My 25 OH D is low but my 1,25 dihydroxy vit d is average?

I am a bit concerned because my 25 Hydroxy vitamin D is low at 60nmol/l but my 1,25 dihydroxy vit d is normal at 100 (range 60-149).


I am happy to supplement big time to get my 25
hydroxy levels way back up but it seems concerning to me that my 1,25 dihydroxy levels are normal with such a low 25 hydroxy level.

I have read that some people have low 25 hydroxy levels and very high 1,25 dihydroxy levels and this is a dangerous problem to have and sign of body illness. Should I be worried about the difference in the 2 levels that I have and concerned that taking substantial vit d supplementation will quickly drive my 1,25 way to high or am I okay?

Are my levels fairly normal in the general population or usually when someone has a low 25hydro vit d level they also have a very low 1,25dihydro vit d level?

Thanks a ton for the help and great website!!

Sean

Comments for My 25 OH D is low but my 1,25 dihydroxy vit d is average?

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You can stop worrying..
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

Hi Sean,

Great question, it shows that you've been doing some reading and paying attention before asking your question as well- which I VERY much like!




More About Vitamin D


So, your 1,25 OH D is a reflection of many things- but most of which is calcium metabolism. Usually what happens is that your calcium metabolism gets altered when vitamin D levels get too low. It's that that drives UP 1,25 OH D levels.

If we could fast forward your body over many years of having vitamin D deficiency without correction, it's likely that your 1,25 OHD would be slowly RISING as your parathyroid glands began frantically trying to get your body to absorb the calcium that it needs.

But as it is, your Vitamin D was not low enough for long enough to alter your calcium metabolism enough to affect your 1,25 OH D. That's a GOOD thing!!

So, when you start taking Vitamin D Supplements, it's likely that your 1,25 OH D level will stay exactly the same or go DOWN a little bit. But it won't go UP because their is nothing wrong with your calcium metabolism at the moment and so Vitamin D will only IMPROVE that, it won't make it WORSE- which is why a 1,25 OH D would RISE.


So, you can completely stop worrying about your 1,25 OH D level and there is no need to even have another one taken again. If it were high, it would be important to have checked your calcium levels and parathyroid hormone levels and to make sure that it was coming down, but it's normal now, so no reason to check it again in the near future.


Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com
Wow that was a fast and fantastic response!!
by: Sean

Hi Kerri,


Thanks so much for getting to my question so quickly! It is amazing that you are so helpful and it was a very detailed and reassuring answer, so I do feel much better!!

I have one more question if you don't mind. If my 25hydroxy D is 60nmol (range 90-230) how much D3 should I be taking each day living in Cold/snowy (but not in spirit:)) Canada to get up to the right spot.

Also how bad is being at 60nmol in relation to most people in the Northern hemisphere. Is it possible that this level presently could be affecting my health in anyway and if so how?

I just won't to again say this website is so fantastic and I am really happy I found it.

Sean
The range is wrong...
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

Hi Sean,

Thanks for the kind words. So in answer to your other questions, your level is pretty low. I've seen worse, but it's low enough that if you have any pain, depression, etc that those could potentially improve when you get your levels up.

But the range on your lab report is wrong. If you take a look at my Normal Vitamin D Levels Page, you'll see that the labs use 'too low' levels because they use everyday 'healthy' people in the community- who are likely to also be vitamin D deficient- to get their 'normal range'.

So, to convert from nmol/l to ng/ml you divide by 3.18. So, the recommended normal ranges of somewhere between 40 to 80 ng/ml on that page would be more like 127 to 254 nmol/L.

So, you can see that you are actually MORE deficient than you actually thought! So, depending upon how 'aggressive' you want to be with your low vitamin D, you could take as much as 10,000 IU's of Vitamin D3 Supplements per day until your level is up to the optimal ranges.


Don't use Prescription Vitamin D for several reasons.

But as far as health problems are concerned, there are fewer short term problems as there are long term or 'long latency diseases' of Vitamin D, some of them are:

Osteoporosis

Chronic Pain

Some Cancers

Multiple Sclerosis

Colds and Flu

and on and on. So, it's great that you caught it now and are getting it taken care of now and so you can be on top of it for the rest of your life.



Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Health Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Easy Immune Health.com
Vitamin D in babies
by: Anonymous

My son is 16 weeks but was born 10 weeks early. He had a Vitamin D test and it showed vitamin D2 of 21 and Vitamin D3 of 26, is this normal?
Vitamin D Total...
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

It's the vitamin d TOTAL number that is important. If you can tell me what that is, that would be more helpful.

But that was taken 4 months ago and won't still be useful, so I'd suggest getting another one to get current numbers.


Kerri Knox RN Immune Health Queen

Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune System Queen
Functional Medicine Practitioner
Immune System

 


PS: If you found this website helpful, please consider using the
Easy Immune Health Product Store the next time you purchase your supplements online. Your support allows me to keep this site running and educating as many people as possible. Thank you!
But F 25 Hydroxy Low and Vit D 1 25 Dihydroxy is High
by: Anonymous

25 Hydroxy Vitamin D is 63 and Vitamin D 125 Dihydroxy is 262. My calcium levels are high at 1.34. Normal is 1.12 to 1.31. My Parathyroid has been high for few high but last year it was normal at 7.38!

However this has been going on for a quite a while and I have been feeling worse and worse with lightheadedness, weakness, bone pain, heart palpitations and hikes in blood pressure. Feeling disoriented and brain fog most of the time with no energy. Thirsty and increased bladder infections and constipatiom on and off. I feel like I can’t plan anything as I don’t know how bad I will feel on any given day. Also have insomnia and heart palpitations when I lie down to sleep.

Endocrinoligist has sent me to Parathyroid surgeon who said he can’t say that surgery will help as ultrasound has no proof of anything off with Parathyroid.

So I either take a risk on Parathyroid surgery to remove glands that may or may not be defective or I keep suffering with the seesaw in
PTH, calcium and Vit D levels. Can you give me any words of advice? It would be so appreciated! Sylvia

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