Can you have too many vitamins?

Icecream4me · June 2012

I eat a variety of healthy foods and when I add up how much folic acid, vitamin a, iron etc I get in a day - I almost meet and sometimes exceed the daily recommendations. If I take a prenatal vitamin on top of that - can that be toxic? I'm only taking them every other day now becasue I'm nervous. Any thoughts?

MSUMamaof2 · June 2012

Taking too many vitamin supplements can cause vitamin toxicity. You're probably not there yet. Take all of your vitamins to your first OB appointment and make sure your doctor knows what you're taking. I usually take a Vitamin D3 supplement and have been told to stop it during pregnancy. That sort of threw me for a loop, so again, I'm glad I mentioned it!

82Sonia · June 2012

My OB told me that I needed to start taking a D3 supplement...did yours say why you needed to stop taking it?

pitterpatter129 · June 2012

82Sonia:
My OB told me that I needed to start taking a D3 supplement...did yours say why you needed to stop taking it?

I was recently put on one for low vit D. Maybe pp had normal levels and didn't need the extra.

OP: You can take as much folic acid as you want from what I understand because it's water soluable and you'll just pee it out. Other things, like iron, you can get too much of. I'd definitely ask your OB what they think.

jennadoll87 · June 2012

You only really need to worry about the fat soluble vitamins because your body will store those and eventually that is toxic. The water soluble vitamins are flushed out when in excess so just be careful of vitamins A D E & K.

drpayne · June 2012

MSUMamaof2:
Taking too many vitamin supplements can cause vitamin toxicity. You're probably not there yet. Take all of your vitamins to your first OB appointment and make sure your doctor knows what you're taking. I usually take a Vitamin D3 supplement and have been told to stop it during pregnancy. That sort of threw me for a loop, so again, I'm glad I mentioned it!

Why? Most of the recent studies I've seen suggest pregnant women (and people in general) aren't getting enough vit D.

choppinbroccoli22 · June 2012

drpayne:
MSUMamaof2:
Taking too many vitamin supplements can cause vitamin toxicity. You're probably not there yet. Take all of your vitamins to your first OB appointment and make sure your doctor knows what you're taking. I usually take a Vitamin D3 supplement and have been told to stop it during pregnancy. That sort of threw me for a loop, so again, I'm glad I mentioned it!

Why? Most of the recent studies I've seen suggest pregnant women (and people in general) aren't getting enough vit D.

Because I was recently diagnosed with vitamin D insufficiency, I've been researching and paying attention to this too. 70% of women post-partum in a recent Boston study were found to have insufficient or deficient levels. It's not a problem for the baby usually, as I have learned, but rather a problem later on for the mother who instead loses bone mass to support the baby's needs.

As soon as I got my lab results, I found on line the max safe dosage during pregnancy is generally considered 2,000 IU per day and popped the difference from my prenatal in my mouth right away... however, this seems to be old information. Experts seem to agree that these doses are ineffective to treat insufficiency, and recommend much higher doses. My doctor put me on 50,000 IU per week for a period of time, and will do further blood work in a couple more weeks. So... this seems to be an area of continuing research.

What I'm curious about, is did your doctor do blood work before recommending that you don't take this supplement? These days, with such a high % of us working indoors, wearing sunscreen, etc, we're a deficient society.

MelissaRae1525 · June 2012

For most vitamins, the excess will flush out of your system like PP said, which is why your pee changes colors when you start taking them. I have a vitamin D deficiency and told my Dr what I take, and when she did all my blood work she said everything looked good and to keep taking them. I would take all your supps with you and tell them what you take and you will know what you need more of and less of when you do your lab work. I was surprised that I didn't need an iron supp because I take the gummies that don't have them, but I specifically asked about iron and she said it looked good, so I guess I have to take her word for it.

MelissaRae1525 · June 2012

choppinbroccoli22:
drpayne:
MSUMamaof2:
Taking too many vitamin supplements can cause vitamin toxicity. You're probably not there yet. Take all of your vitamins to your first OB appointment and make sure your doctor knows what you're taking. I usually take a Vitamin D3 supplement and have been told to stop it during pregnancy. That sort of threw me for a loop, so again, I'm glad I mentioned it!

Why? Most of the recent studies I've seen suggest pregnant women (and people in general) aren't getting enough vit D.
Because I was recently diagnosed with vitamin D insufficiency, I've been researching and paying attention to this too. 70% of women post-partum in a recent Boston study were found to have insufficient or deficient levels. It's not a problem for the baby usually, as I have learned, but rather a problem later on for the mother who instead loses bone mass to support the baby's needs.
As soon as I got my lab results, I found on line the max safe dosage during pregnancy is generally considered 2,000 IU per day and popped the difference from my prenatal in my mouth right away... however, this seems to be old information. Experts seem to agree that these doses are ineffective to treat insufficiency, and recommend much higher doses. My doctor put me on 50,000 IU per week for a period of time, and will do further blood work in a couple more weeks. So... this seems to be an area of continuing research.
What I'm curious about, is did your doctor do blood work before recommending that you don't take this supplement? These days, with such a high % of us working indoors, wearing sunscreen, etc, we're a deficient society.

What form of vit D do you take? My GP prescribed it to me a few months ago and a friend told me to check and see whether it was D3 or D2. D2 is not as bioavailable so it's basically like not taking anything. I was surprised to find out this is either what the GP prescribed or what the pharmacy carries. I got a D3 1000 IU pill at the pharmacy and take that daily and my bloodwork came back great according to my OP

Icecream4me · June 2012

Thanks for all the feedback. I will keep taking them and ask my gyn when I see her next week.

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