Melissa! as I already said on my profile but want to re-iterate here, congratulations because you have the highest level of all the women I've talked to about vitamin D in the last 8 months, not counting my level and second in line overall with one man ahead of you!! I think it would be interesting if you were to write to the doctors/scientists I list on my profile and ask the same questions you are asking above.  Some things to consider are: 1) how long has your level been 50?  According to Dr. M.F. Holick, it takes up to a few years to rebuild only 25% of bone density once adequate blood levels of vitamin D are achieved (the first 32 ng/ml is reserved for calcium absorption). If this is your first vitamin D test, you won't know your history, but you can estimate your level by subtracting 1 ng/ml for every 100 IU's you currently take.  If you take 1,000 IU's, subtract 10 from your blood level, which would be 37, then subtract another 20% (~8) for error in the test, and your level might have really been 29 at the time you started taking 1,000 IU's.  2) are you taking all of the co-factors that help vitamin D work -- these are magnesium (which you are taking but maybe not enough?), zinc, small amounts of vitamin A, vitamin K, and boron.  For more info on this Dr. John Cannell's site www.vitamindcouncil.org and search on "co-factors," and ask your doctor to research this.  3) has your doctor tested your parathyroid hormone and serum calcium levels? If parathyroid and/or calcium are high, your body is sequestering calcium inappropriately. I can give you more info on this to talk to your doctor about it if you wish.

Thanks!  Not sure how long my level has been where it is now becasue it is my first one done.  For Vit D i take total of 2000 IU's a day, 1200mg/day calcium, and magnesium between 250-500mg a day.  Sometimes I take a multivitamin too but not on a regular basis.  I doubt my doctor will research this because the level is normal, and he won't see a need.  PTH and serum Calcium are currently WNL.  I have had problems with this in the past (high calcium and not sure of PTH, but has been tested) and have had a parathyroid gland removed, and adenomas scraped off 2 others.  This surgery was back in the beginning of 2009.  Since then I've been fine.  Thanks for the info.

Melissa.

Hi, Melissa, so you already know first hand about parathyroid disease. It's great that you got it taken care of and that your calcium and PTH are now normal. In terms of the vit D, since you are taking 2,000 IU's of D per day, at whatever point you started taking this amount, then you were about 20 ng/ml lower than you are now. If you are at 47 ng/ml now, you used to be at about 27. Then factor in the test error and you may have been 20% higher or lower.  Considering your health problems, I'm guessing your value was lower, with error factored in. If the test you get is very accurate, 27 is still low. I think in a previous blog you mentioned that you started with osteoporosis and now have osteopenia. So you now have higher bone density than before. Since Dr. Holick found that bone density improves by about 25% in 2-3 years, if you keep taking 2,000 IU's a day, it would be really interesting to see over the next 2-3 years if your bone density continues to improve. But you're probably on med's for osteoporosis as well, so it would be difficult to say what did what. In term of parathyroids, I have read in the scientific literature that the parathyroids first call upon D to enable calcium absorption from the diet. If there's not enough D, they send PTH to go to the kidneys and look for temporarily-stored calcium. If none there, PTH goes to the bone. Over time, the parathyroids are overtaxed and it is thought that this is why they enlarge. Of course, the bones are also overtaxed, thus bone disease. Even though you're still having some health problems, if you hadn't gotten your vitamin D level up, your parathyroids would have continued to be overtaxed by the low vitamin D. Keep up with your D, and consider raising it to 80 for breast cancer protection per the latest research!

No, not on meds for osteopenia.  Just calcium and vit D supplements.  In terms of raising my level, I'm just going to keep taking what I am and continue eating well.  Thanks fo ryour advice!

Melissa.

Hi Melissa, thanks for accepting me as a friend. I think your story in your profile is so honest . I suffer from fibromyalgia and I wish you would check out our website I have the link on my profile. There are no sales pitches or anything like that, it is a group of women that deal with chronic pain and invisible illness's. I think we could benefit from your life stories and hope we could offer support to you also. The owner of the website has osteopenia and I think you two could teach each other things on that topic. we will be there if you decide to check us out, have a good evening. Bindy

Hey Bindy...thank you for your support.  I think I will check out your website when I have more time.   I'd like to spend time on it.  Maybe Friday night/weekend.  I'm kinda short on time until then, but will be on this site checking email etc .  Thanks again :)

Melissa.

Sounds good Melissa !