I had experience 10 years ago that “taught me” to take my vitamin D supplements. I was having all sorts of health problems. I had been tested low for Vit D, and had taken supplements D 3 for awhile. I moved and ran out and forgot to order more. I was going downhill and going back to bed after I dropped the kids off at school. Not mentally depressed but physically exhausted. I finally after months thought “what was I doing before when I felt better?” Oh! Vitamin D. I took 3 days of high dose D3 and my energy started returning.
why?
I have taken it ever since.
does vitamin A in body make us require more vitamin D? Other vitamins?
im new here and I’m schooling kids at home due to bullshit covid politics. I have 2 teenagers and I love to read health info but I cannot read fast enough to catch myself up to speed. So I hope you will indulge me in trying to ask the questions I have, here. Thanks, everyone.
Rachel -2
Colorado (originally Michigan, then Chicago, then Michigan, then Minnesota. It’s been exhausting, but I’m going to be in Colorado for a good long while)
I had experience 10 years ago that “taught me” to take my vitamin D supplements. I was having all sorts of health problems. I had been tested low for Vit D, and had taken supplements D 3 for awhile. I moved and ran out and forgot to order more. I was going downhill and going back to bed after I dropped the kids off at school. Not mentally depressed but physically exhausted. I finally after months thought “what was I doing before when I felt better?” Oh! Vitamin D. I took 3 days of high dose D3 and my energy started returning.
why?
I have taken it ever since.
does vitamin A in body make us require more vitamin D? Other vitamins?
im new here and I’m schooling kids at home due to bullshit covid politics. I have 2 teenagers and I love to read health info but I cannot read fast enough to catch myself up to speed. So I hope you will indulge me in trying to ask the questions I have, here. Thanks, everyone.
Rachel -2
Colorado (originally Michigan, then Chicago, then Michigan, then Minnesota. It’s been exhausting, but I’m going to be in Colorado for a good long while)
I have children as well so I understand your situation well.
From what I know the short answer is yes, A does interfere with D metabolism and detoxifying A uses the D among other things. The only problem with supplementing D is that if you are deficient or borderline deficient in its cofactors (magnesium, boron, zinc, etc.) you may end up worse. From what I know exposing yourself to sun is way better if you can do that regurarly enough (the form obtained through sunbathing is also different, sulfated).
I have children as well so I understand your situation well.
From what I know the short answer is yes, A does interfere with D metabolism and detoxifying A uses the D among other things. The only problem with supplementing D is that if you are deficient or borderline deficient in its cofactors (magnesium, boron, zinc, etc.) you may end up worse. From what I know exposing yourself to sun is way better if you can do that regurarly enough (the form obtained through sunbathing is also different, sulfated).
Elevated retinoic acid either depletes or interferes with related enzymes for most of the vitamins. I take vitamin D and get the rest of my nutrition from my diet. For some vitamins like thiamin where retinoic acid interferes with related enzymes you can see deficiency symptoms despite supplementation, resolution of deficiency might not occur until retinoic acid levels come down.
Elevated retinoic acid either depletes or interferes with related enzymes for most of the vitamins. I take vitamin D and get the rest of my nutrition from my diet. For some vitamins like thiamin where retinoic acid interferes with related enzymes you can see deficiency symptoms despite supplementation, resolution of deficiency might not occur until retinoic acid levels come down.
@tim-2 how much vit D are you taking? I started with 2000iu a day now. I would like to retest, but it is so expensive here... I think I will take 4000iu a day from December to April and I will try to do retest in February.. The main concern with taking D3 is hypercalcemia right? So I can see how it can be a problem if is somebody on like Ray Peat diet eating 2 or more grams of calcium a day and taking like 10 000iu. But in my case I eat basically low calcium diet like under 400mg a day. So I should be ok even with 4-5000 iu a day.. Also if it is true that vit D3 "destroys" vit A in the liver. Then D3 should be the first thing that vit A toxic people should taky or no?
@tim-2 how much vit D are you taking? I started with 2000iu a day now. I would like to retest, but it is so expensive here... I think I will take 4000iu a day from December to April and I will try to do retest in February.. The main concern with taking D3 is hypercalcemia right? So I can see how it can be a problem if is somebody on like Ray Peat diet eating 2 or more grams of calcium a day and taking like 10 000iu. But in my case I eat basically low calcium diet like under 400mg a day. So I should be ok even with 4-5000 iu a day.. Also if it is true that vit D3 "destroys" vit A in the liver. Then D3 should be the first thing that vit A toxic people should taky or no?
I take 7000 IU once every couple of weeks so I don't take much at all, I should probably take more. I live in a subtropical latitude though so I get a little from the sun year round. I've been somewhat convinced by arguments that it's more about VDR availability more than 25(OH)D levels. I don't have much evidence to back this up but if vA is interfering with VDRs then it could possibly lead to elevated 1,25(OH)2D levels as a compensatory mechanism which would be harmful.
I haven't seen evidence for vD depleting vA in the liver? vA definitely antagonizes vD though. The thing with vA toxicity is it affects so many other nutrients it's hard to know where to start with supplementation.
My calcium intake has been low apart from when I eat some low fat ice cream which isn't often...
I take 7000 IU once every couple of weeks so I don't take much at all, I should probably take more. I live in a subtropical latitude though so I get a little from the sun year round. I've been somewhat convinced by arguments that it's more about VDR availability more than 25(OH)D levels. I don't have much evidence to back this up but if vA is interfering with VDRs then it could possibly lead to elevated 1,25(OH)2D levels as a compensatory mechanism which would be harmful.
I haven't seen evidence for vD depleting vA in the liver? vA definitely antagonizes vD though. The thing with vA toxicity is it affects so many other nutrients it's hard to know where to start with supplementation.
My calcium intake has been low apart from when I eat some low fat ice cream which isn't often...
@tim-2 I also haven't seen any evidence that vit D depletes vit A from the liver. Just people on Ray Peat forum say that all the time... So you are taking maybe 500iu a day hm that is nothing. It is like eating 2 mackerels a week.. It is funny how Smith talks about D3 is used as rat poison.. But he never tells what is the dose used to kill rat and what would be equivalent for humans.. For sure not 1000-10 000 iu a day which most people take.. Literally every substance is poison and can kill you in high enough dose.. So what kind of brainless argument is that.. Simply who has no UVB exposure on their skin they need to ingest D3 orally to be in optimal health. I don't see why would anybody say that it is not true..
@tim-2 I also haven't seen any evidence that vit D depletes vit A from the liver. Just people on Ray Peat forum say that all the time... So you are taking maybe 500iu a day hm that is nothing. It is like eating 2 mackerels a week.. It is funny how Smith talks about D3 is used as rat poison.. But he never tells what is the dose used to kill rat and what would be equivalent for humans.. For sure not 1000-10 000 iu a day which most people take.. Literally every substance is poison and can kill you in high enough dose.. So what kind of brainless argument is that.. Simply who has no UVB exposure on their skin they need to ingest D3 orally to be in optimal health. I don't see why would anybody say that it is not true..
Yeah I have the intention of getting more sun to get D but it doesn't always happen. I also eat fish every 2 or 3 days.
Well you know my opinion of Smith, most of what he says is wrong. His last two videos on his YT channel are decent though. He's harmless for those like us that draw our own conclusions and have enough background knowledge to acknowledge or dismiss what he says but for people that are ill and need help hmm... He was giving people high dose retinol just a few years ago and now he's saying it's a non essential toxin...blogging about the hypothesis of it being non essential is fine, a health practitioner telling patients it's not a vitamin is not...
Yeah I have the intention of getting more sun to get D but it doesn't always happen. I also eat fish every 2 or 3 days.
Well you know my opinion of Smith, most of what he says is wrong. His last two videos on his YT channel are decent though. He's harmless for those like us that draw our own conclusions and have enough background knowledge to acknowledge or dismiss what he says but for people that are ill and need help hmm... He was giving people high dose retinol just a few years ago and now he's saying it's a non essential toxin...blogging about the hypothesis of it being non essential is fine, a health practitioner telling patients it's not a vitamin is not...
@ tim-2 here in CZ is a lot of days with no sun. I would say like 70%. No wonder people have depression etc. when they go to the work in the dark and go home in the dark.. This winter for the first time I would be taking vit D3 like I said at least 4000iu. Before that I was taking maybe 500-1000iu a day, but I was vit A toxic.. It is crazy how tight bond is between my mood and weather. When there is no sun, just gray sky I am depressed as fuck and I don't want to do anything. When the sky is blue with the sun and white clouds. I feel positive and somewhat motivated to do something even when I don't feel well for example.. Hopefully I will move to some sunny country some day..
@ tim-2 here in CZ is a lot of days with no sun. I would say like 70%. No wonder people have depression etc. when they go to the work in the dark and go home in the dark.. This winter for the first time I would be taking vit D3 like I said at least 4000iu. Before that I was taking maybe 500-1000iu a day, but I was vit A toxic.. It is crazy how tight bond is between my mood and weather. When there is no sun, just gray sky I am depressed as fuck and I don't want to do anything. When the sky is blue with the sun and white clouds. I feel positive and somewhat motivated to do something even when I don't feel well for example.. Hopefully I will move to some sunny country some day..
I think that if you have a nice well furnished warm dry home especially one that has a wood fire (if in a temperate climate) it makes a lot of difference to how the weather affects us. If you have a home like that you can just pull the curtains when you get home and pretend like the shitty day doesn't even exist. When you restore your thyroid health etc you might feel quite a bit more resistant to the effect of the weather as well? The main problem where I live is the humidity, crazy wet heat, not good for seb derm, thank fuck that has cleared up for me on low vA.
How is that job going? I think you were only managing to work part time? I was struggling for years with income making just enough to live on but finally made a break, it made a significant difference to my level of happiness because it took away the stress of living paycheck to paycheck.
I think that if you have a nice well furnished warm dry home especially one that has a wood fire (if in a temperate climate) it makes a lot of difference to how the weather affects us. If you have a home like that you can just pull the curtains when you get home and pretend like the shitty day doesn't even exist. When you restore your thyroid health etc you might feel quite a bit more resistant to the effect of the weather as well? The main problem where I live is the humidity, crazy wet heat, not good for seb derm, thank fuck that has cleared up for me on low vA.
How is that job going? I think you were only managing to work part time? I was struggling for years with income making just enough to live on but finally made a break, it made a significant difference to my level of happiness because it took away the stress of living paycheck to paycheck.
