Vitamin D drops

[Aitch2oh]

Hello, I signed up for this forum because I need some advise and I hope that will not sound selfish.

I am a pensioner and I have a severe vitamn D deficiency. This has been missed because I have had ME/CFS for 15 years and no longer bother with doctors as they put everything down to ME/CFS.

I found out that I probably have this vitamin D deficiency by calling a helpline. My GP practise condescended to do a blood test and more level is 15 on a scale where the norm is 75-200.

Then the GPs locum started panicking and said I must take mega oses immediately. Problem is allergies to colourings, fillers and coatings. I have not taken even a rpescription drug for decades.

The I got advised to take the drops that are given to babies as they are in olive oil but I have been left to find them myself. I am house bound and I have been trying to do this online.

And then I thought of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So can someone tell me the name of some vitamin D drops that are in olive oil?

Many thanks

Don't forget that it doesn't matter how much Vitamin D you take without sunlight it is useless you need to expose your skin with out any kind of barrier to the sun for 20 minutes per day to allow the vitamin D to work.

If you are housebound is there a chance that lack of sunlight is the main cause of the problem rather than lack of dietary vitamin D?
Oily fish is very high in vitamin D so either taking a fish oil supplement or increasing the oily fish in your diet may help.

My sister uses a Vitamin D spray that she gets at Boots, I think. You spray it on your tongue.

I think Lizcat is wrong, there. Your body can make vitamin D if your skin is exposed to sunlight and this is the most effective and efficient way of getting vitamin D. However, you can also get vitamin D from your diet and supplements (you don't need to get the vitamin D to "work" by going out in the sun!!!!!), but if you don't get out in the sun, you pretty much HAVE to have supplements rather than just relying on your diet to stand any chance of getting enough vitamin D solely through what you consume.

Look for D3 rather than D generally, D3 is the closest replacement to the type of D that you would get from the sun, but not getting enough, I think it might even be available on prescription. I get mine from the continent from time to time, it is in drops and mine smells like aniseed/fennel...

I have this (mine was 13 on the scale!) so I sympathise. i think being housebound is the cause and you should try and get out for 20 mins - is that possible?

if you search "vitamin d drops" on amazon they do sell some. but i think you should speak to a pharmacist/your dr again first to check dosage

I use Vit D3 vegetarian supplements by Cytoplan Ltd,you have to take these with food as they are 'food state' so you benefit immediately. Have a look at the website, you can contact their nutritionist for more help.

Thank you all for replying,
rabbitstew is correct when she says that vitamin D comes from the sun, in fact it is known as the sunshine vitamin. If you are otherwise fit and healthy you need as little as ten to 15 minutes day from May to September. My problem is that it is January and I also have these allergies.

Goos news, I have found two sources of vitamin D in olive oil. Just in case any of you have an old nan or granddad they are

Biocare Vitasorb 15 ml and another from Natures Answer which is higher dose.

Neither of these is siutable for babies or children.

The only natural source of vitamin D is some oily fish and margarien is fortified with Vitamin D by law. That is a leftopver from the days when there was a lot of rickets around and so the government introduced free school milk and put the vitamin D in margarine as vitamin D is the "switch" for calcium.

Nightcat said D3 and both the ones I have ordered are D3 but it is not available on prescription in this country according to my GP which is not fair to my mind as I have not had a prescription in this century so far as I have allergies to the colourings and coatings and fillers in most drugs.

EverybodysSnowyEyed is right and I wish we were later in the year. I have a little garden and I can get out there but I need a very nice May o come quickly but I will be looking out for suitable day from March onwards.

Thank you all for taking the time and trouble to respond. I wish there had been something like this when I had my kids and I was married to a serviceman and so was often far away from friends and family and so had no one to "sound board" worries and troubles. By the time I used to get to know neighbours etc we used to move again.

you can order them at Holland and Baretts

I take vit d3 myself and my dc take it as well during the winter months, as in the UK it is difficult to get enough from the sun from Nov to March...

I'm sure it's rubbish that you can't get vitamin D on prescription. More likely you can't get the type of vitamin D you are seeking - I'm sure they do, eg, injections of high-dose vitamin D on prescription for people who are found to have dangerously low levels of vitamin D or who already have, eg, rickets...

I know it is not rubbish that you cant get this vitamin D supplement on the NHS not tablets or pills or drops or liquid or capsules not even injections.

It is not rickets you get in old age although a pregnant woman can pass on a vitamin d deficiency as rickets.

In old age it can come out as parathyroid problems, cataracts and painful bones all of which I have and all of which were passed off by my GP pracice as old age or ME/CFS.

In fact I belong to Beneden Healthcare and they have a GP helpline and that was where the likelyhood as suggested. Only then did I get a blood test. Naturally the first test was the wrong one and then the right one was done. That is where NHS money is wasted, getting stuff wrong.

Then I was told I was on my own with this and I wrote to the practice manager who has written to inform me that the NHS does not do vitamin d deficiency although I saw on the NHS site that pregnant women may be able to get it in some areas only.

I think this is all rediculous as vitamin d deficieny is dangerous for all people and too much vitamin d is toxic and can cause kidney problems. I have also found out that some areas offer leaflets wth info but not in my area.

I know adults don't get rickets, but they can get osteomalacia. Also, some children in this country are getting rickets again and I do not believe they do not get NHS treatment for it. I should imagine the treatment normally includes a supplement that contains calcium aswell, though, but I KNOW it also includes annual injections of vitamin D. That the parents of the child would be expected to pay for that, I just don't believe. And if children can have it prescribed... I just don't believe there is a blanket ban on prescribing vitamin D for absolutely everyone.

rabbitstew read your own posting.

If a child has rickets then that child has had vitamin D deficiency for a long time or its mother had it when pregnant.

To avoid the bad effects of this deficiency the peron has to have a test and that is the bit you have missed.

When did you ever hear of regular testing for vitamin D deficiency in babies let alone pregnant women let alone the elderly.
I only got the test because I asked for it.

Treatment for vitamin D deficiency is NOT...I repeat for all your sakes NOT paid for by the NHS.

But the effects of this awful deficiency ARE paid for. So yes you can get free treatment for rickets, blindness, oesteomalacia (cant spell it even though I have got it) but only AFTER you are suffering.

I have now found out that this is because giving this supplement would only be logical AFTER testing and if this became commonplace everyone would want the test.

The NHS tretas people AFTER the illness shows. We may all wish for preventative medicine but we dont get it and people dont take much notice anyuway.

Just because you cant believe it that does not mean its not butter!!!!!!!!!

I agree with you entirely that the NHS is unlikely to want to test everyone for vitamin D deficiency, particularly since it is widely known a frighteningly large proportion of people in this country are actually deficient in vitamin D... However, you have already proved that you not only have a deficiency, you also have all the symptoms of osteomalacia, so I don't understand why they won't give you a prescription for vitamin D (and calcium), now that you have proved lack of it has actually made you ill...

I was prescribed Adcal-D3 ( d3 plus calcium) in hospital a couple of years back, (whilst on high doses of corticosteroids) but my gp said it was controversial and there was a problem with prescribing vit D at present so to buy my own ( which I do). I think there is a potential problem with overdosing on calcium or more specifically getting the balance between magnesium and calcium out of kilter with Adcal. I buy a D3 supplement but agree it is very frustrating and potentially dangerous to just guess at the doses and wished my gp would assist. there is a thread about ME with some links on which may be helpful. By the way at this time of year we cannot make vit d from our thin sunshine in most of the UK!

magso that is exactly the reason why I only take vit D3 and not calcium in addition. I eat enough dairy and veg for calcium intake though.
my gp recommended doing so after I had two breaks in one year, one of which was a broken rib after a coughing fit!

Because of medical conditions (I have had a double organ transplant) and vit d deficiency I take Colecalciferol capsules 20,000 units once per week and am prescribed these.

Sorry should have said - these capsules are a combination of vitamin d and calcium I believe.

Typical, isn't it - we're advised to plaster ourselves in sunscreen pretty much year round by dermatologists and advised to take vitamin D supplements (in a much more muted voice...), but nobody actually seems to know enough about the effects of any of it to be able to give particularly helpful or specific advice (or indeed, to spend taxpayers' money on prescribing the stuff...). Follow one person's advice and all you get is an unexpected side effect elsewhere. The next thing will be X, Y and Z cancers are caused by sunscreen and everyone should stay indoors their entire life taking supplements, but in unspecified amounts.

I have to take adcal D3 permenantly as when my deficiency was discovered it was 15 for no particular reason whatsoever,always did the 20mins a day,no suncream but mine was low.

With a level of 15 you must be feeling very achey muscle wise and very tired,even walking upstairs meant I had to sit down for ages,also had strange muscular twitches.

I got mine back up within normal ranges with a mega dose injection,however this was not my gp that discovered all this,he had no idea it could cause problems,it was my rheumatologist.The injection made me very ill for a few days and then it was like I bacame a new woman and as promised by rheumy I could not believe how ill I had felt.

Hi - don't want to hijack but was just wondering what the effects of low vitD are - quiet you mention tiredness and acheyness?

I have a toddler that keeps me up in the night and am constantly tired and had put it down to that.

However, at my recent medical my vitD was 13. This was put down to me being vegetarian, avoiding the sun (I am normally out for at least 20 mins a day though) and breastfeeding (my youngest is 18m - the siggestion being I gave the kids my vit D which drained my levels and then I've never built it up again)

I am taking 25mcg a day of vitD Boots brand. Would I be better advised to take the VitD3 then?

Is there a link between the low sunlight levels/ vit D levels in Scotland and MS?

There has been a recent campaign in Scotland re vit D but little or no follow up that I can see.

I would like to know how much vit D is recommended, whether it is more effective with a light box and the differences between bog standard vit D, D3 etc explained.

everybody with levels that low you might need more help to raise your levels than that but some gps are quite stupid when it comes down to how ill it can make you.Like I said I just felt really yuk all the time.

D3 is a mix of vit d and calcium and I found it great at keeping my levels up after injection but my sister whose level was 14 so 1 lower than mine took supplements for 6 months and her levels increased on their own.I was given the injection as I was working,had kids and could not continue living the way I was,I had a very sympathetic rheumatologist who agreed my quality of life was rubbish as like I said even walking upstairs was hard work.

gentleotter can't do links right now as left click buggered but if you google vit d deficiency then there is a wealth of info on there if you sift through but I do know that the further north you are up the country the more you are at risk of deficiency as you seem to have even less sunny weather than down south.

My friend is a paediatrician and told me to give the kids supplements as her area was seeing big drops in the level in kids and were looking at the relationship with neurological illnesses.

I have been feeling really lethargic and tire easily since dd born. I had put it down to having kids but maybe this is why. Will go back for another blood test in a few months.

Thank you, Quiet.

I am never sure if the daily Haliborange is enough for our dcs.

There seems to be a very high instance of MS in women in Orkney.