For someone hearing about the Vitamin D3 Anti-Inflammatory Regimen for cluster headache for the first time, the loading phase can sound overwhelming. A cumulative 600,000 IU over 6 or 12 days for episodic CH looks enormous on paper, especially when most people are only familiar with daily doses of a few hundred to a few thousand IU.
However, bolus dosing is not unusual in clinical practice. Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland provides vitamin D3 supplementation recommendations that illustrate this point clearly. When deficiency is suspected or when a child is considered at risk, routine 25(OH)D testing is often unnecessary, and supplementation can be started immediately if there are no contraindications. In cases where daily adherence is unlikely, their guideline even allows for a single annual 600,000 IU dose for children aged five years and older. This high-dose, one-time strategy is known as stoss therapy.
The interesting comparison is not that Starship is a definitive authority for CH, but rather that the dose itself is not unusual. The Vitamin D3 Anti-Inflammatory Regimen uses the same total loading amount as the stoss protocol (600,000 IU), but applies it very differently. Instead of one large bolus, the regimen divides the 600,000 IU across 6 or 12 days. This staged approach quickly elevates serum 25(OH)D while maintaining excellent tolerability in the CH community.
The other key distinction is what follows the loading phase. The cluster headache protocol immediately transitions into a maintenance dose of 10,000 IU daily (adjusted as needed) to keep serum 25(OH)D in the approximate range of 80 to 100 ng/mL. This appears to be the “sweet spot” where the greatest prophylactic benefit is observed. Some patients may require slightly higher levels to achieve a therapeutic response, and from a physiological standpoint this remains achievable with relative safety.
A conservative rule of thumb from bolus-dosing literature is that every 100,000 IU of Vitamin D3 raises serum 25(OH)D by about 10 ng/mL. Given that clinically significant hypercalcemia in most individuals does not manifest until serum levels exceed roughly 200 ng/mL, there is a wide margin between the therapeutic range for CH and the threshold at which toxicity becomes a concern. This is one of the reasons the patient-led regimen has been used successfully and safely by thousands of sufferers worldwide.
You can read the Starship guideline here:
https://www.starship.org.nz/guidelines/vitamin-d-deficiency-investigation-and-management/
The message isn’t to be nonchalant nor to suggest anyone should be casual or careless in their approach to supplementation. If you choose to begin the regimen, do so by following the steps laid out in the Quick Start and Full Reference Guides. Both are available on the main page of www.vitamindregimen.com or in the downloads section. Implementing the protocol correctly gives you the best chance of achieving therapeutic serum levels, maintaining safety, and, importantly, reclaiming your life from this brutal condition.
If you live with cluster headache and haven’t explored the Vitamin D3 Anti-Inflammatory Regimen, you’ll find detailed protocols, safety notes, and real-world experiences at:
www.vitamindregimen.com
