hi i don't know exactly what would be causing the pains, but i know a little bit about vitamin d, and i sincerely doubt that you need to worry about having too much.
Hypervitaminosis D
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In terms of the likelihood of poisoning, Vitamin D seems to be one of the least poisonous substances known. Overdose occurs at more than 100 times the daily RDA (more or less a bottle of vitamin D tablets per day), for several months. Acute one-time overdose requires over 50mg (ten thousand times the RDA). Foods contain low levels, and have not been known to cause overdose.
Although taking excessive amounts of cod liver oil over months or years could produce an overdose in theory, it is almost always associated with forms of vitamin D that require a doctor's prescription. Overdose has also occurred due to industrial accidents, for example when incorrectly formulated pills were sold or missing industrial concentrate cans misused as cans of milk.
Symptoms of vitamin D poisoning include:
Dehydration
Vomiting
Decreased appetite (anorexia)
Irritability
Constipation
Fatigue
An excess of vitamin D causes abnormally high blood concentrations of calcium which can eventually cause severe damage to the bones, soft tissues, and kidneys. It can also damage the kidney and produce kidney stones.
(end of wikipedia excerpt)
have you had your serum 25-hydroxyvitamin d tested? i had been supplementing at close to 4000 IU of D3 per day for over three months and only got up to 72 nmol/l so far - that is not even good enough for bone health let alone immune health, supposed to be in the 125-150 range apparently, but i think that is a fairly arbitrary target from what i've read. right now i'm making arrangments to take 50,000IU per day for 10 days, which should kick it up to the 150 zone, i'll get a serum test again, and then i'll drop back to a lesser daily intake for maintenance.
my dietitian gave me a great table the other day, showing a review of studies of daily D intake compared to serum values. a 1987 study says that 50,000 IU taken daily for 6 weeks resulted in serum levels of 320 nmol/l, and that serum level isn't even dangerous, so i'm sure 10 days will be fine in my case. i talked with the pharmacist and he's ordering some awesome 1,000,000 IU/g liquid cholecalciferol that you take with an oral syringe.
here is a link to a GREAT article on D supplementation. i think it may be my favourite vitamin D article yet. it should reassure you that you are probably not hypercalcemic from vitaminosis d. it references a study that says even serum levels as high as 250 nmol/l had no toxic effect. i found a 1999 study (link at the very end) that did tests on various groups including half-naked outdoor labourers in india, and their serum levels were around 450 nmol/l, and you know your own body wouldn't make too much. so anyway, having your bloodwork done and knowing where you're at makes tons of sense to me. also if you find your levels are low even though you've been taking your D3 for a long time, you might want to investigate your liver and kidney function and try to decide if you need to get pre-hydroxylated D3.
the numbers stuff in the Hollis article is fun. i back-calculated where my serum D must have started in order for me to only be at 72 after three months, and it was ridiculous.
(aside: can someone check my math? per the article, my 3400IU/d divided by 40 IU multiplied by 0.7 = 59.5, which is what i think would be my serum increase at my usual supplementation rate over 5 months, and i'm three months in. i'm not sure if the stability after 90 days thing means i've already gone up the full 59.5 nmol/l now, or if i should calculate my original number by saying 72 is 3/5 of the way along my 59.5 serum D value increase. did i start at around 12? or around 35? either way, YIIIKES!!!)
anyway here are the article links:
http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/135/2/317
Symposium: Vitamin D Insufficiency: A Significant Risk Factor in Chronic Diseases and Potential Disease-Specific Biomarkers of Vitamin D Sufficiency
Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels Indicative of Vitamin D Sufficiency: Implications for Establishing a New Effective Dietary Intake Recommendation for Vitamin D1
Bruce W. Hollis2
Departments of Pediatrics, Biochemistry, and Molecular Biology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425
http://www.iisc.ernet.in/currsci/nov10/ ... NDANCE.PDF
Elevated serum levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in outdoor workers
of South India