vitamin injections

My suggestion is that you first determine whether he is
getting his injections from a reputable source. It is
possible that he is going to a quack. However it could be a
legitimate situation. I am just surprised that his insurance
does not cover it.

Ora

On 16 Apr 2004 12:59:33 -0700, [email hidden]

(grilledcheese) said:

A friend of mine has been prescribed injections of vitamin
d. He says that insurance doesn't cover it, it is very
expensive and they may stop producing it. I have been asked
to find an inexpensive place to purchase it. Can anyone
give me more information on it? I believe he uses d2,
ergocalciferol. Is there a difference between d2 and d3?

As background info, he seems to have celiac's disease,
which has rasied cain with his absorption of vitamins,
hence the injections of
D.

Thanks in advance.

"grilledcheese" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

A friend of mine has been prescribed injections of
vitamin d. He says that insurance doesn't cover it, it
is very expensive and they may stop producing it. I have
been asked to find an inexpensive place to purchase it.
Can anyone give me more information on it? I believe he
uses d2, ergocalciferol. Is there a difference between
d2 and d3?

As background info, he seems to have celiac's disease,
which has rasied cain with his absorption of vitamins,
hence the injections of
D.

Thanks in advance.

That he getting D2 shots suggests he is in the States. D3 is
to be preferred from what I've read.

The friend might consider a large oral dose of D3. During
the late fall and the winter months, I take 4000 IUs of D3.
There is evidence that the UL of vitamin D is set too low.
The current UL is 2000 IUs per day. Even one person who that
set of the committee that established the UL says more
recent information suggests it is too low as I recall. And
besides your friend may still have impaired absorption, so a
higher dose maybe warrented even with conservative
assumptions. If the person is worried, lab test could help
the person titration the oral vitamin dose with the help of
a bright physician. $$$$

Sun lamp? That is an excellent way to get a whopping dose of
vitamin D. In a person exposing most of their body surface
to the UV source lamp or the sun, to the point were they are
near a sunburn in a pale skinned person, the person will get
10000 IU of
D3. In a pale skinned person this maybe at 15 or 20 minutes
of sun lamp.

Do a web search for Karen S. Scanlon who edited a Final
Report by an expert panel meeting dated Ocober 2001. Here
are some comments by experts included in the report.( In
others words not the half baked opinion by some (expletive
deleted) GP.)

The conclusion was that 100 micrograms (4000 IUs) daily
caused no harm in adults." (Veith et. al. 2001) "The current
myth that hypervitaminois D can occur with 50 microgram
(2000 IU) or less daily vitamin D supplementation is based
on very limited data and clinical observation."

To lift a sentence from the report, " According to a study
in the American Journal of Nutrition, 2001, vitamin D does
not reach toxic levels until supplementation exceed 250
micrograms (10,000 IU) per day." (Veith et. al, 2001)

Veith's full paper has been on the web.

On an intermittent basis, 100,000 IUs doses have been used
with apparently complete safety in rendering people
vitamin replete.

This is likely the dose size of the injections , you
mentioned

And then the report discusses more recent studies that
discredit these limited earlier reports

"There are no data to support the myth that a toxic dose of
vitamin D can be as low as five times the AI."

YMMV I am not an expert. Check my facts before you go on. I
am not a Doc and I don't play one on TV. Do a Pubmed search.

William A. Noyes