Hey Richard,

If your 25(OH)D reserves deplete at the same rate as mine, you should be safe from the beast for at least a week to a max of 10 days after stopping vitamin D3 therapy before your 25(OH)D serum concentration drops below the therapeutic level allowing cluster headaches to return.

Given you'll be off vitamin D3 for two weeks prior to the surgery...  your preparations for the return of the beast are prudent.

On the other hand...  although your doctor wants you off of supplementary vitamin D3...  I don't think he would mind you gathering the needed vitamin D3 naturally from the UVB in direct sunlight...  15 minutes a day exposure to direct sunlight around noon clad in a bathing suit without sunblock should be sufficient...  Ask him.

It's been my experience that even when the cluster headaches do return, and I've intentionally done the 25(OH)D burn down test three times since Oct 2010, they are easily aborted with oxygen therapy at flow rates that support hyperventilation...  a minimum oxygen flow rate of 25 liters/minute. 

It's interesting to note that the wall mounted oxygen regulators in most hospitals are the flowmeter type oxygen regulator which have a clear plastic tube calibrated up to a flow rate of 15 liters/minute. 

The flow rate valve on this type of regulator can usually be opened well beyond the 15 liter/minute flow rate in order to provide sufficient flow rate to support hyperventilation. 

If they bring in an E-size oxygen bottle and regulator with a non-rebreathing oxygen mask, you're likely limited to a max flow rate of 15 liters/minute.

Shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll send you a paper you can give to the surgical team prior to your surgery that explains why oxygen therapy is far more effective at aborting cluster headaches when the flow rate of 100% oxygen is high enough to support hyperventilation.

Regarding the relationship between kidney and bladder stones while taking vitamin D3 and calcium supplements...  As near as I can tell from available open source information, taking vitamin D3 and calcium supplements does not increase the incidence of urinary stones...

Granted, your medical situation is different as most urinary stones form in the kidneys and the kidney's renal pelvis (top of the ureter) although some of these stones can travel down the ureter into the bladder and become bladder stones.  Bladder stones also have a long list of causes. 

There's a long list of causes for urinary stones and you can read about them on the following NIH web sites:

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Knowing the type of urinary stone is also important in preventing their occurrence.   Be sure to ask for the biopsy results of your bladder stones.  This information could be valuable to the rest of us using the anti-inflammatory regimen.

Finally, from vitamindwiki at the following link:

Multimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or

Kidney stones myth from medical book on vitamin D - 2010

Chapter 1: Vitamin D and Health, by Michael F. Holick

5.2. (Myth) Treatment with Vitamin D Will Increase Risk of Kidney Stones

Although there are some published studies that have suggested that increasing calcium and vitamin D will increase the risk of kidney stones, these studies were not well controlled for either calcium or vitamin D intake and other causes of kidney stone development were not evaluated (75).

The major cause for kidney stones is the increased absorption of dietary oxalate that is often present in dark green leafy vegetables including spinach. This is the reason why it has been observed that increasing calcium intake reduces risk of developing kidney stones.

However, patients who have a history of kidney stones do need to be cautious about their calcium intake. For patients with kidney stones who are not getting an adequate amount of calcium in their diet and need to take a calcium supplement, I recommend either calcium citrate or calcium citrate malate. The reason is that the citrate and malate will chelate the calcium in the urine decreasing risk of kidney stone development.

Treating vitamin D defciency and increasing vitamin D intake to raise blood levels of 25(OH)D of >30 and <100 ng/ml will not increase the risk of developing kidney stones unless there is some other underlying calcium or bone metabolic disorder (4).

Chapter 44 / Vitamin D for Cancer Prevention and Survival, by Edward D. Gorham, Sharif B. Mohr, Frank C. Garland, and Cedric F. Garland

Most kidney stones in the United States and Canada are due to dehydration (120), combined with underlying conditions such as excessive salt intake and metabolic disorders such as hypocitraturia (121, 122), hyperoxaluria (123), hyperuricosuria (124), and an excessively acid or alkaline urinary pH (120). Risk is particularly high in desert environments, apparently due to dehydration (125). Excellent reviews on risk factors are available (121, 122). Restriction of intake of calcium may paradoxically increase the risk of kidney stones, since oxalate bound in the intestine to calcium is not absorbed and does not appear in the urine (126).

Hope this helps.

Take care and please keep us posted...

V/R, Batch