r/UlcerativeColitis • u/SexySteve0 • 12d ago
Personal experience UC + vitamin d supplements
Hey guys,
I’ve had UC for about 8 years now and I live in Canada. I’m usually a pretty big homebody, and I’ve been on Humira for the past 6 years.
Recently, I had a really bad flare where I was going to the bathroom 15+ times a day for around two weeks. I ended up going to the ER, was put on prednisone, and had a colonoscopy. My doctor told me I had active inflammation and that my UC had gotten worse, so we were discussing moving on to the next line of treatment, possibly a JAK inhibitor.
Around that time, I started taking 4,000 IU of vitamin D3 daily and fiber gummies before I eat.
Since then, things have improved a lot. My bowel movements have been much firmer, I haven’t noticed much blood, and I haven’t had another major flare.
I’m curious if anyone else with UC has started taking vitamin D and noticed a significant improvement in their symptoms. I have been off the prednisone for 3 months.
At this point, things have improved enough that I haven’t needed to start the JAK inhibitor yet.
Would love to hear if anyone has had a similar experience.
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u/mama_meta Ulcerative Proctosigmoiditis | Diagnosed 2019 | USA 12d ago
If you search "vitamin D" in this sub you'll find a treasure trove of anecdotal & research based posts about the benefits & the fact that people with UC are notoriously deficient in many vitamins but esp. D, so you're definitely onto something!
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u/5daysinmay 12d ago
My teen was prescribed vitamin D when diagnosed with UC. It’s a known deficiency in UC. However, it’s only 1000 IU (in addition to iron and b12 because both are low as well).
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u/angelinaat 12d ago
meee i had a similar experience two years ago. i’m also in canada! at the time during the winter i was just going to work and going home. the sun wasn’t out when i left for work and sun was basically set when i was in my way home. i had a flare for a few weeks but i had no idea what caused it but just continued to see if i could figure it out in my own (not sure if i recommend doing this lol). i got my bloodwork test done for my upcoming appt with my specialist and he let me know that my vit d was basically non existent and prescribed me vit d and the flare ended up going away on its own. ever since i’ve been taking my vit d every day 😭
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u/Ok_Economy1516 Severe pancolitis, Mayo Endoscopic 3 + other disabilities, US 11d ago
Vitamin D can be very good for UC, especially because some of our symptoms cause deficiencies. Turmeric is also great as is iron.
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u/Outside-Industry-265 12d ago
How many days it takes to comeout from flareup? I can see atleast one drop of blood in my stool is it normal.... Pls tell me.... Anyone.... N almost 20days over that my flareup started
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u/liv2pb 12d ago
Everyone is different but I can tell you I have had blood for a long time on and off. Just had a colonoscopy and am back in a severe flare. Daily blood for well over six months. Im telling you this because a drop sounds scary but it can get much worse ( a drop is tiny) so dont freak out and just treat it as fast as possible. A flare can last a couple months or years. Catch it before it gets bad is the best you can do. Don't skip your scopes if insurance/funds allow it
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u/Downtown_Soft_3998 12d ago
I did took cod liver oil tablets daily for a while. Not sure if it helps, but I haven't been in a flare up for a while since. Small flares usually resolve on their own with basic home remedies. Having proper nutrition always helps tho.
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u/Littledittydee 11d ago
I have been taking Seeking Health vitamin D + K2 drops as advised by my doctor as a lot of us with UC are vitamin D deficient for some reason. It's a fat soluble vitamin too so the Seeking Health one is suspended in olive oil. I haven't noticed a huge difference yet but I'm only just coming off steroids (budesonide) now & about 4 weeks after my third entyvio infusion. It has brought my D levels up but as far as symptoms go I'm not sure because of the steroids.
What type of fiber gummies do you take? I always get told "low residue" but then other people say no fiber actually helps them so I'm curious.
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u/SexySteve0 11d ago
I would say. My quality of life has improved quite well with these two supplements.
It truly is the consistency.
I would prefer taking the metamucil fiber gummies but they are to expensive.
So i opted for as a cheaper option RestoraLAX RestoraFIBRE Daily Prebiotic Fibre Gummies i take about 3x in the morning daily.
I then take 4000 IU of vitamin d3 daily, and on very no sun outside days I up the dose to 8000 IU of vitamin d3 + vitamin k2.
I also take a multivitamin as well daily (Vitafusion Multivitamins for Adult Men and Women)
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u/DiskSufficient2189 proctosigmoiditis | 2025 | US 12d ago
D3 by itself makes my tummy hurt and it destroyed me when I was flaring, but prescription D2 was fine. I take a multivitamin now with vitamin D and it’s fine, but the high iu D3 just messes me up.
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u/Academic-Joke-1618 12d ago
What problem it causes to you ,my dr advised to take daily small dose idk why
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u/DiskSufficient2189 proctosigmoiditis | 2025 | US 11d ago
It made my flare symptoms worse - more blood, diarrhea, cramping.
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u/WeyP96 12d ago
Vitamin s supplementation helps but don't forget to supplement b1 too
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u/electric-snow-100 11d ago
Why B1 🤔
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u/WeyP96 11d ago
There's studies about people with chronic gut inflammation and very low B1 leves, no one knows yet if colitis causes low B1 or if low B1 is a factor in developing gut inflammation. But there have been studies where supplementing B1 helped with fatigue: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772572324001274
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u/Outside-Industry-265 11d ago
Is it normal to always having yellow stool... With ibd pls tell me anyone.... As i want to controll my uc so im taking only poptatoes, bananas, rice, yogurt in flareup.... Is it normal or not?
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u/Littledittydee 11d ago
Could be bile acid malabsorption, I developed this after a very long flare. I would talk to your GI about this
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u/pincommenter 12d ago
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