50K IU of Vitamin D per week would push many people into overdose range after a few months. Anyone taking high doses like this needs to also get blood tests to make sure they're not accumulating too much. Remember that it stays in the body a long time and therefore overdose can take many months or over a year to finally show up.
Vitamin D only really has dramatic effects in people who are severely deficient. Despite all of the influencers and podcasts claiming it's a miracle supplement and that we're all deficient, actual Vitamin D studies don't show much or any benefit outside of people who are significantly deficient.
But yes, if your Vitamin D is actually low then getting it into the normal range could have some dramatic effects.
Some doctors will prescribe short courses of Vitamin D as an almost-placebo when they can't find anything else wrong. It works quite well as a placebo for many people because podcast health influencers have been talking about it so much lately.
I wish this was true but I and other family members had rock bottom low vitamin D levels in lab tests. We supplemented until it rose to normal levels. None of us noticed any perceptible difference. Suppodedly this will prevent problems but it doesn't feel like anything has been fixed. I wonder how much is placebo.
One should get regular blood tests if possible for a lot of reasons... but supplementing with 50k IU Vit D per week is safe for almost everyone. Should take K1/K2 as well.
Not going to go into detail but there are several recent studies showing that daily intake of up to 50k IU is safe. The concerns over hypercalcemia, etc. were tied to much larger doses per day.
Tacking on for anyone alarmed or curious: The main distinction is fat-soluble versus water-soluble.
Fat-soluble vitamins (A/D/E/K) can accumulate in your tissues over time if you keep taking too much.
Water-soluble vitamins (such as C) are much easier for your body to filter and flush via urine. You could still overdose in the short-term, but a chronic accumulation is unlikely.
Yeah I should try pumping up my D levels. I take 2,000 IU/day plus mid-day sun exposure but it doesn't hurt to try it. From what I've read, short term Vit D doses can be pretty high without causing an issue.
Vitamin D only really has dramatic effects in people who are severely deficient. Despite all of the influencers and podcasts claiming it's a miracle supplement and that we're all deficient, actual Vitamin D studies don't show much or any benefit outside of people who are significantly deficient.
But yes, if your Vitamin D is actually low then getting it into the normal range could have some dramatic effects.
Some doctors will prescribe short courses of Vitamin D as an almost-placebo when they can't find anything else wrong. It works quite well as a placebo for many people because podcast health influencers have been talking about it so much lately.