Vitamin D Deficiency

How to maintain the level of Vitamin D

Hi, viewers of Lybrate. I am Dr. Vishwas, here to give you some insight on some common medical illnesses that we come across. Now you must have seen that on and off, we get, advice by our doctors to check our Vitamin D and calcium level. And obviously, you must have seen, that Vitamin D has been found very low. It may be around 5 or 6 or may be below 10, and that is something which is very alarming. The normal level of Vitamin D, as a hormone, which is to be maintained in blood has to be at least 30, in International Units. And those, patients who, you know are on long term low levels of Vitamin D, complain of many things such as body ache, fatigue, low immunity; and then they suffer from some kind of infections, or some kind of, all the time, discomfort, weakness, lack of strength.

So we as doctors, always recommend getting Vitamin D levels checked at least once in a year. So once we start with therapy of Vitamin D, one has to remember that the sachet or the tablet has to be taken, early in the morning. It has to be taken on an empty stomach. The standard time should be between 6 am to 8 am. To take the dose, may be weekly once, or may be weekly twice, not more than. And the units normally recommended is around 60000 units, which is available in any brands. So I would always recommend my patients to take once in a week for 12 weeks period, which is sufficient, and then one should stop it; because over Vitamin prescription, as well as over Vitamin consumption can damage your liver.

We have found sometimes patients landing into liver issues because of hypervitaminosis. So both things are not good, very low levels and very high levels. You should maintain the optimum levels. Vitamin D, as well as calcium, both hand in hand, should go together, as a supplement, and they build up your loss of bones, especially in cases of osteoporosis; where the bones have, some kind of a vacuum inside and some kind of weaknesses which can make them easily fracturable, and also cause some kind of pain and discomfort. So Vitamin D, calcium, these are some kinds of investigation which are especially essential for bone health, to take care.

We also suggest sometimes to get Parathyroid Hormone Check Up (PTH). Parathyroid Hormone deficiency can also cause easy fractures. And it is very rare, but one should also check PTH hormone levels, that is, Parathyroid Hormone level, if it is recommended by your doctor and if Vitamin D correction is not helping the patient. So, early morning exposure during sunrise, or evening exposure during sunset, for 3 to 5 minutes, that is sufficient. If it is exposed to your skin, to get sufficient natural Vitamin D synthesis in your body. Because of skin, as well as kidney, both play part in Vitamin D formation, and it is one essential hormone, required for all 206 bones of your body. With the new advent of Vitamin D therapy, we also have sachet, we have a tablet, we have injections. So, depending upon your condition, your physician will recommend some or the other form of Vitamin D. Even the young child also needs Vitamin D supplementation. Nowadays even milk is fortified with Vitamin D, which is also a good step towards better health.

So I wish all my Lybrate users, to have normal Vitamin D, not only for them, but for all the family members, especially the elderly ones, younger ones, so they have excellent bone health and no fractures. Thank you, viewers, have a nice day.

 

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