Course of diarrhea caused by vitamin D | Diarrhoea caused by vitamin D

Course of diarrhea caused by vitamin D

Rarely does the long-term intake of vitamin D in a therapeutic dosage lead to persistent diarrhea. If the diarrhoea under a Vitamin D intake lasts for more than a week, the treating family doctor should be consulted. This can then decide how the further procedure is.

Diagnosis of diarrhea by vitamin D

If the patient has started taking a vitamin D (colecalciferol) preparation and diarrhoea occurs shortly afterwards, the temporal correlation may be indicative of the cause, i.e. the medication intake. However, numerous other incidents can also be the cause of diarrhoea, for example acute stress situations, gastrointestinal infections or a change in diet. In order to find out whether taking vitamin D is the cause, it can be useful to pause the preparation for a few days and then start taking it again. If the diarrhea disappears in the days without vitamin D intake and only reappears after a new start, it can be assumed that the medication – or one of the additives contained in it – is causing the diarrhea. It should then first be critically questioned whether taking the drug is at all indicated.

Treatment of diarrhea with vitamin D

If severe diarrhea occurs after taking colecalciferol, it should first be checked whether the recommended dose or too high a dose has been taken. In addition, it should always be critically questioned whether vitamin D intake is necessary at all. If the diarrhea is not caused by an overdose, the next step is to try to switch to another colecalcalciferol preparation.

Each drug has additives that differ from one preparation to another. Therefore, it is not uncommon that one preparation with the same active ingredient is better tolerated than another. In most cases, diarrhoea can be treated as a side effect of this.If the above measures do not help, it should be noted that many drug-related side effects only occur during the first days of use.

The probability that the diarrhoea will subside after a few days of taking vitamin D is therefore relatively high. Vitamin D – like all other vitamin preparations – should not simply be taken as part of a dietary supplement. This can lead to dangerous overdoses.

Vitamins should only be taken – specifically – if a deficiency or the risk of developing a deficiency exists or is probable. It is advisable to correct vitamin D deficiency from the outset. This is possible by staying in the sun. Nevertheless, it is important that you also protect your body from the sun’s rays. Read the following article to find out how you can achieve this: How you can prevent sunburn