@surfcity The 5000 I was taking every other day was for 1250% RDA. Doctor told me to stay away from D supplements and retest in a year. I suppose the smart thing to do would have been to test for a baseline and ask the doctor for a dosage.
A banana every day or two keeps away night foot cramps. (My SIL and I laughed when a relative, an MD, recommended that to us when we complained about foot cramps. But it worked. Sometimes they come back a bit and I realize - daaa, I’ve forgotten to keep up my banana habit. SIL had same experience).
“Wouldn’t exposing some skin to sunlight for a few minutes be the easiest and cheapest way to get a vitamin D supplement?” - I live in CO, 300 days of high altitude sunshine per year. I do try to do sunblock, but there is plenty of sun exposure. Still I had low Vitamin D levels at checkup and am taking a weekly high dose supplement. Levels improved some after 3 month, but dr suggested another 6 months. The Rx is cheap, but the blood tests are pricey (deductible not yet me).
Banana = 14 grams of sugar.
Bananas are a great source of potassium (reason they helped the cramps)
I’d suggest that there are healthier ways to get more potassium in your diet without the 14 grams of sugar.
As illogical as it may appear, labeled recommendations often correspond to the capsule dosage. That is, even in the case of single company that sells supplements of varying strengths (1000 IU, 2000 IU, etc.), the suggested dosage may remain at one per day across varying potentecies, @surfcity.
@merc81 well that’s odd! 
It reminds me of the dosages on Advil and extra strength Advil. Both say to take two pills even though they are different milligram per pill!
My first day on CoQ10, am I supposed to be feeling any different? I still can’t leap tall buildings. :))
For those taking or considering CoQ10, note that it falls into a category of supplements that the body generates. For these supplements it’s generally preferred to skip days within a week, or even occasional whole weeks, in order to guard against a diminished natural production capacity.
Article on the promotion of vitamin D testing and supplements:
https://khn.org/news/how-michael-holick-sold-america-on-vitamin-d-and-profited/
Interesting.
As my results have been under 20 each test and I eat a healthy diet, I’m pretty confident I need Vitamin D supplements.
I take Cinnamon and Tumeric, that’s it. Cinnamon has helps keep my cholesterol in check, and the turmeric helps my arthritic hands!
@ucbalumnus I am already biased against that doctor because the skin cancer community is not fond of his position about sunscreen or the lack of need for it. So I read that with a grain of salt.
So I guess we should eliminate all fruits because they contain sugar.