/ml

(Below 10 ng/ml is Deficient)

She met Orthopaedic doctor last week and was recommended Cholecalciferol 60K once a week for 8 weeks. She is supposed to take it after dinner. The other medicine prescribed has L-Carnitine to be taken twice daily for 10 days.

She is also an asthma patient and has egg allergy.

I was reading through the instructions which mention possible renal failures. Is the dosage appropriate?

Regards,
Nijaguna

The dosage is typical and safe. You actually want to see the level get above 30. It is quite common to be deficient in hot climates, as people tend to wear long sleeves and very little skin is exposed to the sun, and exposure is kept to a minimum because of the heat.

Yeah, the modern definition has changed to those who even live in "heated" areas. I bet our ancestors who hardly wore clothes has highest pit full of D levels haha.

Jokes aside, yes, that's quite low. You're fortunate (assuming there was no pain complaint from your wife) that she's not in pain yet. I was 9.63 in 2009 and I was all in pain, couldn't walk or lift my leg even by 2-3 cms. I had (and is still lasting somewhat) osteoporosis incurred due to low D levels. So yes, definitely supplement ASAP in large dose. 60K once a week is good, but I'd recommend a daily of 5K along with it too.

Back in February this year, I had around 28. Then I took a rigorous step and continued 15-20K daily for next 1 and half months and raised my level to a dreamy one, 62. Yes, and its been feeling good.

I've made quite a few Vit D related posts and threads, you can go check from my profile.

Best,

-P.

Hi All,

As my wife gained weight rapidly, the doctor advised the Thyroid test also. Here are the readings:

T3 : 0.93 ng/mL
T4 : 8.3 microgram/dL
TSH : 10.46 uIU/mL

TSH is on higher side. She has about to finish her Vit D medications next week.

As an aside, I saw an interesting link on net where Graves disease mimics Thalassemia minor.


Regards,
Nijaguna

The TSH is high and the others low to low normal. This indicates hypothyroid, not hyper. Graves is hyperthyroid. Even though symptoms of thyroid disease may be similar, the CBC would not be affected. The readings that indicated thal minor would not be seen in thyroid disease.

Because her vitamin D level is so low, I would suggest correcting this to above 30 and then re-test the thyroid to make sure the levels have not changed before beginning thyroid replacement therapy.