To ask for your experiences of vitamin D deficiency

[chinesechicken]

I've been experiencing extreme tiredness for about 6 months now, i'm exhausted after a 10 hour sleep. I do work 3 x 12 hour shifts a week but even when i just had 2 weeks off on annual leave i felt the same.

I have terrible muscle and joint pains and have been under physio for my ankles for a couple of months, i find it hard to walk in the morning and i feel like i'm about 90 years old. I can't play the piano anymore properly.

I have a hot water bottle all the time, even now in the hot weather, i'm just so miserable.

I pestered the GP for blood tests, eventually she let me have them but she thinks I am tired as I have had 2 babies in the last 2 years. it's not that, i feel like i'm dying of tiredness sometimes it's ridiculous.

I thought it would be my thyroid, it turns out the only thing i have is a vitamin d deficiency.

She told me to take an over the counter dose of 400iu. it's been a month and i still feel horrendous. So I looked online and i've seen people in other countries on MUCH higher doses with a similar blood test result to me.

I've just gone and bought some 1000iu tablets... does this all sound like vitamin d deficiency? I've seen 3 GPs now and all of them are not taking me seriously. I'm considering going private but I don't have the money spare if I can help it really. My life is really miserable at the moment and I am exhausted and aching in my joints 24/7 and it's really getting me down, i'm 26.

My blood test results are as follows:

TSH: 1.16 mU/L

Serum free t4 level: 16 pmol/L

Total Vitamin D - 37.4nmol/L

Thank you if you got this far

I have just been diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency in the last few days after suffering with symptoms identical to yours for a while. I don't know the details of the blood test but I have been prescribed 4000iu daily for 10 weeks and 1000iu a day thereafter to maintain. The information leaflet with the tablets say that 1000iu is the recommended dose, so I would imagine that 400iu is not going to cut it. I'd go back and argue my case if I were you. Good luck, I know exactly how rotten you're feeling.

You may need a loading dose. If you google 'loading dose vitamin d endoctrinology' or similar you'll find advice. For some reason I can't find the page I'm looking for.
Take it with something fatty (the fattiest meal of the day or some buttered toast), it will help absorption.
A low dose will never do anything for you if your levels are currently insufficient.

Your symptoms sound the same as mine when I had a vitamin D deficiency. It took a couple of months of supplementation before I started to feel better. I was prescribed the same dose as you.

I had 40,000 weekly for 10 weeks when mine was at 20. Then recommended 1000 daily for ever after. I currently use 3000 daily as a spray for better absorption as I don't get much sun.
I had very low ferritin too so not sure how much was Vit D, but I am certainly less achy, my hands don't hurt and I feel much more alert. On iron supplements too though.

I have been on over-the-counter Vitamin D for quite a long time now after an almost identical diagnosis - I thought it was my thyroid too, but low vit D was all they found. Unfortunately it hasn't really helped with my tiredness as far as I can tell.

I am, however, absolutely convinced it's massively reduced my susceptibility to coughs and colds (which I previously had all the fecking time) and that has helped a lot with not feeling run down, so very much worth taking.

Symptoms are the same as mine, I've had similar blood tests and have a Vit D level of 35nmol. I was told to get over the counter supplements of 1000iu, take them all this year and then next year take them just over the winter.

I have got it. I also have fibromyalgia so feeling really shit. Sat here in my pyjamas. My GP is absolutely fantastic and has helped me through some difficult times. I’ve been given a clinical dose of 20000 Ul a week. I am on morphine i’m In so much pain and will be on it until my vitamin d levels have improved. Your gp sounds rubbish.

Oh gosh this is all making me feel so much better, my GP said that vitamin D deficiency would definitely not cause these symptoms and that it's just very "on trend" at the moment.

OP could you post the reference ranges for your test results? It’s important to see them to see where you come out in terms of their ‘normal’ range. I wouldn’t totally rule out thyroid issues. There’s a correlation with hypothyroidism and vitamin D deficiency.

Sounds exactly like DH when he was diagnosed with low vitamin D. Absolutely exhausted despite sleeping for 10 hours a night and awful neck, hip, back pain. The gp gave him a hit if vitamin d in liquid form I think then a load of tablets to boost it. Sorry your gp isn’t listening to you

I had hip pain, joint pain, muscle pain and exhaustion. Also one of my normal blood test results was wonky but I don't remember which.

My Vit D levels were at 13 which was extremely low. Doc prescribed a high dose of Vit D tablets 4000iu iirc. I was on these for a year before my levels were back up to normal, I take an over the counter tablet now.

I couldn’t make it through the day I was so exhausted, I fell asleep at work a few times and at a red light which was when I’d had enough. I had terrible pains in my shins and my hips were sore when laying down. They were the only symptoms I had. My doc sorted a blood test straight away and I had another a 4 months, 8 months and then 12 months. They also called me for a follow up blood test 6 months after that to make sure the over the counter tablets were doing what they should.

Make a nuisance of yourself at the Docs and don’t be afraid to complain.

I had this. Doctor told me to take OTC vitamins and they did nothing. Someone suggested vitamin D with K2 drops. This really helped. I take 3 drops a day (even now a few years later) and my vitamin D levels have remained good ever since.

You can get them from amazon if you’re interested.

I have many of your symptoms, though probably not as badly as you, and been taking OTC Vit D for about nine months. Oh my god, the difference. As Sniv says, it hasn't actually affected my tiredness per se but has massively helped my immune system which in a roundabout way has helped me to feel more energetic, because I'm in better health and not getting bogged down with minor illnesses all the time.

I went on a shock dosage of vitamin d when my blood tests came back as ‘very low’ (not sure what exactly) - I was tested when put on antidepressants for low mood. I had 20,000 IU twice a day for 10 days and then the same does weekly. So that first 10 days I was on properly loads of the Stuff. Overall I’m less tired now I think.

I had a vitamin d deficiency last year. I was exhausted all the time, had a really bad temper and acne on my chin which nothing would shift.

I didn’t realise how ill I felt until I started to improve. The doctor prescribed 30,000 iu a week.

I don’t know what my levels were but he doctor said they were really low. I hope you get to the bottom of this OP and start feeling better soon.

I found out I had it but was also anaemia i have been on and off for years so it's hard to tell which of my symptoms where to do with vitamin D. have the tested your iron ? I got a 8 week course of really high vitamin D I took 2 a week for 8 weeks then now just take a daily over the counter supplement. I can't really say if they improved much as I took at the same time as iron tablets so hard to tell. I would go back and see if you could have these tablets il try and find the name of what I was given

I've just been put on thorns 25 000 IU. Once every week. I had been sent to GP for a thyroid investigation but all they found was Vit D very low.

*thorens

Yeah, doc, it's on trend, feeling like shit

FWIW newborns are prescribed vit d drops as standard here in Canada. For the first 6 months

Vit D symptoms are definitely real! Id see another GP. Hope you feel better soon

It seems ridiculous that there is such a disparity in treatment for a deficiency whose treatment regimen can easily be found online. Idk why GPs don't just follow the guidelines - ?

When my vit d was found to be 10 (severe deficiency despite eating lots of fish, eggs, dairy) my gp implied I had inflated its importance and said I should get down to Holland and Barrett and buy an 800iu supplement like everyone else. I researched it and took a loading dose and regular supplements and only managed to get it slightly better. I found out about the fatty foods thing from a friend who was also deficient.

Difficult to get anyone interested in doing follow-up testing too, so I bought finger-prick tests online.

Op I mainly had sore hands and tiredness but I'm also hypothyroid so hard to know where one starts and the other finishes symptom-wise.

Tired all the time, sleeping badly, often exhausted to the point of hardly being able to walk, dark circles under eyes, sore and dry skin, fuzzy mind, and probably other things which I forget just now.

Was referred to a cardiologist for tests due to weird heartbeat and discovered I was deficient in vit.D. I am using DLux 3000 spray rather than the tablets, a higher dose than suggested as I am aware that UK recommendations are low, probably too low.

I have all the same issues. Been prescribed 1600 for a month then maintenance at 800

Mine was 36 a few years ago so nearly the same as yours. I was put on prescription vit D but not a loading dose. It took a long time to get my level up to over 75. It’s just been rechecked and it was 74 so very nearly normal but this time was put on 40,000 once monthly for 3 months and it was rechecked 6 weeks after the last dose. It was over 100 so all good. I think the dose your gp recommended is v low if it’s only 37. I can’t say what
My symptoms are as o have a genetic condition that
Makes me exhausted and achey
most of the time anyhow. And yes vitamin D deficiency is ‘on trend’. Mainly because most people in the uk ARE deficient in it!