How Did I Get a Vitamin D Level of 12 !!

by Kristin Cranford
(Signal Hill, CA)

My vitamin d level is 12. It was discovered in a physical. Last physical I had was 2 years prior and the vitamin d level was normal.

I live in Southern California and get a normal amount of sunlight exposure - not too much and not too little.

My doctor is putting me on a vitamin supplement but I want to know why it's so low and he doesn't have an answer to that.

My thyroid is large and I'm seeing an ENT doctor who has discovered a cyst but says that it should be fine. It's too small to do a biopsy right now but will scan again in 3 months.

Should I be worried.

I'm a 40 year old female.

Thank you,
Kristin

_________


ANSWER:

Hi Kristin,

I'm curios as to whether you actually had a vitamin d level two years ago. You said that it was normal, but EXTREMELY few doctors are doing vitamin d levels routinely- and especially in Southern California where they 'assume' that your vitamin d levels ARE normal, I would be very surprised to find out that you had one done 2 years ago.

If you did, I'd love to see your numbers, too, because being 'normal' all depends upon the 'LAB' normal levels and not necessarily researcher recommended Normal Vitamin D Levels - which are much higher.

But as far as to WHY your vitamin d levels are low, you say that you don't get too much sun or too little- well, I will disagree. If your levels are too low, then you are getting too little sun!!

There are other Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency and everyone thinks that there must be something wrong with them because literally everyone who writes in to me- whether they live in Alaska or Hawaii- thinks that they get 'plenty' of sun.

But it's likely that you are just not getting enough. Our bodies are designed to be exposed to the sun for several hours in a loincloth every day, so the amount that the vast majority of us get - even if you live in Southern California- is pitifully deficient.

In fact, if you read my Vitamin D and Sun page, you'll see that there was a study done on a group of young, sunscreen-free people living in Hawaii. They had a self-stated 11 hours of sunscreen-free sun exposure each week- and THEY were still vitamin d deficient!!

So, you are not alone- we just don't get enough sun- or we make the mistakes of washing off the oils on our skin after we get sun exposure, etc.

But, we simply need a whole lot of vitamin d- more than most people realize it- and unless you are actually tanned and bronzed all over, then it's likely that you are simply just not getting enough sun and Vitamin D Supplements are just simply the most practical way to get your vitamin d.

By the way, be sure to read the Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency page to make sure that you are taking enough vitamin d to get your levels up.




Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com


PS. I lived in Southern California most of my life and spent quite a bit of time in Long Beach right on the Signal Hill border!! Ahh, thanks for bringing back memories of Lobster Diving off of Catalina Island with hand caught lobster dinner for Christmas that year, yummm!

My Doctor tested my Vitamin D levels.
It is 12 ng/mL is this severe?

by Bella
(Spokane, Wa)

I have been in so much pain and have had severe fatigue since November! I spend 90% of my time in bed.

I was told to take 4,000 iu of D everyday. I heard you can take up to 50,000!

Vitamin D level of 12

by Heather
(TX)

I just was told by my Dr that I have a vitamin D level of 12. As I have been looking over your page, I can see that is quite low. I have also seen that I should maybe not be taking the RX 50,000 vitamin d per week he prescribed.

He is wanting me to take it for 12 weeks, then retest. Can I take the rx and also take another Vitamin D supplement? Do I need to stop taking the RX? and what dose of Vitamin D should I be taking of over the counter supplement to bring my levels up?

Vitamin D level of 12

by John
(Kansas)

I just had my vitamin d level checked and the doctor said that I have a Vitamin D Level of 12 ng/ml.

Is that bad?