Vitamin D toxicity usually isn't life-threatening, but it can be quite harmful to your health. Severe cases can cause issues such as kidney failure, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia), unsteady gait (ataxia) and confusion.
Health effects of vitamin D toxicity
The main concern of vitamin D toxicity is a buildup of calcium in the blood. This is called hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia can cause upset stomach and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination. It also can lead to bone pain and kidney troubles such as kidney stones.
The short answer? Yes — for some individuals, Vitamin D3 may contribute to diarrhea or other digestive discomforts. While this side effect is not widespread, it does happen, especially when doses are too high or the supplement contains hidden additives.
The Takeaway. Excessive or insufficient intake of certain nutrients, such as calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and potassium, can cause heart palpitations.
The average intact parathyroid hormone levels were 24.2 pg/ml (D3) vs. 30.2 pg/ml (no D3). In summary, long-term supplementation with vitamin D3 in doses ranging from 5000 to 50,000 IUs/day appears to be safe.
You should not use cholecalciferol if you have had an allergic reaction to vitamin D, or if you have: high levels of vitamin D in your body (hypervitaminosis D); high levels of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia); or. any condition that makes it hard for your body to absorb nutrients from food (malabsorption).
If you choose to take vitamin D supplements, 10 micrograms a day will be enough for most people. Do not take more than 100 micrograms (4,000 IU) of vitamin D a day as it could be harmful. This applies to adults, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and the elderly, and children aged 11 to 17 years.
Vitamin D helps your body manage calcium and phosphate levels appropriately to ensure muscle contractions – including the heart – are regulated. Thus, the right amount of vitamin D in the body may help stave off a heart attack, heart disease or stroke.
Taking Vitamin D3 daily is generally safe and beneficial for bone health and immune function, but exceeding the recommended daily limit (usually 100 micrograms or 4,000 IU for adults) can lead to harmful calcium buildup (hypercalcemia), causing nausea, weakness, kidney stones, and even kidney damage over time, so moderation is key and consulting a doctor for personalized dosage is recommended.
But how do you flush vitamin D out of your system – and can you even do that? Yes, by ensuring you consume plenty of water. This will encourage urination, allowing your body to shed the excess vitamin D and calcium more quickly. Prescription diuretics like furosemide can also be helpful.
What's more, taking too much vitamin D can also negatively impact our health as well as our joint pain because our body simply can't cope! If toxic levels of vitamin D build up in the body it can interfere with your body's absorption of calcium.
Can you take vitamin D3 without K2? Yes. The only real consideration to keep in mind is taking vitamin D3 without taking any vitamin K, because if you have a high level of vitamin D3 without enough vitamin K, the calcium might not transfer to the bones properly and instead end up in the vascular tissue.
Possible interactions include:
That means that if you take too much of it, you won't just pee it out like you would a water soluble vitamin. Instead of being carried out in your body's wastewater, the vitamin will cling to your body fat for later use—which can compound the effects of daily overdosing.
The administration of doses higher than 100,000 IU of vitamin D is considered a megadose. It is evident that the use of megadoses increases serum concentrations of vitamin D; however, there has been no evidence of a decrease in the risk of falls, vertebral fractures or changes in bone mineral density.
The signs and symptoms of excessive vitamin D levels are related to hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia symptoms involve an altered mental status (eg, with confusion, lethargy, anxiety, and depression). Constipation, anorexia, nausea, and musculoskeletal pain may also arise, as can cardiac arrhythmias.
Taking too much vitamin D leads to calcium buildup (hypercalcemia), causing physical signs like nausea/vomiting, fatigue/weakness, frequent urination & excessive thirst, constipation, and confusion/disorientation, alongside potential bone pain or kidney stones, often from supplements, not sun exposure.
The hormonal form of vitamin D3, ie, 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, acts through a nuclear receptor to carry out its many functions, including calcium absorption, phosphate absorption in the intestine, calcium mobilization in bone, and calcium reabsorption in the kidney.
Vitamin D in the morning
You absorb vitamin D more easily when you take it with a full meal. As breakfast is so often the largest (and most important) meal of the day, the morning is a prime time to take the sunshine vitamin. Plus, vitamin D levels tend to be highest during the day because of our exposure to the sun.
Vitamin D toxicity usually isn't life-threatening, but it can be quite harmful to your health. Severe cases can cause issues such as kidney failure, abnormal heart rhythm (arrhythmia), unsteady gait (ataxia) and confusion.
Experimental studies suggest that optimal levels of vitamin D have beneficial effects on the heart and blood vessels; however, high vitamin D concentrations have been implicated in promoting vascular calcification and arterial stiffness.
B vitamins
They can also reduce homocysteine, a substance that builds up in your blood and can damage your arteries. Research suggests that supplementing with these B vitamins can support heart health and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. You can also get more of these vitamins through your diet.
Dr. Dreger offers 5 tips for combating that bone loss:
Individuals with deficient or insufficient circulating vitamin D concentrations (i.e., <30 ng/mL) are more likely to take longer to fall asleep (i.e., longer sleep latency and later sleep timing) and/or exhibit shorter sleep duration (11–16).
Vitamin D induces P450, reducing concentrations of atorvastatin and its active metabolites, as shown by Schwartz [16], who studied the effects of vitamin D supplements on atorvastatin concentrations and cholesterol in 16 healthy volunteers.