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What is a Vitamin D Injection?

By C. Mitchell
Updated: Mar 03, 2024
Views: 79,962
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Vitamin D is an essential vitamin for human growth and development, but the body does not always produce as much vitamin D as it needs. Vitamin D deficiency can be solved with supplements or injections. A vitamin D injection is a physician-administered dose of vitamin D that is injected directly into the bloodstream. Doctors use vitamin D injections to correct deficiencies in patients who, for whatever reason, cannot or do not want to take supplements. Vitamin D injection is also a treatment option for a host of medical conditions, including rickets and fibromyalgia.

Vitamin D comes in two primary varieties: D2 and D3. The body naturally secretes vitamin D3 in the skin after exposure to sunlight. Vitamin D2 is commonly absorbed through foods with high vitamin D content, such as fatty fish, eggs, and mushrooms. Vitamin D in either form is essential to health. It promotes bone growth and development, energy maintenance, and calcium absorption.

Most people should take a daily vitamin D dosage of between 200 and 400 International Units, or IUs. Those with a history of vitamin D deficiency, or women who are pregnant, should usually consume between 400 and 600 IUs of vitamin D per day, but no one should exceed 1,000 IUs in a day. Overdoses of vitamin D can lead to calcium build-up problems in the blood, and the secretion of certain toxins. It is very difficult to overdose on vitamin D from natural sources alone.

The risks of vitamin D deficiency are significant, and include brittle bones, osteoporosis, and liver and kidney disorders. For some people, correcting or avoiding vitamin D deficiency is as simple as taking in a bit more sunlight, or upping the consumption of vitamin D-rich foods. For others, outside supplements may be needed to ensure proper levels of the vitamin. Supplements are particularly important for people whose bodies do not properly secrete vitamin D, or whose bodies do not effectively break down vitamin D in foods.

Vitamin D injection is one method of vitamin D supplement. A vitamin D injection is performed by a doctor, and usually provides enough vitamin D to last a person six months. Other means of supplement include vitamin D pills and powders. An advantage to vitamin D injection is that the vitamin is immediately absorbed into the blood, and the patient does not have to remember to take a supplement every day.

Injections can also be prescribed to treat certain specific ailments. The treatment regimens for diseases like rickets and fibromyalgia, for instance, often involve regular vitamin D injections. Injections are usually considered preferable for these treatments because the vitamin can be directly and immediately absorbed, which some doctors believe can aid in bone rebuilding and in joint pain relief better and faster than an oral supplement.

Sometimes vitamin D injections are prescribed to treat seasonal affective disorder, but the injections’ effectiveness for this purpose is debated. Seasonal affective disorder is a disorder that causes depression in the winter months when sunlight is scarce. Common treatments include antidepressants and sunlight lamps. Sunlight increases the body’s production of vitamin D, but whether the disorder is caused by the physiological absence of vitamin D rather than the mental reaction to the lack of sun is largely unknown. Vitamin D injection treatments for seasonal affective disorder have achieved mixed results.

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Discussion Comments
By anon315828 — On Jan 25, 2013

I am living in Delhi (India) and Vitamin D Injections are readily available here in India. My Mother (68 years of age) has extremely high TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) levels. She is suffering with Hypothyroidism.

Doctor Bambini, a very reputed doctor from Moolchand Hospital, has prescribed medicines for her that have 1250 UI of Vitamin D plus an oral medication that has 60000 UI of the same. She is been injected by a local physician with inject-able Vitamin D too.

By anon313602 — On Jan 12, 2013

The position that no one should consume more than 1,000 UIs in a day is completely wrong. I have a Vitamin D deficiency and have been prescribed 50,000 UIs once a week. Even if I were to space that dose out to a daily intake, that's over 7,000 UIs per day. It's also extraordinarily difficult to overdose on Vitmain D, no matter where it comes from, natural or otherwise, mostly because it is the only micronutrient that has receptors for it in every single cell in your body. It is, therefore, in high demand, and it is stored in your fat cells. Storage is highly stable in healthy people, making it extraordinarily difficult to overdose.

By anon154040 — On Feb 19, 2011

I have heard that Vitamin D Injections have been taken off by the manufacturer. I would like to know why.

By anon149960 — On Feb 06, 2011

I have heard that the Vitamin D Injections have been taken off the market, why is that?

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