Vitamin D deficiency

[SolarSystemmm]

Hello, a blood test has shown I am low in vitamin D but I take a supplement during the winter. My doctor suggested I get a better supplement, but I’ve no idea where to look? I currently take Tesco high strength, is that not good enough? I am outside a lot but obviously this winter has been very long.

Okay thank you, I appreciate the straight talking. I’ll go and get something different tomorrow. Thanks

That’s what I was going to say. DP has just had the same and was given a prescription.

No worries. It's easy to go down a rabbit hole of overcomplicated and conflicting advice on these things!

I take the Better you spray. The max one in winter and 1000 in summer.

Official advice is that everyone in Britain should supplement vitamin D in winter because we dont generally get enough from diet and you cant make it in your skin. As you are currently deficient you need more than the 10-microgram or 400 IU Vitamin D supplement that is official guidance. I agree you wont overdose in a couple of months and you can just make sure you get sun exposure from May onwards.

Our GP won't prescribe vitamin D. I used the 20,000 iu - daily. My vit D level was zero. No wonder I felt crap. I did scale it back a few years ago but just recently restarted back on 10,000 as a sort of loading dose as I was seeing a reducing level over some months and getting close to the lower end of 'normal range. I take with a triple magnesium supplement and vitamin K And a multivitamin! ). I use nutrition geeks.

If you search :Vitamin D & co factors. UK

Thats the group ive found to be helpful.

For me I have lousy health and dont always get out so if im not out as much then yes I do, if im out in the sun I dont take it as much. But from October to April its essential to take. I do have an app on my phone to tell me the times of day I am able to get vitamin D get from the sun (and which days you cant) but I think they took the app off the app store.

Its definitely been a learning curve for me, the group was handy for learning what doses to take, what ones are better quality and best time to take them.

You can also self check your levels with a finger prick blood test, it used to be around £30 and done at an NHS lab.

The thing is NHS levels are really low for the acceptable level so if they are saying you are deficient then it will be quite low, hopefully you see some improvement with a good supplement.

Honestly taking 4000iu for 2 months, if you are deficient, you wont overdose at all. You can always ask the GP to retest in 3 months or even pay out for the finger prick test (you just spot a few dots of blood onto a card and send it off for testing in an NHS lab) to check levels. But you really wont get high levels in 3 months.

My GP was the same and stopped prescribing them even though I tried to improve my levels for ages using the GP prescribed doses and it just didnt happen. They then said they cant prescribe any more and to just buy some over the counter with no guidance.

I ended up finding a vit D group, read lots of info and managed to improve my levels in a few months.

I was just about to recommend this one. Its tiny as well, which helps me because I have so much trouble swallowing tablets. It was a full year supply in one bag for around a tener too which I thought was good value.

The max dose daily is 4000IU. I’ve been taking that since 2020 and my levels have gone from 9 to 66
you can’t OD on that level, it’s the max recommended

Try this one -

https://www.british-supplements.net/products/clean-vitamin-d-k?currency=GBP&variant=39694472609866&stkn=c7b690bf9e3d&tw_source=google&tw_adid=790873020918&tw_campaign=23419570280&tw_kwdid=pla-2514134859327&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=23419570280&gbraid=0AAAAADfRhox5nXmKtAlxIh6eDjnSHY1Ai&gclid=CjwKCAiAzZ_NBhAEEiwAMtqKy7WuX9JbB-a-rRGaG1Eqqz35cyw-PkAUd8fyFZZXAb7eAM-LdR0IcBoC8B4QAvD_BwE

They only make 'pure' vitamins with no added fillers. There's a stronger one, but this is the one I take.

Yes I was wondering that. Ive been diagnosed recently too. Was given Vit D supplement. Will post pics

Hi @SolarSystemmm

I agree with those who say to go back to your Dr and ask them to prescribe Vitamin D for you, as they know just how low your levels are, and can prescribe the correct dose accordingly. When mine was low, I was prescribed a high level dose for 3 months and was then retested to make sure it had gone up to normal range. They then put me on a lower dose maintenance supplement with another test after 3 months. I was advised to try and get half an hour of sunlight on face and arms a day, though obviously this is hard in winter!

Good luck. 🤞

Which fats are you eating?

British Supplements are my go-to
you also need vitamin K with it to help absorption.