ergocalciferol (vitamin D2, Drisdol)

Indications

• treatment of refractory rickets
• familial hypophosphatemia & hypoparathyroidism
  • renal osteodystrophy
  • hypocalcemia
• prophylaxis for fracture in the elderly
  • osteoporosis

Dosage

• 1 mg = 40,000 IU
• RDA: 400 IU/day
• rickets: 12,000-500,000 IU/day
• hypoparathyroidism:
  • 10,000-80,000 IU/day, plus
  • 500 mg of calcium 6 times/day
• hypophosphatemia:
  • 10,000-80,000 IU/day, plus
  • 1-2 g of phosphate/day
• IM therapy is recommended for patients with malabsorption

Capsule: 50,000 IU (1.25 mg).

Adverse effects

• not common (1-10%)
  • hypotension, cardiac arrhythmias, irritability, headache, nausea/vomiting, bone pain, hypotension, pruritus, anorexia, pancreatitis, muscle pain, conjunctivitis, photophobia, polyuria, polydypsia, metallic taste
• uncommon (< 1%)
  • weight loss, psychosis

Mechanism of action

see vitamin D

More general terms

• vitamin D

More specific terms

• 25-hydroxyvitamin D2; 25-hydroxyergocalciferol; ercalcidiol; 25-hydroxycalciferol

Component of

• alpha tocopheryl acetate/ascorbate/beta carotene/cobalamin/ergocalciferol/folic acid/nicotinic acid/pantothenate/pyridoxine/retinol/riboflavin/thiamine
• ergocalciferol/vitamin a
• calcium citrate/ergocalciferol
• calcium carbonate/ergocalciferol
• alpha tocopherol/ascorbate/biotin/biotin/cobalamin/ergocalciferol/folic acid/multivitamin/nicotinamide/panthenol/pyridoxine/riboflavin/thiamine/vitamin a/vitamin k

Database

• PubChem: http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=3249