I take 5,000 mgs of Vit D. And I do not take calcium. I eat yogurt and cottage cheese. There is some calcium in with my Vit K. But not much. My choice. My Doc is OK with it.
You should get your vit D level tested. In my opinion 50,0000 is a lot of D to take. Mine was 66 on my last blood test. My Doc always tests it when I do labs. The level should be between 30 to 100
But I am not a Dr. and he may have a good reason for the high dosage.
My thyroid meds seem to be working I feel much better. I would like a little more energy but I am much better that I was a while back. I am taking Armour and Cytomel, A good combination for me.

Good luck Dee

When I first began to take vitamin d, I took the 50,000 iu's for 3-1/2 months. Then I took 10,000 iu's for 6 weeks, after which I dropped down to 5,000 iu's daily. Six months after starting the 50,000, my level was only in the normal range. I don't know where my vitamin d level was at the beginning. I just know that I was very deficient. The vitamin d helped with several physical problems, including my legs that would flop around involuntarily every night when I tried to sleep. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me. As for the calcium, I only take it every other day currently.

The 50,000 is for 6 weeks and then down to 10,000 for 6 months. I will see him after that.

sunshineH20

You should try to get your parathyroid hormone (TPH) level checked. Your calcium level is in the normal range but at the high end of normal and with osteoporosis your bone loss could be due to overactive parathyroid gland(s). I have been down that road so that is how I know about it. With overactive parathyroid your calcium level can be higher than normal or in the high normal range since the elevated PTH will cause more osteoblast activity which will result in more calcium in your blood which is coming from your bones. I never had any symptoms but many people have a lot of the symptoms you are describing. Checking PTH will let you know one way or another.

It is PTH sorry for the typo in the previous reply.

My son in law had a problem with his parathyroid, It was keeping
the calcium from going into his bones. He lost about 6 inches in height
He had the PTH operated on and seem to be OK via blood test.

Glad to hear that 50,000 is OK to start with, makes sense.

missd
Your son in law's parathyroid problem was caused by the kidney failure which is a bit different than the parathyroid itself being the problem. They call what he had secondary - since the kidney problem caused it. In his case he might have had low blood calcium and his parathyroid glands became overactive trying to increase the blood calcium level. Then after a transplant the parathyroid glands have a hard time going back to a normal state and it often requires surgery to remove one or more of the glands. If the problem is the parathyroid becomes overactive and it is not because of something else (and vitamin d deficiency is another cause) then they call it primary since they don't know what causes it but in the case of primary the blood calcium levels will be high or in the high normal range. They treat primary the same with surgery. However if it is because of vitamin d deficiency then supplementing with vitamin d will bring things back to normal over time.

cc22, if it is the parathyroid, and I take the vitamin d as they prescribed with the calcium, will it cause me more harm? My doctor did not check PTH or vitamin D levels. I won't see him again until Oct. Could I have both a thyroid and parathyroid problem at the same time?

Is there any way you can get your PTH checked before you see him or call to ask about it? I would be cautious about taking that much calcium-see if it affects how you feel. Not only that but you need the other minerals everyone has mentioned as well to build bone and most people get enough calcium in their diet but not enough of the other minerals especially magnesium and silica which helps to get the calcium into the bones. Vitamin d has been somewhat controversial with a parathyroid problem but with your calcium not that high I would think it would be OK and the latest endocrine articles I have read recommend getting vitamin d up to good level anyway even if you are going to have surgery. An alternative to the high dose of d2 (which I assume is what he prescribed) less frequently you could be taking vitamin d3 daily at a lower dose, which you don't need a prescription for-they sell d3 over the counter and from what I have read the d drops under the tongue are absorbed better since they bypass the digestive track. Also as the days get nicer there is going to be a lot of free vitamin d from the sun shining on your skin and that is the best source.

I'm surprised he is prescribing vitamin d without checking your level first. People with a an overactive parathyroid tend to have lower vitamin d blood levels, at least the 25OH level but I never did and it is not everyone. It is kind of complicated but PTH somehow is involved in converting 25)H vitamin d (what they test in your blood-this is the more stable number) into the active 1,25OH vitamin d(which fluctuates all the time) and the active form assists in absorbing more calcium from the intestines and keeps excess calcium in the blood from being excreted. But of course the first thing you need to know is if you have a parathyroid problem but when you said your calcium was high normal that made me think you very well could. It is the third most common endocrine problem but for some reason most people don't know about it-I sure never did before I found out I had a problem.

Yikes another typo I meant 25OH is converted to 1,25OH. I had misstyed it as 25)H.

I have been taking 2000 ui of vitamin d3 since I was told I had the osteo. back in 2012. I have started magnesium and I will only take 500 mg of calcium. I don't want to end up with kidney stones on top of everything else. I will try to leave my doctor a message, asking him to check the PTH.

Very knowledgeable answer co22. My SIL had two of his PTH's removed. The Doc thought is was from the dialiysis he was on
before he had the kidney transplant. It's been 3 years now and he
is doing fine. He has to balance a lot of meds but is still better off
now than before the transplant and PTH removal.

Yes, sunshine a Vit D test would definatly be in order. I read on another
site that it was better to start at 5-10,000 vit D and build up slowly

My SIL had low calcium..

But you should talk with your Doc.

With an ultrasound of the thyroid, would they see if there was anything wrong with the parathyroid? cause the only thing with my thyroid is that the right side is larger than the left by a1.2 mm, But that was said to be normal and no cause for concern. I want to go to my GP and demand he send me to an endocrinologist, but I want to make sure I know what I am talking about before I do it. It seems to me that he doesn't care why I am hyperthyroid and or why I have such bad osteoporosis. I have lost 32% since the last dexa scan. I don't think he even looked at the calcium, I didn't notice until I got home and really looked at it.

They could pick up something on a thyroid ultrasound like an enlarged parathyroid, but there are plenty of people who had ultrasounds and even special parathyroid x-ray scans who had large parathyroid tumors that did not show up on these scans. The problem is that the parathyroid glands are so small to begin with so they are hard to see and may be overlooked on a thyroid ultrasound if no one is looking for them. Not only that but they can even be in unexpected locations, which I know sounds strange. Apparently they form somewhere higher up when you are developing in the womb and then they migrate down and usually attach in the neck behind the thyroid, that is where their name came from. But they can end up migrating down not as much or father down and can show up higher up in the neck near your jaw or farther down even into your chest area. Then finding them if there is a tumor can be a real challenge and requires an expert parathyroid surgeon if you need to have one removed.