How bad did you feel with vitamin D deficiency and how long to get back to normal?

[AFireInJuly]

I had blood tests a month ago which showed that I was deficient in vitamin D (29nmol). Since then I have felt mostly pretty bad, very fatigued and a bit achy. Today I had to have two naps 😕 This is despite taking 2000iu per day for a month already.

If you had a vitamin D deficiency, what did it feel like and how long did it take to get back to normal? I am finding it hard to function at work and am considering getting a vitamin D injection (if any clinics are open at the moment).

My vitamin D level was 16 (my GP said it should be 60). I felt exhausted, anxious to an extent that effected my work, and I ached, I had periods where I couldn't turn my head side to side because my neck seized up. I felt a bit better probably by the end of the 8 weeks of high dose vitamin D, which was about a year ago. The issue with my neck went away, I am still very tired sometimes but that is because I work long shifts and have DC. The anxiety thing didn't go away, and I reluctantly concluded that low vitamin D probably wasn't to blame for that (much as I wanted it to be because I could fix the vitamin D fairly easily).
Hope you feel better soon.

I felt horrific, constantly panicky, weak, brain fog, shaky, like my body was giving up. I think I felt better after a few weeks of taking 4/5 pills a day, it might've been quicker than that. The Dr said my very low vit D was unlikely to be responsible for my symptoms but from all I've read I believe it was.

Thanks. I’m hoping all my symptoms are down to the vitamin D deficiency and will resolve when it’s fixed. What doses did you guys take?

Mine was 50 (which is just borderline between what’s considered normal and deficient). It’s the closest to thinking I was going to die that I’ve ever felt, apart from when I got pneumonia and wasn’t totally well for about 6 months. Joint pain and swelling, extreme fatigue, could barely walk up the stairs or stay awake on the train to work. Truly awful. I was sure it was some sort of autoimmune condition or I had cancer and was going to die. I felt that ill.

I took I think 6000iu a day and then once a week I did a mega dose of like 10,000-15,000iu. There is a particular protocol for dealing with vitamin d deficiency and you are supposed to take like 400,000iu in 8 weeks or something like that. I’ve just made these numbers up because I can’t remember what they are, but it was very high doses because you have to load yourself up quite quickly. So some people take 20,000iu once a week, others take 8,000 every other day, etc. Look and see if you can find it, but it should definitely be higher than 2000iu a day. I felt shockingly better in about 4-6 weeks. My levels were 96 when checked about 6 months later.

Ah, I’ve just looked it up and it’s 50,000iu per week for 8 weeks. Make sure it’s vitamin D2.

I was 34nmol. Depressed and beyond exhausted. I took a loading dose of 50,000 (with my evening meal the night of my test results appointment), then 5,000 per day. Felt much improved at 2 week mark, but I remember feeling some improvement after just a few days. Did you load?

I don't know how low exactly my level was but I say I felt better after 3 weeks, I had a high dose twice a week for a month as a loading dose.

I thought it's vitamin D3 you're supposed to take, not D2

Mine was 11. Had pain in my hip that meant I had to use a walking stick to get the quarter mile up a hill for work and I felt horrendous.

I took 10,000 IU three times a week for months and spent ten minutes out in the sun around 2pm every single day for the entire summer.

That got it up to 26 after a year.

It took a year (and another heatwave) before I didn't have the hip pain, the following year, I took one 10,000 IU a week and normal ones on the other days.

Now, I take normal dose D3 (as D2 isn't anywhere near as good and I'm not vegan) daily in a multivitamin and if I start hurting, I double up (as advised) on a separate high dose.

Obviously, to get osteomalacia, mine had been very, very low for a very, very long time, which is why it took so long, but the other symptoms probably started easing within 2 months.

Had my local health authority approved injections, I'm sure it would have resolved sooner.

I didn't even notice. It was picked up on with a range of tests for other things. It was pretty low. I'm still on an 800 dose years later and I've been told to stay on that for life. A really high percentage of British people are vitamin D deficient especially in the winter. Most don't notice according to my doctor.

I take 1000iu of Vitamin D3 per day. I was prescribed this around 5 months ago because of pain in my wrists and legs. I can't bear weight on my wrist in certain angles...I can't support myself in a press up position with that wrist, but if I make a fist and go fist down I can do the press up position. It's better than it was - it used to be consistent pain doing anything, like using a mouse at work, or writing. I'm meant to get a blood test to see if my levels have improved but it's not a priority issues so I'm leaving that till everything normalises. I've just bought my own supply and will continue taking them and raise it again when things are back to normal.

Thanks. I have not loaded, was advised to just take 3,400iu for three months (which I have been doing, 2,000iu was a typo). But I saw that other had been taking mega doses so wondered if I should do that to sort it out quicker...

I didn't even notice. It came out as a result of routine blood tests. In fact my friends thought the GP had read the wrong line, as I am a sun-worshipper all year around. The GP thinks that it may have been related to my severe arthritis though - apparently it can help to deplete the levels. I now take daily high doses (prescribed) of D3. NOBODY should take very high doses unless medically advised and under supervision. It may be "natural" but there are severe health risks associated with prolonged taking of high doses, and so it needs to be monitored and adjusted by someone with medical training.

Can anyone explain the conversion to me? I am abroad and my vitamin D level was assessed as normal at 22ng/ml. (It actually says Vitamina D 25 OH 22ng/ml). Looking online at the equivalents it seems that this would be 8.8 n/mol - but that can't be right as it would be really low, not normal?

I was prescribed vitamin d capsules by my GP -some hardcore stuff- just looked up the scrip and it was 40000 units a day for 10 days! Then one 20000 unit capsule a week. Tbf I hadn’t noticed, I felt normal, but I had come out of a period of being very depressed so it was all interlinked. Can’t remember what my results were but I think it was 12 or something close.

My level was also 9 - this February. I had 20,000 units a day for 15 days, and was then put on to a maintenance dose of 800 units a day.

I was due to have my levels checked again at the end of March - although this hasn’t happened yet.

Just realised I was mean to multiply by 2.5! So 22ng/ml would be 55n/mol. This still seems low to be considered sufficient though.

(Having a lot of hip pain at the moment and am determined to find a solution!)

Happy - very interesting that you describe your neck as seizing up. I found that my feet seized up - I found it v hard to get moving quickly getting off buses etc, and my feet were painful (I just assumed it was plantar fasciitis). After taking loading and maintenance doses of vitamin D it took at least a few months to feel better, it was a very gradual improvement.

My level was 35. I can't remember what dose of vitd I was given but it was very high. My symptoms were sheer exhaustion. I kept falling asleep on the sofa when I got back from collecting the kids from school. Also my finger joints were very painful. I think it took a month for me to start feeling better once I was on the high dose vitamin d.

I take 10,000 a day along with K2, boran, magnesium and zinc.

There's a really good group on Facebook vitamin d & co-factors UK

Just before Christmas I was tested for vitamin D and iron and found to have vit D and ferritin deficiencies. The ferritin has come on I suspect since starting to lose weight as I reduced cereal, bread etc which are fortified. The vit D could be long standing as I've had health issues for some time involving feeling drained, aches and pains etc. I am in general feeling loads better since being on supplements but my back is playing up at the moment.

Following with interest as I had a private Vit D test last spring, my result was 28 nmol/l and so I started to take an over the counter supplement.

I've not long had some blood tests at the GP due to lots of aches, pains, tiredness but it seems they didn't include a VItD test. (The tests they did came back as normal, but my follow up appointments have been cancelled due to staffing pressures)

I'm tempted to get another private test done as the GP is no longer doing any routine appointments and blood tests, but once I get the results, if my levels remain low, should I take the results to the GP for a prescription or is it possible to safely purchase high loading doses. I obviously don't want to cause myself more harm in the long run by doing the wrong thing, but I am thinking that OTC doses are possibly not adequate. At the moment I'm taking an oral spray supplement of 3000 'whatevers' per spray.

Any advice gratefully received.

Mine was 17 and I felt horrendous with crushing fatigue and aching legs. I was given a loading dose of 20,000 iu once a day for a day for a week then once a week for 7 weeks and then a maintenance dose every day. After that my levels were just in the normal range but I still didn't feel right although I was marginally better and the aching legs had gone. I'm still suffering with fatigue and have been to rheumatology who have found arthritis in my feet and I had previously been diagnosed with it in my knees. I'm trying to.push for a referral to the M.E clinic but feel like I'm just being fobbed off all the time.

I spoke to my doctor again today and she said with a level of 29. I should be taking 40,000ui per week, which can either be done in 2 doses of 20k, or about 5-6,000 per day. This is for 7 weeks and then I’m to get my levels checked again. She also advised me to get as much sunlight as possible.

Hoping this makes a bit more of a difference!