Posted on 07/06/2022 8:15:20 AM PDT by Red Badger
‘Hypervitaminosis D’ is on the rise and linked to a wide range of potentially serious health issues.
Doctors are warning that ‘Overdosing’ on vitamin D supplements is both possible and harmful after they treated a man who needed hospital admission for his excessive vitamin D intake. They reported their concerns in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
They point out that ‘hypervitaminosis D,’ as the condition is formally known, is on the rise and has been linked to a wide variety of potentially serious health conditions.
This particular case concerns a middle-aged man who was referred to the hospital by his family doctor after complaining of recurrent vomiting, nausea, leg cramps, abdominal pain, increased thirst, dry mouth, tinnitus (ringing in the ear), diarrhea, and weight loss (28 lbs or 12.7 kg).
Symptoms of hypervitaminosis D include drowsiness, depression, confusion, anorexia, apathy, psychosis, abdominal pain, stupor, coma, vomiting, peptic ulcers, constipation, pancreatitis, abnormal heart rhythm, high blood pressure, and kidney abnormalities, including renal failure.
These symptoms had been present for almost 3 months and had started around 1 month after he started an intensive vitamin supplement regimen on the advice of a nutritional therapist.
The man had had various underlying health issues, including tuberculosis, bacterial meningitis, an inner ear tumor (left vestibular schwannoma), which had resulted in deafness in that ear, a build-up of fluid in the brain (hydrocephalus), and chronic sinusitis.
He had been taking high doses of more than 20 over-the-counter supplements every day containing: vitamin D 50,000 mg—the daily requirement is 600 mg or 400 IU; vitamin K2 100 mg (daily requirement 100–300 µg); vitamin C, vitamin B9 (folate) 1,000 mg (daily requirement 400 µg); vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B6, omega-3 2,000 mg twice daily (daily requirement 200–500 mg), plus several other vitamin, mineral, nutrient, and probiotic supplements.
Once his symptoms developed, he stopped taking his daily supplement cocktail, but his symptoms didn’t go away.
Blood tests ordered by his family doctor indicated that he had extremely high calcium levels and slightly elevated magnesium levels. And his vitamin D level was seven times higher than what was necessary for sufficiency.
The tests also revealed that his kidneys weren’t working properly (acute kidney injury). The results of various x-rays and scans to check for cancer were normal.
The man stayed in the hospital for 8 days, during which time he was given intravenous fluids to flush out his system and treated with bisphosphonates—drugs that are normally used to strengthen bones or lower excessive levels of calcium in the blood.
Two months after discharge from the hospital, his calcium level had returned to normal, but his vitamin D level was still abnormally high.
“Globally, there is a growing trend of hypervitaminosis D, a clinical condition characterized by elevated serum vitamin D3 levels,” with women, children, and surgical patients most likely to be affected, write the authors.
Vitamin D Sources
Vitman D sources include oily fish, sunlight exposure, and supplements.
Recommended vitamin D levels can be obtained from the diet (eating wild mushrooms and oily fish), skin exposure to sunlight, and supplements.
“Given its slow turnover (half-life of approximately 2 months), during which vitamin D toxicity develops, symptoms can last for several weeks,” warn the authors.
The symptoms of hypervitaminosis D are many and varied, they point out, and are mostly caused by excess calcium in the blood. They include confusion, drowsiness, apathy, psychosis, anorexia, depression, coma, vomiting, abdominal pain, constipation, peptic ulcers, stupor, pancreatitis, abnormal heart rhythm, high blood pressure, and kidney abnormalities, including renal failure.
Other associated features, such as keratopathy (inflammatory eye disease), joint stiffness (arthralgia), and hearing loss or deafness, have also been reported, they add.
This is just one case, and while hypervitaminosis D is on the rise, it is still relatively uncommon, caution the authors.
Nevertheless, complementary therapy, including the use of dietary supplements, is popular, and people may not realize that it’s possible to overdose on vitamin D, or the potential consequences of doing so, they say.
“This case report further highlights the potential toxicity of supplements that are largely considered safe until taken in unsafe amounts or in unsafe combinations,” they conclude.
Reference: “Vitamin D intoxication and severe hypercalcaemia complicating nutritional supplements misuse” 5 July 2022, BMJ Case Reports. DOI: 10.1136/bcr-2022-250553
I stopped after reading that he was taking D 50,000 mg.
That’s way out of range for most people most of the time.
I’m assuming the writer meant 50k IU’s not 50k mg....................
vitamin d levels of 50-90 mg ml are considered to be optimal.
Mine are about 68. I take about 10iu of vitamin d3 daily with vitamin k2.
the guy in this study was taking 50k iu vitamin d3 daily which is out of bounds most of the time for most people.
the whole issue with vitamin d3 these days has to do with too few people spending any time at all in the sun on a daily basis. this dead serious because people are not designed to live like bats out of the sun. we need the sun to make vitamin d3, melatonin and nitric oxide in quantity.
Never mind that the guy was dying anyway.
“The man had had various underlying health issues, including tuberculosis, bacterial meningitis, an inner ear tumor (left vestibular schwannoma), which had resulted in deafness in that ear, a build-up of fluid in the brain (hydrocephalus), and chronic sinusitis.”
Thanks.
BKMK
“ Globally, there is a growing trend of hypervitaminosis D, a clinical condition characterized by elevated serum vitamin D3 levels,” with women, children, and surgical patients most likely to be affected, write the authors.”
Don’t kid yourself. It’s exactly what this is about
MDs telling people to not treat themselves they’re too stoopid. Trust doctors
The wife and I take 4,000 units a day, have for years on the recommendation of our doctor. He checks our D and calcium blood level at every physical and it has stayed constant for each of us over these years. It has not taken any fiddling to keep the same level. Logic says that we are getting neither too little nor too much.
Our doctor is very up to date and knowledgeable on nutritional supplements and we have full confidence in him.
Hold on now!
Dude lost 28 pounds? I’m thinking, put up with a little cramping….
You can easily lose the water and muscle he lost by consuming teaspoons of salt.
“Doctors Warn of Vitamin D Supplement “Overdosing” – Man Hospitalized After Losing 28 Pounds”
That’s odd. The word “idiot” was not used once in the entire article.
No chance of that.
The article is a scare piece designed to get paid for writing words.
My friend Jimmy puts pennies where the sun don’t shine. But I don’t think it’s for copper intake. He was just always weird.
My doc said anyone with autoimmune issues should be 80-120. I am at 85 and she is barely happy. (5 autoimmune conditions here .... all in remission now except Hashi’s)
Fat-soluble vitamins... “All Dogs Eat Kats”.
That’s the way I learned it in school.
I know that. The level of knowledge here is not that bad. People did experiments about the toxicity of phylloquinine. They gave extremely high doses and couldn’t detect harm.
THAT. You read the article with the 2 questions that should be asked on any media offering...why this topic and why now?
I’ll stick with only eating meat & drinking water. Supplements not required!
I stand corrected, thank you!!!!
There are people on this forum who have said it is impossible to take too much vitamin D - one post said “you can take a whole bottle at once and it can’t harm you!”
Only if your body has a difficult time absorbing vitamin D should you take more than 5000 IU per day as a supplement. That is something to talk about with your doctor and with proper labs.
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