Ever since I’ve been getting my vitamin D tested, it’s always either been deficient, or at the low end of normal. When I was sick in 2019 I was taking vitamin D drops with added vitamin K for better absorption and it went up to 45, but dropped back down last year when I wasn’t taking it anymore because a single bottle was $32. At that time I decided to try the vitamin D3 drops from Vitamin Shoppe because they often have a BOGO offer – I get two bottles for $22 and each bottle lasts a month or two, depending on dose.
During the winter I was taking 5000 IU daily but dropped to 3000 in April and then changed it to 4000 IU in mid-May.
Late last month I went to the doctor for my annual exam and she ran some bloodwork. Everything came back normal (including cholesterol), except for my vitamin D level which was through the roof.
Yikes! Luckily I wasn’t feeling any affects of vitamin D toxicity. However, my doctor, understandably so, told me to cease any and all sources of extra vitamin D so we could recheck my levels in three months.
I was fine stopping the drops, but I was apprehensive about quitting my other supplements that also have vitamin D in them (which I hadn’t considered when I determined my drops dose). In fact, I hadn’t even thought to check whether the Emergen-C I was taking had any D in it, and of course there was 1000 IU in it.
Florastor, which I take every night, recently added 400 IU to the pills they sell through Costco (which of course is the cheapest way to obtain them).
That being said, I did stop taking everything two weeks ago and as expected, my acid reflux has been worse, so I ordered some Florastor from Amazon that doesn’t have any vitamin D in it.
One other interesting development is that the soreness I’ve been experiencing in my cheeks and jaw for months has all but disappeared. I knew it wasn’t related to my nightly teeth grinding because it would develop over the course of the day, whereas most people wake up in pain. I was willing to consider getting a $3000 mouth guard from the dentist, however, if it kept up or got worse, so I’m glad it’s feeling better now. It could just be a strange coincidence anyway, so only time will tell.