The resort to vitamin D supplement by people who seek to boost their immunity level against the very contagious and deadly COVID-19 may now need to tread with caution as a man in the UK became hospitalized following overdose of the supplement.
Vitamin D usage, which became popular in the recent times following the discovery by experts that it is very effective in helping the body to build anti-bodies that fight against COVID-19, is now also known to be dangerous when overdosed.
Sky News has reported the story of a middle age British man who took excessive quantity of the supplement, which resulted in serious medical complications that got him bedridden in the hospital for eight days.
He was said to have suffered from an ailment referred to as hypervitaminosis D according to medical reports.
Hypervitaminosis D is said to be the effect of overdosing of vitamin D supplements, which results to more than what the body requires to function efficiently.
The symptoms of hypervitaminosis D which the patient suffered includes vomiting, nausea and leg cramps.
Other symptoms he experienced includes tinnitus, dry mouth, weight loss, increased thirst and diarrhoea.
He suffered these symptoms for three months before his doctor was forced to refer him to a bigger hospital for continuation of treatment.
Clariform reports that the recommended daily intake of Vitamin D is 600mg and the natural source of the vitamin is sunlight.
However, not enough of it is received from the natural source as most people hardly spend enough time in the sun, and when they do stay, the body is mostly covered with clothes that prevents direct penetration of sunlight into the body.
The UK`s NHS website says “some people will not make enough vitamin D from sunlight because they have very little or no sunshine exposure”.
As against the recommended daily intake of 600mg, the man was reported to have taking about 50,000mg of vitamin D, which came from over 20 different supplements he was taking as a daily regime.
“According to the journal BMJ Case Reports, the symptoms started around a month after he started an intensive vitamin supplement regime.”
Medical examination showed that the man had 7 times more the level of vitamin D a normal person requires in the body. This led to multiple medical complications, including kidney problem.
According to the report, more than two months after his treatment and discharge from the hospital, further tests showed that his body still had excessive level of vitamin D.
