Talk to me about Vitamin D

Hello! I just had my pre-op physical/bloodwork, and almost everything was perfect - BP fine, EKG great, bloodwork excellent. The only issue is that I have low Vitamin D, so they're giving me a once-weekly supplement and I'm supposed to get rechecked in 3-4 months. I have my last "surgery checklist" appointment tomorrow, so we're hoping to submit to insurance immediately after. The surgeon seems to think surgery in August, if not sooner, is totally doable, but would low Vit D interfere with surgery? Would they delay it until this was resolved or is it something unlikely to affect it? Thanks in advance!

It shouldn't. My pre-op labs showed me as deficient in vitamin D and it wasn't an issue for my surgery. 

Now I take 10,000 iu a day and my D went from 16 to 49!!! Super happy about that. 

Thanks, GwenMo! I am especially glad to hear from you, since I'm seeing Dr. Mayes (same practice as Dr. Salimah). I appreciate it!

Awesome!  Because of my BMI, the two of them actually did my surgery together, but I haven't met Mayes. I really like Salameh and all of the staff there, so I imagine Mayes is great as well :D

VHC is a really super hospital too. All private rooms, good nursing staff, I couldn't have had a better surgery experience. 

That is great to hear! And thank you again--it's such a comfort to talk to someone who's been with the same practice and hospital, especially since your progress has been so amazing!!

You should be ok...I had low Vitamin D as well...when i had my blood work done...my PCP put on 50,000 units (1.25mg) once a week...and I was cleared for surgery. 

Good luck!!

No worries.  As with a lot of people living in Seattle, my Vit D was low.  :) That was not an issue at all.  I continued to take vitamins and my last labs came back normal.

How low is low? What was your actual number? Having low D probably won't keep you from having surgery, but it can have some seriously negative effects on your general health. If your D's too low, you can't absorb calcium. If you can't absorb calcium, then your body will 'rob' it from your bones in order to maintain a normal blood-calcium level---after all, we have to have that for good nerve conduction. Also, low D can cause muscle and joint pains, never a good thing.

All prescription D is D2. Unfortunately, the body has to convert D2 into D3 before it can use it---and it takes a LOT of D2 to make a little D3. I highly recommend buying OTC D3 instead.