Overprescribing vitamin D – yes, 600,000 IU daily for 3 weeks is too much

Created February 2015

Hyper Vitaminosis D: Are we Overprescribing Vitamin D?

J Family Med Prim Care. 2014 Oct-Dec;3(4):464-6. doi: 10.4103/2249-4863.148153.

Hemachandar R1, Shanmugam L2, Malepati B2, Venugopal S2.

In the paper, not the abstract, we find: * One woman had "received intramuscular injections of * cholecalciferol 600,000 IU daily for 20 consecutive days" * Her Vitamin D level was >150 ng/mL * From this single instance the authors conclude that vitamin D is being overprescribed.

Vitamin D, the sunshine vitamin is now considered to be a hormone due to its important role in many physiological functions. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with many disorders ranging from bone diseases, cardiovascular diseases to cancer. Hence, there is a recent surge in the empirical prescription of vitamin D for various disorders without documentation of vitamin D deficiency and monitoring the treatment. We report a case of iatrogenic hypercalcemia and acute kidney injury due to vitamin D toxicity after empirical and overzealous use of vitamin D and calcium supplements. We present this case to remind clinicians the importance of monitoring the patients treated with mega doses of vitamin D.

PMID: 25657969

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Overprescribing vitamin D – yes, 600,000 IU daily for 3 weeks is too much

Hyper Vitaminosis D: Are we Overprescribing Vitamin D?

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