Vitamin D deficiency has been more common lately. People began to be less on the street, eat healthy food. This leads to the fragility of bones, hair, nails, deterioration in appearance and well-being. In many people with chronic fatigue syndrome and cancer, laboratory tests reveal a deficiency in an important substance. Excess is no less dangerous, therefore, a doctor must decide on its intake.
General characteristics
Vitamin D is the generalized name for 5 types of substances. They have a different origin, but have an identical effect on the body.
Cholecalciferol (colecalciferol, vitamin D3) - a natural substance that enters the body with food of animal origin or under the influence of sunlight.
It is a white powder with a crystalline structure. Almost insoluble in water, therefore, belongs to the group of fat-soluble.
Action on the body
What is vitamin D3 for? First of all, it ensures the proper functioning of the musculoskeletal system, namely:
- affects the absorption of calcium, phosphates and magnesium from the digestive tract;
- takes part in their exchange;
- Helps transport substances from the bloodstream to bone tissue
- prevents softening of bones, the appearance of rickets and osteoporosis;
- allows damaged areas to heal faster after fractures.
Additional functions include:
- strengthening immunity, preventing serious diseases, for example, oncology;
- increase muscle elasticity;
- prevention of skin and heart diseases;
- maintaining normal thyroid function;
- blood pressure regulation;
- improving brain function.
The combination of cholecalciferol and calcium is often used to treat hypocalcemia and hypovitaminosis.
Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency
In the early stages, a deficiency may occur:
- bad mood;
- lack of desire to do something, sometimes even get out of bed;
- worsening of mental state (with addiction);
- metabolic disorders (obesity, diabetes);
- joint pain;
- deterioration of hair and nails.
Later joins:
- slouch;
- skeleton deformation;
- gait disturbance.
In men, vitamin A deficiency leads to decreased sperm activity and infertility.
Who are assigned to?
In accordance with the instructions for the use of cholecalciferol, it is necessary for the following pathologies:
- rickets (bone formation disorder and skeletal mineralization disorder);
- osteoporosis (softening of the elements of the musculoskeletal system);
- spasmophilia and hypocalcemic titania (pathologies that occur against the background of hypocalcemia of the blood, accompanied by seizures);
- nephrogenic osteopathy (skeletal damage due to a violation of calcium-phosphorus metabolism);
- taking anticonvulsants and barbiturates;
- hypophosphatemia (a decrease in the level of phosphate in the blood serum);
- fragility of nails, hair;
- dental problems.
And also with disorders in the digestive system:
- Crohn's disease;
- sharp weight loss;
- malabsorption syndrome (malabsorption in the intestine).
Additional indications for cholecalciferol are as follows:
- cirrhosis;
- obstructive jaundice;
- addiction to alcohol;
- liver failure.
It is recommended:
- pregnant and lactating mothers;
- people on strict diets, vegetarians, patients who receive parenteral nutrition;
- small children (newborns, infants in the autumn-winter period).
The basis for taking the medication can be any condition that arose against a background of deficiency of colecalciferol.
Contraindications and possible side effects
The tool is not used in conditions such as:
- individual intolerance;
- high levels of vitamin D and calcium in the blood;
- renal osteodystrophy amid increased serum phosphates.
When using the supplement strictly according to indications, deterioration of health is rarely observed. Patients present the following complaints:
- the development of skin allergic rashes;
- increase in blood pressure;
- exacerbation of pulmonary tuberculosis;
- headache;
- identification in the analysis of hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria ;
- the appearance of arthralgia, myalgia;
- heart rhythm disturbance;
- impaired renal function.
Overdose
The intake of colecalciferol in large doses leads to increased side effects.
Additional symptoms of overdose include:
- aversion to food, severe weight loss;
- cramps when urinating, frequent urination;
- strong constipations.
Symptomatic therapy is carried out with corticosteroids, thiamine, retinol, magnesium, potassium, vitamins C and E, pantothenic acid.
Long-term use of high doses leads to problems of various kinds:
- salt deposition in the kidneys, heart, lungs and other internal organs;
- demineralization of bones;
- to death.
Severe lesions are not treatable.
Drug interaction
In accordance with the instructions for use with cholecalciferol, the concentration of a substance in the blood is reduced:
- mineral oils;
- calcitonin;
- gallium nitrate;
- plicamycin;
- derivatives of ethidronic and pamidronic acids;
- colestyramine;
- colestipol.
Simultaneous administration with phosphorus-containing agents leads to increased absorption of the latter.
If necessary, tetracycline should be used during the treatment period, an interval of 3 hours, sodium fluoride - 2 hours.
During the course of treatment, other supplements containing colecalciferol should not be used. So the risk of developing hypervitaminosis increases.
special instructions
Treatment of hypovitaminosis should be carried out on the recommendation of a doctor with periodic monitoring of calcium in the urine.
The daily norm for an adult is 400 IU. Regular exceeding of dosages leads to chronic hypervitaminosis and poor health.
Pediatricians often recommend giving children cholecalciferol for the prevention or treatment of rickets in the cold season. It should be borne in mind that in 12 months the baby should receive no more than 10 - 15 mg.
High doses of the substance taken by the expectant mother have a toxic effect on the embryo. This is fraught with:
- mental retardation;
- cranial deformity;
- deterioration of the parathyroid gland;
- aortic stenosis;
- the development of high sensitivity to colecalciferol.
Exceeding the recommended doses by 4 to 15 times over a long time is considered dangerous.
In older people, the substance is absorbed worse, so they often need to take additional drugs.
Dosage for adults and children
How many drops a patient should drink, the doctor decides, based on the results of the tests, general condition, age and gender, and other features.
Instructions for use with cholecalciferol are for informational purposes.
Water drops are taken in pure form or diluted with any non-hot liquid. The oil solution is always diluted.
On average, 400 to 600 IU per day is given orally. Intramuscularly - 200 thousand IU.
Treatment of rickets with injections is carried out once a week for 200 thousand IU, calcium salts are additionally used. The minimum course of admission is 2 weeks.
For the treatment of osteoporosis, the same dosage is administered every 2 weeks for 3 months.
Once a day, 1 million IU is prescribed to prevent seizures.
With hypoparathyroidism, the maximum dose is 15,000 IU.
Spasmophilia in infants is treated - 5000 IU three times a day.
For the prevention of osteomelation, they take 3–1 times a day 500–1000 IU, for therapeutic purposes - 2500 IU.
Analogs
The price of cholecalciferol can vary significantly and depends on the form of release and the manufacturer.
The most popular water drops are Aquadetrim, made in Poland. They have a transparent color, slightly smell of anise.
In 1 bottle is 10 ml of colecalciferol with an activity of 15,000 IU. Approximate cost - 300-400 p.
No less popular is the German "Wiganthol". These are oil drops with an activity of 20,000 IU. It is taken orally in diluted form (in milk or other liquid). The average price per bottle of 10 ml is about 400 r.
Colecalciferon is present in many complex vitamins in the form of regular and chewable tablets. For example, Calcium D3 Nycomed.
Dosage and cost may vary significantly.
There are no cheap drops based on colecalciferol. In the pharmacy you can buy the budget "Ergocalciferol" in the form of an oil solution, but its active ingredient is vitamin D2, so the advisability of such a replacement must be checked with a doctor.
Detailed instructions for use with cholecalciferol can be found in the box with the purchased product.
Forms of release and conditions of dispensing from pharmacies
The drug is sold in the form of solutions for intramuscular administration and oral administration. Or in the form of drops inside.
It is released on prescription, but in practice it can be purchased by anyone.
Vials are kept in a cool place, protected from sunlight.
Shelf life - 2 years from the date of issue. Damaged product should be discarded.
Reviews
You can hear a lot of good and bad things about cholecalciferol.
All doctors agree that taking according to indications often gives a positive effect. The exception is rare forms of individual intolerance to additional components of the drug. In this case, the tool is canceled and another is prescribed.
In individuals, hypersensitivity to cholecalciferol is observed. For them, the recommended amount of medication can cause a deterioration in well-being, namely the symptoms characteristic of taking high doses. For such patients, the amount of the drug is reduced.
Whether it is necessary to take vitamin cholecalciferol for newborns and young children is a moot point, but most pediatricians think so. In their opinion, rickets is easier to prevent than to deal with its consequences.
Some experts insist that with a balanced diet of a nursing mother or baby and a sufficient stay on the street, additional use of drugs is not required.
Patients often say that cholecalciferol-based products cause allergic skin reactions, regardless of the manufacturer. Basically, the problem is observed in young children. Doctors are sure that often the supplement has nothing to do with the rash, and mothers should review their baby’s diet.
Parents nevertheless insist on their innocence and claim that all the defects went away after the drug was canceled.
People praise the Calcium D3 Nycomed chewable tablets very much. They allow you to quickly deal with brittle nails and hair, stop tooth decay.
Preparations based on cholecalciferol perfectly cope with their main purpose - the treatment of diseases associated with its deficiency. Patients who took vitamin D3 according to indications consider the remedy effective. Information is confirmed by laboratory tests.
Uncontrolled intake of supplements on the advice of friends and relatives often leads to overdose, hypervitaminosis. Most often, people complain about the occurrence of urolithiasis and gallstone disease, disruption of the intestines, heart and other organs.
According to doctors, the following persons should definitely be checked for vitamin deficiency:
- pregnant and lactating women;
- premature and often ill children;
- patients with diseases of the HCC;
- people exhausting themselves with diets;
- persons rarely in the sun.
Healthy people will be able to avoid deficiency by eating properly and regularly being outdoors.
In the initial stages, vitamin D deficiency is easily filled with cholecalciferol solutions and tablets. You should not buy and drink the supplement on your own, adhering to your own beliefs. It is important not only to establish the fact of a deficit, but also to find out its cause. The thoughtless use of the drug leads to serious consequences and even death.