“My mother in assisted living was prescribed exactly that. I used to think it was dumb how much more expensive the Rx form was although visually identical to the common OTC”
usually, prescription vitamin D is the D2 form (which skips the body’s conversion of D3 to D2) and/or much higher doses than 5,000 units ... look at the prescription bottle more closely the next time you get a chance ...
btw, sometimes prescription D is the D1 form, but that can be toxic if the dose is too high, because D1 is THE active form and, unlike D3 or D2, has bypassed the parathyroid control that regulates conversion of D3 and D2 to the active D1 form ...
It’s stupid to take D2.