Should I be worried? Low vitamin d or something more sinister

[vitamindbee]

About 8 weeks ago, I hurt my back. No idea how. One day I woke up and it was done in! Spent a couple of weeks doing physio exercises, visited and osteo. Felt awful! Took a lot of ibuprofen.

It's better now but I feel off still. My joints hurt. My knees are awful. My shoulder (left) is painful.

I keep having random twitches. Tonight my lip felt tingly and was twitching. My left thumb has been twitchy today and my muscles feel off (slightly trembly and fatigued) Random leg twitches too. I'm typing this and my fingers are not quite as accurate as I normally am. Combine this with the joint pain and I feel awful.

I have done exercise today (weights with a personal trainer, being very careful not to upset any of my sore joints and gradually getting back into it after my back issue).

I visited the gp who ran some tests. The only thing to remark is vitamin D was around 10. I'm on high strength vitamin tablets now.

Has anyone had vitamin D and felt similar?

Honestly I was freaking out early and wondering if this is something more serious like a neurological disease.

I'm 41, overweight by a couple of stone (working on it) and a mum with a full time job if relevant. I'm tired normally but this muscle fatigue/twitching and joint pain is getting annoying now.

Vitamin D is 10
B12 is 368
Serum calcium is 2.24
Adjusted calcium is 2.28
Folate is 3.5
Ferritin is 39
Tsh is 1.39
T4 is 11.7

I had a similar conversation with my GP yesterday, vit D level of 10, she thinks most of the following could be attributed to vit D level;
I’ve had swollen joints in hands and feet, fatigue, the worst cramp I’ve ever had that lasts for minutes at a time. Fingers seem to get locked momentarily. Twitchy leg muscles. I’ve now been prescribed high dosage Vit D, for 10 weeks, to be followed by long term lower level supplement.

That is reassuring. Wonder how long the vitamin d will take to work.

I'll give it a go and guess I'll go back if it doesn't affect my symptoms

@vitamindbee What about haemlglobin and iron? Not just ferritin? And magnesium?

ferritin of 39 isn’t low by NHS standards and wouldn’t warrant you being prescribed a supplement, but in some contexts (against an additionally low haemoglobin level for one) you might be a bit on the low side overall for iron. Ferritin normal range is 30-150 so 39 is lower end, and there is a lot of evidence out there to show at the lower end you may have symptoms from that, aches and pains being one. Equally some people can be well below 30 and not have any symptoms at all. The NHS as I say, wouldn’t do anything for 39 but the evidence to supplement yourself if you wanted is out there (search for other mumsnet threads on this subject, there are lots!)

my ferritin is 30 and I have symptoms.

lack of magnesium can also cause muscle twitches, but if they didn’t test you for it you wouldn’t know. Might be worth asking?

@Whenistoomuchtoomuch did you post on the wrong thread?

What’s your hb?

Yeah that vitamin D is right at the bottom
Mine was 9 and I didn't realise how crap I felt and that it was causing my shin pain

GP once told me ferritin needs to be about 50 to feel well. Low ferritan gave me all sorts of weird symptoms.

Same - I have low ferritin but apparently anything over about 10 is classed as "normal" which is mental as I have hairless which can happen if you drop under 70. Why isn't 70 the lower limit then?

Mad what seems to he acceptable, when clearly the body is shouting out that its not OK.

Haemoglobin 119 (reference range is 115 to 165)

Red blood cell count 3.48 (reference range is 3.5-5.5)

I see nothing on magnesium.

Thanks for your help.

I do agree that your symptoms are probably caused by low vit d and low iron stores with a possible low hb as well. Do you get heavy periods? I’d be possibly wondering about a malabsorption issue such as coeliac disease. 1 in 100 people have it and it’s possible to be a silent coeliac, so no symptoms.

X post, your hb is only just within normal limits, same as ferritin and folate. I’d take vit d, iron supplements and ask for a coeliac test.

I used to get horrendous periods. But was fitted a coil at end of last year. Another change and wondered if that might explain some of the symptoms.

I've had a fraction of bleeding since coil. It was fitted to solve heavy periods

Last year as in a few weeks ago? Ok so your low iron could be residual from that I guess.

Heavy periods are a symptom of low ferritin.
Get on some ferrous fumerate .

Coil was at end of November. Not had a heavy period since although have had a number of days of spotting

Thanks, will grab some iron supplements too. And when this course of strong vitamin d is over, I'll carry on taking vitamin d

Hi, @vitamindbee, how are you getting on? I’m dealing with a lot of the same issues and trying to figure out what might help.

@Curlewwoohoo may I ask what your weird symptoms were please

A symptom of low ferritin? Don't you mean can lead to low ferritin?

Based on your bloods ChatGPT suggests
Your symptoms are very likely linked to the severe vitamin D deficiency, possibly compounded by low-normal iron and folate.
📌 What to Consider Doing:

• Continue high-dose vitamin D exactly as prescribed.
• Discuss with your GP about:
• Folate supplementation (5 mg folic acid or a B-complex)
• Checking MMA if B12 symptoms persist
• Iron-rich diet or low-dose iron if ferritin doesn't improve
• Consider rechecking these values in 8–12 weeks to assess progress.

If the neurological symptoms persist or worsen (like the twitching, tingling, or coordination issues), a neurology referral and possibly nerve conduction studies could help rule out other causes—but there’s a good chance that repletion of these nutrients will significantly help. Let me know if you want help building a supplement plan or food list to support these deficiencies.

My facial tingling, twitching etc was caused by very high B6. So if you take multi vits, B complex etc it may be worth checking what's in them. I have some kind of problem utilising B6 and it builds up, I have to avoid supplements containing it.