Vitamin D Testing And Treatment – What You Need To Know
What about retesting? Do I need it?
This will depend on your medical or health condition, and how much vitamin D supplementation you are taking or if you are being prescribed vitamin D therapeutically. If you are found to be deficient and/or you are supplementing at doses higher than 2000 IU daily, we recommend retesting within 2 weeks to 2 months after initiating supplementation.
Once you attain vitamin D repletion, you can refer to the section below on how to keep your levels optimal.
How can I maintain my vitamin D levels once I get them up to where I want to be?
That’s a wonderful question! The answer will vary, according to your age, skin tone, where you live (latitude), the seasons, and your lifestyle (indoors or outdoors, sunscreen protection, and other aspects of the way you live). It will also depend on other risk factors for vitamin D deficiency, and you may want to modify accordingly. Again, the best way to know is to get tested periodically! Here’s what we do in Maine, where the UVB rays are only strong enough (290–315 nm) between May and September to convert the precursor molecule in the skin to provitamin D3.
For maintenance after boosting and ideal range is fully achieved:
- Fall/winter months – 2000 IU vitamin D3 daily after ideal level is reached.
- Spring/summer months – 1000 IU vitamin D3 daily, with 15–30 minutes of daily sun exposure to limbs without sunscreen at safe-sun times of day (avoiding 11:00 am – 2:00 pm), then regular retesting again in the mid to late fall.
Maintenance retesting notions to consider after reaching ideal range:
- For those initially found deficient – retesting at least every 6 months
- For those initially found insufficient – retesting at least annually
- For those initially found not ideal – retest with fasting lipid profiles every one to two years
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