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I was diagnosed with low serum levels of vitamin D so I take daily supplements. The general guidance for my condition is 1000 IU daily. At one point in time,

I was diagnosed with low serum levels of vitamin D so I take daily supplements. The general guidance for my condition is 1000 IU daily. At one point in time, I discovered I had been taking 5000 IU/day instead of 1000 IU/day for about 180 days because of the bottles being identical except for the dosage printed in Flyspeck Times Roman 4pt. Fortunately, I alerted my doctor and a followup blood test confirmed I was still in normal range. Scary to think how that could have been a much more serious problem if I were more sensitive.

JohnMakin 3y ago
Yea, the dosage and labeling for sure needs work. I see 2000 IU doses regularly sold in stores and the bottle says you can take 2/day. Obviously no doctor would recommend that for anyone not sick. I also get regular blood tests since, I'd guess most people using supplements do not.
- chimeracoder 3y ago
  > Yea, the dosage and labeling for sure needs work. I see 2000 IU doses regularly sold in stores and the bottle says you can take 2/day. Obviously no doctor would recommend that for anyone not sick. That is simply not true. Doctors do recommend 2000-4000 IU for healthy patients all the time.
  - JohnMakin 3y ago
    I should clarify by what I obviously meant that doctors would not recommend that as a DAILY dose - daily implying long-term use is okay.
    - chimeracoder 3y ago
      > I should clarify by what I obviously meant that doctors would not recommend that as a DAILY dose - daily implying long-term use is okay. Yes, and I'm saying that this does in fact happen.
      - NovemberWhiskey 3y ago
        Concur - I was diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency and my doctor prescribed an initial regimen of prescription tablets at 50,000 IU and then suggested 3,000-5,000 IU daily.
        smeej 3y ago
        Might also depend where you live. My doctor did as yours, but I live in northern New England where we don't typically expose our skin to the sun for months at a time. Perhaps doctors closer to the tropics assume at least a low level of sun exposure?
    - toxicdevil 3y ago
      I was prescribed 3-5000 iu daily and then I changed doctors. When I asked about continuing the vitamin the new doctors said "I won't recommend doing a test because almost everyone has low vit d levels, even with daily supplements. Just keep taking the pills. As long as its not a very high dose you should be fine". My wife has a different doctor who does regular vitamin testing, she was prescribed 5000iu and a year and a half later her tests barely read "normal", still being on the borderline.
      - t0bia_s 3y ago
        Supplements never replace beeing outside exposed to sun where your body got vit. D naturally.
- hateful 3y ago
  This is what I've been told to take by my provider, and I've been taking it for at least 5+ years.
veunes 3y ago
Yeah, it's vital to be careful with these vitamins
t0bia_s 3y ago
4000 UI is recommended for adults by many doctors. https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html I take 5000 UI D3 daily from October to March and blood test are fine. I wouldn't take it during sunny times if you spend decent amount of time outside.

JohnMakin 3y ago

Yea, the dosage and labeling for sure needs work. I see 2000 IU doses regularly sold in stores and the bottle says you can take 2/day. Obviously no doctor would recommend that for anyone not sick. I also get regular blood tests since, I'd guess most people using supplements do not.

chimeracoder 3y ago
> Yea, the dosage and labeling for sure needs work. I see 2000 IU doses regularly sold in stores and the bottle says you can take 2/day. Obviously no doctor would recommend that for anyone not sick. That is simply not true. Doctors do recommend 2000-4000 IU for healthy patients all the time.
- JohnMakin 3y ago
  I should clarify by what I obviously meant that doctors would not recommend that as a DAILY dose - daily implying long-term use is okay.
  - chimeracoder 3y ago
    > I should clarify by what I obviously meant that doctors would not recommend that as a DAILY dose - daily implying long-term use is okay. Yes, and I'm saying that this does in fact happen.
    - NovemberWhiskey 3y ago
      Concur - I was diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency and my doctor prescribed an initial regimen of prescription tablets at 50,000 IU and then suggested 3,000-5,000 IU daily.
      - smeej 3y ago
        Might also depend where you live. My doctor did as yours, but I live in northern New England where we don't typically expose our skin to the sun for months at a time. Perhaps doctors closer to the tropics assume at least a low level of sun exposure?
  - toxicdevil 3y ago
    I was prescribed 3-5000 iu daily and then I changed doctors. When I asked about continuing the vitamin the new doctors said "I won't recommend doing a test because almost everyone has low vit d levels, even with daily supplements. Just keep taking the pills. As long as its not a very high dose you should be fine". My wife has a different doctor who does regular vitamin testing, she was prescribed 5000iu and a year and a half later her tests barely read "normal", still being on the borderline.
    - t0bia_s 3y ago
      Supplements never replace beeing outside exposed to sun where your body got vit. D naturally.
hateful 3y ago
This is what I've been told to take by my provider, and I've been taking it for at least 5+ years.

veunes 3y ago

Yeah, it's vital to be careful with these vitamins

t0bia_s 3y ago

4000 UI is recommended for adults by many doctors. https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html I take 5000 UI D3 daily from October to March and blood test are fine. I wouldn't take it during sunny times if you spend decent amount of time outside.