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Topics: Health
Britt Jones
Doctors are warning people about taking Vitamin D after a man began to experience scary side effects.
Taking vitamin D is something most of us consider to be normal during the winter months because the sun is in and clouds cover the sky.
During this time, healthcare professionals often tell us to make sure we’re getting enough vitamin D to help keep our bones healthy.
However, after a man overdosed on the tablets, experts have warned people against misusing them.
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In the journal BMJ Case Reports, an instance regarding a man who was admitted to hospital because of his excessive vitamin D intake, was discovered to be suffering from ‘hypervitaminosis D’.
The middle-aged man was told by his worried family to seek help after he started complaining of painful symptoms, which resulted in the loss of 28 lbs over the course of three months.
The man was experiencing vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain, leg cramps, tinnitus, dry mouth, increased thirst, diarrhea, and weight loss, per the journal.
However, the symptoms began after one month of following the advice of a nutritional therapist, who had agreed to an intense supplement plan with the man.
The man - who had previously suffered from tuberculosis, an inner ear tumor, deafness in the same ear, a build-up of fluid in the brain, bacterial meningitis, and chronic sinusitis – was found to have been taking over 20 supplements per day, which included seven times the level of his vitamin D requirements.
The journal claims he had been taking vitamin D 150000 IU, whereas the daily dosage typically recommended is 10 mcg or 400 IU.
The man was also taking daily vitamin K2 100 mg, vitamin C, more than double his vitamin B9 (folate)requirement at 1000 mg, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), vitamin B6, omega-3 2000 mg twice a day, which is nearly 10-times his daily limit, and other vitamin, mineral, probiotic health supplements.
Not only did he have high levels of vitamin D, but tests also confirmed he had too much calcium and a little too much magnesium.
All of this culminated in him being diagnosed with acute kidney injury, leading to him being kept in hospital for eight days, given intravenous fluids and treated with bisphosphonates to lower the amount of calcium in his blood.
While this helped him, and lowered his levels after two months, his vitamin D was still way too much.
“Given its slow turnover (half-life of approximately 2 months), during which vitamin D toxicity develops, symptoms can last for several weeks,” the authors said.
“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 added.