If you were only taking 1,000 IU daily, which is most of the OTC Vit D sold at stores, that would not be enough to bring your levels up - especially if you only started 3 months ago. Actually, your levels were probably really in the tank before you started if you still tested low. Cancer risks are much higher in people with very low Vit D levels. All kinds of conditions have shown that higher Vit D levels equate to better outcomes. The research is out there but it is not widely disseminated among professionals. Vit D is fairly cheap and only sick people are money makers. Know your levels and always get copies of your blood work. Patients need to educate themselves and be a participant in their own health.

Maintenance dosage can be around 5,000 IU daily once optimum levels have been reached. This can vary depending on weight and how fast someone is utilizing it. I have had some patients that required 10,000 IU a day. Vit D is a fat soluble vitamin and can be taken in larger amounts at one time versus water soluble vitamins that must be acquired daily. The body stores fat soluble vitamins whereas water soluble are not. Water solubles are usually excreted above whatever the body cannot utilize. This is why prescription Vit D is usually 50,000 IU. As long as a person does not have a Vit D allergy, a person can safely take large amounts of Vit D daily for months before even getting close to toxic limits. Optimum Vit D levels to deal with a variety of medical conditions should be somewhere around 70 to 80 ng/ml. I have been hearing recently that to combat COVID, whatever it turns out to be, the levels may even be as high as 90 to 100 ng/ml. I still need more data before making such a recommendation - but it certainly is not going to be harmful.

Most allopathic clinicians are still determining appropriate blood Vit D levels with whatever parameters the lab sets as a range. Many clinicians simply look for the "L" and "H" on test results without really knowing what an appropriate level should be. Many of these labs set the upper limit at between 20 to 30 ng/ml. Those levels are too low. Most clinicians are not schooled in nutrition and usually adopt whatever guidelines the ivory towers of medical science dictate. Some of us have been hammering the need for higher Vit D levels for decades and have been redicules for it. We have made some progress, but it has not gone far enough in order to get from the world of research into practical application to improve the health of the public. Vit D is just one of many nutritional battles to be fought. Good luck.

What was your level, do you know? Was it way low? Just wondering. I've been taking it since last December. I wonder if regular supplements are really that good or is there a specific brand we should be taking.