Vitamin D Toxicity

| Modified on Jun 06, 2024
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Vitamin D is critical for health. It is needed to help your body absorb calcium and necessary for your bones to be strong. Inadequate vitamin D levels can contribute to many health problems including cancers, autoimmune disease, low immunity, and depression.

While the ideal would be to get your vitamin D from your foods and from sunshine (your body uses sunlight to make vitamin D), this is not always possible. In this case, a vitamin D supplement is often taken, and generally with good results.

However, because vitamin D supplements are fat soluble, your body stores up what it is not using. Over time your vitamin D levels can become too high, which can be as serious as levels that are too low.

Symptoms of Vitamin D Toxicity

Hypercalcemia is a build up of calcium in your blood. This is the most common problem with vitamin D toxicity. Hypercalcemia symptoms include the following:

  • poor appetite
  • confusion
  • frequent urination
  • vomiting
  • diarrhea
  • weakness 
  • kidney problems

Treatment of Vitamin D Toxicity

In addition to stopping the supplementation of vitamin D, sometimes IV fluids are needed as well as medications.

How to Prevent Vitamin D Toxicity

If your sources of vitamin D are sunshine and food sources, vitamin D toxicity would be quite unlikely. The body regulates the amount of vitamin D it makes and fortified foods and vitamin D rich foods do not contain very high amounts of vitamin D.

If you take vitamin D regularly for weeks or months, or take a very high amount all at once, you are at higher risk for vitamin D toxicity.

If you do take vitamin D on a regular basis, it is wise to have your vitamin D levels tested. Inform your doctor if you take vitamin D supplements.

Children and Vitamin D Toxicity

Sometimes parents assume that vitamins and other supplements have no side effects because they are "natural." But most supplements do have side effects, depending upon the dose.

Children who regularly take a vitamin D supplement for health issues should have their blood monitored to make sure that their vitamin D levels are within the desired range.

As with any supplement, if a child should accidentally take a large or unknown amount of vitamin D or any supplement (especially iron) you should call your doctor or poison control center.


The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.

Vitamin D Toxicity

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Posted by Dany7330 (St Augustine FL) on 03/02/2024

My husband just got his lab work back and his vitamin d levels are over 240 as of February 2024! (We had him tested twice at 2 different labs to make sure) His d levels were low (24) in April of 2023, so he took vitamin d for about 3 months at 2000 iu daily. He has not taken any since and all other supplements he takes do not contain any vitamin d either. How is it possible that he is now at toxic levels? No one has any answers. Someone who works for alive4health said that they are starting to see this in people more frequently and it could be from one of the covid strains. I just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this or if anyone knows how to get these toxic levels down ASAP!

Replied by Art
(California)
03/02/2024
2332 posts

Hi Dany,

You didn't say if this is a 25 OH d test or not. This is the standard test for vitamin d level. There are other forms of vitamin d that you can test for. The 25 OH d test has a reference range of 30 - 100 ng/ml.

You didn't say if the 240 number is ng/ml or nmol/l. If it is ng/ml that is really high. If it is nmol/l that is in range, albeit near the top of the range.

You also didn't mention any medications your husband is taking.

Some prescription medication that are not vitamin D based, can cause vitamin d levels to increase. One such type of medication, is a heart medication, digoxin and another is thiazide diuretics with both generally used for heart issues.

Until they are able to resolve the high vitamin D level he should drastically reduce calcium intake from supplements and food.

Art

Daniela
(Jacksonville, FL)
03/04/2024
2 posts

Hi Art thanks for your response. My husband is not on any prescription medications and also does not take any Calcium supplements. It was a 25OH test and it was ng/ml.

The doctors at Alive4health have been noticing this trend and feel it might be a certain strain of covid that has caused this to happen in certain people.

Replied by John
(Amsterdam)
03/03/2024

A proper Vitamin D levels evaluation is always done by looking at 3 blood markers: serum calcium, D25 and PTH (parathyroid hormone) especially when one of the markers is out of the normal range. It is useless to have just D25 test done unless it is in the normal range.

Also Serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) are used to establish an individual's vitamin D active status vs. how much is stored in tissues and organs. in other words how much is available right now to be metabolised from your blood.

Calcitrol or D1.25 shows, in simplified terms, how much was metabolised from your blood.

It is possible to have high D25 and normal or low D1.25 which warrant more investigation.

So before trying to lower D25 you need to see the whole picture and it starts with getting 4 blood makers test done.

Replied by John
(Amsterdam)
03/03/2024

From one of the EC posts:

“Biology is almost never as simple as "low" or "high" on a lab value. Your body always has a reason for the adaptations you're looking at in the form of blood biomarkers and this is the art of listening to what your body is trying to tell you.

Micronutrient manipulation as a whole is a game that needs to be treated with care because there are feedback loops for everything in physiology.

Supplement protocols prescribed without proper analysis create way more questions than they do answers.”

You need to know the basics about vitamin D metabolism before making an educated decision about how to proceed with your husband's elevated serum D levels. I will try to simplify it.

Vitamin D 101

The major source of vitamin D is the skin synthesis, contributing to more than 90% of vitamin D blood serum concentration.

Vitamin D can also be taken by diet, from fortified dairy products and fish oils.

Vitamin D3 enters the circulation and is transported to the liver, where it is converted to 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), a form thought to be biologically inactive, but which is widely regarded as the best indicator of vitamin D status.

In the kidney, 25(OH)D is metabolized to 1,25[OH]2D (calcitriol), which is the biologically active form of vitamin D.

Vitamin D plays a key role in serum calcium homeostasis. The main function of 1,25(OH)2D3 is to increase calcium absorption from the intestine, through interaction with vitamin D receptor (VDR).

The effects of vitamin D are not limited to the maintenance of calcium homeostasis. 1,25[OH]2D regulates multiple cellular processes, with effects on immune system, cardiovascular function, and interplay with other hormones.

The association between parathyroid hormone (PTH) and vitamin D may be an important determinant of bone remodeling, mainly in the elderly. A negative and significant correlation was found between PTH and 25(OH)D levels. Individuals with low vitamin D levels were those who had higher values of PTH, while individuals with high values of vitamin D showed low values of PTH.

I am one who has D25 in the upper high range, normal D1.25, normal serum calcium and normal PTH, and VDR Taq polymorphism, both copies( from my 23andme report). I do take D3 10,000iu+boron+full spectrum vitamin K once a week.

Your husband's case is different and rather mysterious. Please get Ca serum, PTH, D25 and D1.25 tests done. It is a very important starting point in the investigation.

Art
(California)
03/05/2024
2332 posts

Hi Daniela,

Thank you for the reply. It seems like they just keep finding more and more health issues that Covid-19 causes as time passes. If his doctor is correct about Covid as the cause, just imagine how many people are walking around with unhealthfully high vitamin D levels unaware that they have such high vitamin D levels. Normally vitamin D is regulated by the body, but apparently whatever the mechanism is that does this in humans becomes perturbed in some people who have had covid.

I'm assuming his doctor has no remedy for this condition. The only thing you find on the web for high vitamin D level is to drink plenty of water to try and flush the vitamin D and calcium from your system. The other mention is to use prescription diuretics, but diuretics used long term, can have significant side effects. Another potential medical option is to try using bisphosphonates or corticosteroids, but again side effects can be a problem in long term use.

It seems that he should stay out of the sun as much as possible and lower his calcium intake as much as possible to help prevent hypercalcemia until his doctor can find a workable solution.

I'm sorry I don't have a remedy for you.

Art

Daniela
(Jacksonville, FL)
03/07/2024
2 posts

Yes, sadly this is how we know that this was man made and intentional.

We now have a protocol for him from the doc... fingers crossed it will work. He started vit k to bind to the high vitamin d levels in his body and phos pro along with infl to lower his calcium, and something called SLK pro to support liver and kidney function. And yes.... no sun at all for him

FYI - you can read about these supplements on alive4health

Replied by RB
(Somewhere in Europe)
03/14/2024
84 posts

Dany7330 in St Augustine FL,

My own experience with vitamin D has been nothing but positive. With minor exceptions to the contrary, my own serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D level has been between 149 and 750 ng/mL ever since 10/10/15 when I started testing it. On the positive side, while I have been on vitamin D at these relatively high levels, I did not have to do anything else, but during my sleep I have successfully healed at least 10 health issues I have always had, I have always wanted to heal, but had been too embarrassed to talk about. And no, there has been no negative side.

Dany, you are, or seem to be, primarily motivated by fear.

As opposed to fear, should not you base your decisions on reason, logic, science and experience?

Dany, you are not making any sense.

Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D is measured as nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL).

You did not say what your unit of measurement was.

But if you meant to say it was a serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D medical lab test of 240 ng/mL, then this 240 ng/mL test result, in itself, is no proof of your husband's so called vitamin D toxicity.

No, it is no proof of toxicity, unless he is also experiencing all or most of the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity, such as decreased appetite, nausea, vomiting, constipation, dehydration, polydipsia, frequent urination, confusion, lethargy, fatigue, muscle weakness, bone pain, AND kidney stones.

Further, why do you think this 240 ng/mL is too high? If it was me, I would NEVER rely on Big Pharma-trained experts. No, they are NOT on your side when they recommending that this serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D level should be between 20 and 40 ng/mL, or between 30 and 50 ng/mL.

FYI, Big Pharma is not on your side, and no, they are not pulling for you. About 99% of the time they work AGAINST you. They want you to be sick, and the sicker you are, the happier they are.

They oppose higher vitamin D intakes, and higher serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels, A) because such measures can significantly reduce the burden of human disease, B) because therefore they would reduce income and profit from treating disease, C) because they could not care less that healthcare in the U.S. is costing increasingly more and more, and when it is already at 20% of the US Gross National Product. View http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v14n22.shtml

Dany, may I suggest you start focusing on the benefits, and start talking positively about vitamin D.

I hope this will help you, or somebody!

Replied by RB
(Somewhere in Europe)
03/14/2024
84 posts
★★★★★

I LOVE vitamin D3.

The idea of vitamin D toxicity is likely to come up every single day. However, in my experience, there has been NEVER any vitamin D toxicity, if I took only 50,000 IU, or less, vitamin D3 per day.

Further, in my experience, the biggest issue I had is the never-ending stream of FEAR messages by Big Pharma, and by the so called doctors of Big Pharma, and by allopathic doctors and pill pushers who were trained by Big Pharma.

In other words, the only thing we need to fear are the FEAR MESSAGES THEMSELVES.

My serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D has been between 149 and 750 ng/mL ever since 10/10/15 when I started testing it.

There has been NO negative side to this, except for the above-mentioned fear messages.

However, on the positive side, at these relatively high serum levels, I had to go to neither doctors nor hospitals, I had to pay no money. I just had to rely on myself. In my own house, during my regular 8-hour sleep cycles that cost me neither money nor time, I successfully healed at least 10 health issues that I have always had, I have always wanted to heal, but no one knew how to heal.

Sorry about the lack of details; here we are talking about 10+ health issues that I was and always have been too embarrassed to talk about.

I hope this will help somebody!

Replied by Lu Blu
(Phoenix AZ)
06/06/2024

I found out I have Vita D deficiency so started with the recommended dosage of 500 IU…the following year, I was still under par! I asked healthy minded friends for advice since my Internist said start taking 1000IU. Some told me 2000-5000! Wow! I started to take 2K and added VitaK. The following year, perfect levels thanks to my friends. My doctor could not encourage Vita K because there were no literature/studies to support it. This was 5 years ago. Mind blowing what medicine has become or perhaps more people are taking more control of their health. I am!


Vitamin D3 Cholecalciferol

Posted by darkgohan (canada) on 04/10/2023

I have heard that vit d3 contains

cholecalciferol

and that this is rat poison. Does anyone know what the truth is? I have stopped taking Vit D3 after this news.

Replied by Art
(California)
04/10/2023
2332 posts

darkgohan,

You are correct, cholecalciferol is used as a poison for mice and rats and can be poisonous for some animals, however, it is quite healthful for humans as thousands of studies confirm.

Art

Replied by Sam
(Miami)
04/11/2023

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Vitamin D (also referred to as “calciferol”) is obtained from sun exposure, foods, and supplements. Dietary supplements can contain vitamins D2 or D3. Vitamin D2 is manufactured using UV irradiation of ergosterol in yeast, and vitamin D3 is typically produced with irradiation of 7-dehydrocholesterol from lanolin obtained from the wool of sheep. An animal-free version of vitamin D3 sourced from lichen is also available.

Cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) is in a class of medications called vitamin D analogs.