Vitamin D deficiency

[bevm72yellow]

Has anyone here had deficiency symptoms? If so what were they? And how long did it take to get diagnosed?

It costs the NHS a lot more if you get cancer, an auto-immune disease, or a serious respiratory illness. All of which can be triggered by low vitamin D. We should all be tested annually.

Thanks @Crinkle77

Yes, may well be coincidence or wishful thinking!

Will take a supplement I think until I speak to GP.

2 broken bones within 3 months.
first was a broken rib after a coughing fit.

dr told be to take vit d3 and magnesium. apparently calcium is not needed as supplement if you eat 'predigested' dairy (yoghurt/cheese)

My husband was recently found to be severely deficient following a vitamin D test that was done as part of infertility investigations. He's been prescribed high dose vit D for 6 weeks and then to go on standard supplements. He claims to have had no symptoms and doesn't feel any different after 5 weeks on the supplements. Just a standard blood test can check though - ask your doctor for one if you're concerned.

Yes, I always feel stronger when I take magnesium

My symptoms were mistaken as repetitive strain injury at first, it felt like a deep ache in my bones and joints in my arms and wrist, I take 25mg of vitamin D daily now and it took a few weeks of gradually feeling better before it stopped

@TheTeenageYears Sorry for late acknowledgement - no I didn't know about that but will get him tested. Thank you!

When I was pregnant I suddenly had horrific pain in my side. The only thing they could find wrong was very low vitamin D. SIL is a doctor and she said that very often doctors try to blame everything on low vitamin D. Living in the UK, almost everyone has low vitamin D levels so if a doctor can't figure out a problem then they'll just try vitamin D (half because it just might work and half to get patients to just go away). SIL said there isn't that much research into vitamin D and everyone has gone crazy on it recently.

What dosege of magnesium should you take along with vitamin d?

@SureTry no idea - I just take a daily recommended amount one a day from Boots bought bottle

Thanks Lazing, I'll see what I can find on Amazon.

@@Cfdmorris I understand your concerns.If calcium is within limits, even if high; the limits are there for a reason, so don't stress about it. However, calcium should never be high. My vitamin D was below 'panic levels' but I had 2 parathyroid adenomas removed after that blood test. The symptoms in order were:
Brain fog
Vision fog
hip pain (like not bad on a pain scale but nagging)
not hair loss but weak hair, so was like having no hair anymore, like fluff on my head
anxiety
pain in wrists
a cloudy reality
lack of breath

you know your own body, I felt like an idiot going to my GP telling him some of those symptoms. I had nothing solid I felt. I'd rather go in with an infected toe or something, very hard to describe it. Is there any reason you think you might have hyperparathyroidism?

@SonnyRobes - did it ever cross your SIL's mind that the reason half the patients go away is because the Vit D actually worked?
There has been plenty of research on vit D and its uses and effects in the body - maybe not covering every symptom that people come up with - but it's also well known that many doctors do not have time to keep up with all research owing to their large workload, and that nutrition is a very minimally-taught subject in medicine. Last time I asked a trainee doctor about it, he said it was maybe one week in the whole 5 years. That's not long enough to cover everything.

Anyway, it's always worth looking at and correcting as there has been plenty of research done on low vit D and bone health, certain cancers (notably bowel), and infertility and miscarriage. Certainly not to be dismissed as a "fad".

Just an update. I had my annual physical exam yesterday and went over the results of the blood tests with my doctor. Even with taking 4000iu of D3 daily my levels are still borderline deficient.

I'm now going to take 8000iu per day for a week and then will take 6000iu per day going forward.

My Vitamin D Levels were 22 nmol/l in a recent blood test. How bad is it? I’m taking a dose of 22000 iu weekly. Is that high enough to correct and if so how quickly will it correct it?

Footsie, my levels were 20 recently. I got prescribed 50,000 weekly dose for 7 weeks. Told to take supplements after which I have been and symptoms are returning

She's a medical doctor who also has a PhD and is a full-time medical researcher - she's just returned to the NHS because of coronavirus. Whilst I appreciate that what she's said doesn't suit what you want to be true, I think trying to imply that doctors don't know anything is a weird argument to make. The vitamin D thing often makes people go away temporarily or gets rid of hypochondriacs. Because taking a course of vitamin D then stopping for enough time to be retested takes months and months, the GP can usually get rid of difficult cases by the time the patient comes back. It's worth remember that GPs are given financial incentives not to refer patients to consultants so diagnosing vitamin D deficiency is a convenient way for them to make that money.

Just utter exhaustion.

Was at the nurse for pill check so casually mentioned it and a quick blood test later it was confirmed.

Course of tablets and now I take daily dose all year round. Much better now.

Felt very tired and achey. Assume it could be vitamin D deficiency as it’s come on this last few weeks whilst wfh under lockdown. I’ve therefore self diagnosed and am taking Vit D tablets bought over the counter.