Reaction to Vitamin D Supplements?

[Quidam19]

I've seen several people mention they had low vitamin D. My most recent tests came back at a level 21 and so my doctor wanted me to take 50,000 IU once weekly. (I've done 5,000 IU per day before and it helped my numbers but for some reason this time they decided to go the weekly route.)

My question is whether or not any of you have ever experienced a reaction to taking that high of a dose? My pharmacist and doctor both assured me it is a normal prescription, so I gave it a shot.

First dose was last Saturday morning and I spent most of early Sunday morning in severe pain with constipation. Monday morning I thought I was going to throw up and could barely stand the thought of eating. I was shaky and dizzy and had a terrible headache that I was able to mostly sleep off in the afternoon. I have had pain since then in my stomach every time I eat (no matter what or how much I eat), and that pain seems to shift. I often have a hollow sort of aching pain even when I haven't eaten now. Another horrid bout of constipation last night too.

Is this normal? I've noticed a lot of the muscle pain in my body has really spiked since Sunday as well. What little Google told me was usually about hypercalcemia, but nearly all of those places also recommend I haven't take remotely enough to consider that a problem.

Anyone else had problems on 50,000 IU of D? Taking my next dose tomorrow morning and we'll see if this continues...

[helyanna]

Your blood calcium should be measured, eg. ionized calcium. High vitamin D may cause your blood calcium to rise too high. I have primary hyperparathyroidism, and I am not allowed to take high vitamin D or calcium suppelemets. When my daily intake of vitamin D was incresed from 50 micrograms to 100, I first got some symptoms but then atrial fibrillation. I cannot surely attribute the AF to the vit D increase, but AF followed the increase.

I have recently got positive results for Lyme from Infectolab, but I do not know whether the results are significant.

[Quidam19]

Just a followup. I took my second dose as scheduled and just as quickly as all my symptoms started with the first dose, they disappeared (mostly) with the second. Now I'm back to "regularly scheduled" aches and such.

I kind of wonder if such a big dose just kind of jump-started my system in a really funky way, and now it's working to even itself out. I suppose time will tell!

[MeganY24]

I had a very similar reaction and I didn't realize the extreme pain/headache were from the vit D until after I stopped the supplement and miraculously felt better!

I can't remember where I read this but it said that sometimes Lyme depletes the 25 OH and increases the 1, 25D

If that's the case for people who have bad reactions to Vit D supplements, it makes sense that the body would be alerting us that something is WRONG.

[cave76]

I've just started taking the 50,000 IU Vit D (just two caps so far, one a week).

I didn't expect to have any side effects from it----- BUT this last week I've been feeling er, um 'different' (meaning pains etc that I never had before).

Of course with Lyme I expect such things so I just racked them up to bad Lyme karma.

But I never had the awful reactions that you seem to have gotten.

I found this:
"Are there safety concerns?Return to top
Vitamin D is LIKELY SAFE when taken by mouth in recommended amounts. Most people do not commonly experience side effects with vitamin D, unless too much is taken. Some side effects of taking too much vitamin D include weakness, fatigue, sleepiness, headache, loss of appetite, dry mouth, metallic taste, nausea, vomiting, and others.

Taking vitamin D for long periods of time in doses higher than 4000 units per day is POSSIBLY UNSAFE and may cause excessively high levels of calcium in the blood. However, much higher doses are often needed for the short-term treatment of vitamin D deficiency. This type of treatment should be done under the supervision of a healthcare provider."

My PCP rx'd this dose of Vit D.
Some of the possible effects aren't relevant to me. I only take it once a week.
But your reaction has made me re-think this. Thinking is sometimes not advised (grin) but this week I've had 3 episodes of cramps in my legs in the morning before I get up. I've not had cramps since like----- years and years!

You've opened up some food for thought.

[mojogal]

I never had a reaction to vitamin D at a large dose. Can't explain it.

[Caryopteris]

I suggest you not do this again since you seem to have reacted so strongly.  I cannot explain why it happened, but if these symptoms are new for you and happened after the shot, they could be related and it sounds like your body objects to this treatment.