Vitamin D , can it really help ? my bones ache , Can I actually believe what I read. Should I try it

[FitAsaFiddleNot]

Here are my problems , I feel really tired ,my lower-back aches , all day, sometimes worse than others , my legs ache , especially down the front of my thighs. I cannot stand up for too long , must sit down and take the pressure off. I’m only late forties. Can’t seem to get up the energy , I am trying to be healthy , even tried to be vegetarian , from about 18 months ago. Nearly made it , but I do like roast chicken on sundays mmmmm. . I can’t sleep very well. I suppose you could say that I am verging on an insomniac. I take a multivitamin every day now, but maybe I need some kind of tonic. My gran had a couple of glasses of wincarnis tonic wine every day. Will that do the trick ?

Over the last few years , I seem to be getting so old , my bones ache, I am tired from the minute I get up. Is vitamin D helpful. I have read that it might be a help to somebody that feels like I do but is it really true? When I look on the internet there is lots of stuff about it . But I am worried. Should I take a big dose like they say on the internet. I have been to my GP, he hads me tested last month. Reluctantly, but then said my blood level was at the lowish end of normal, at 27. He said take some supplements. Go to a pharmacy, get a supplement it is cheaper than a prescription. He said my blood test is normal , except the vitamin d part which is lowish. What do you think? Maybe the way I feel really is normal , I am sure the GP thinks that I am just complaining. I know I am old, but friends of my age don’t seem to feel like I do. Will vitamin D perk me up, or is it just a load of b***ks ummmm I meant to say, Garbage . Thanks for reading my whinge. I wish I could find out why I just don't feel well.

Vitamin D3 supplements are cheap and readily available. Even if they don't solve all your problems you are likely to benefit to some degree given that your levels are demonstrably low. What have you got to lose by trying them?

Bear in mind that (if you are in the UK) your body cannot synthesise any vitamin D3 from the sun at this time of year - however sunny it is - because the UV reaching our latitudes is not of the right wavelength. If your levels are already low in November then, unless you travel or take a supplement, they will be even lower at the end of the winter.

Fit according to my blood test results (have just dug out the paperwork) your level is not at the lowish end of normal according to the National Osteoporosis Guidelines (under 30 is deficient), and on the other explanation (my printout doesn't say where that comes from though) that 25-50 is "insufficient, secondary hyperparathyroidism likely" and that 75-200 is the optimum level. That's for total Vit D (D2 and D3).

My level was 53 right at the end of summer, so my GP agreed that I could self-supplement D3 over the winter. There was an incredibly helpful Vit D thread on here which someone kindly linked for me on the "turned your life around with vitamins" thread in General Health, and based on info from there, I'm taking 2000IU a day till April (which I'm hoping will raise my levels by 50 in a few weeks), to see if it makes any difference. Tablets cost about a fiver from Amazon for 120 tablets, so not horribly expensive for a "give it a try" thing to do.

Vit D thread

GP told me my vitamin D was low 2 weeks ago. I had been feeling so awful for the 5 weeks before this that I thought it must be s horrible virus or something. I've been on the vitamin D for 2 weeks and I am loads better - still can't overdo it but just more able to cope with my day, a bit brighter.

Vitamin d has really helped me since I've been taking it regularly. I used to be achy, lethargic and tired all the time. I had that bone pain too. I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

Hi ,Fit,

         I am sorry to say that you have been badly misinformed.  

A level of 27 is just not lowish ,

                            it is very, very low ,      indeed  so low  , that if you were a child ,   then  it could be expected that you might possibly be showing symptoms of rickets.
 As an adult , then you would not get the same signs,  your bones would not bend ,  but you might get bone pain.  

       Can I ask ?   ,   do you drink milk ,  ?   are you getting some calcium?.  There is an adult condition known as osteomalacia...   whereby too little vitamin d , can lead to poor bone maintenance, due to an inadequacy in calcium absorption.

From your description , then I would say , that you should definately supplement with vitamin D . It can help with many health problems.

I have posted on mumsnet , quite a bit about this problem, low Vit D.

Humans  .....   throughout our evolution ... i.e.millions of years have had blood levels in the region of  120 - 140 ,   it is only in the last few hundreds of years that we have changed our environment to have much lower levels.      In fact , in the last 40 years ,  we have very much reduced our levels ( here in the west -  UK , etc.  )   We keep out of the sun ,  we put on suncream/clothes that prevents sunlight reaching our skin , where most  Vit D is made. 

Please have a look at this conversation , where I tried to explain what is going on.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/2421492-Vitimin-D-can-it-have-this-effect

it is a long read ... but lots of useful information. 

Best of luck 

BTBH

PS. I would recommend taking at least 3000 IU or 4000 IU per day , to raise your blood level by about 75- 85 nmol/l , whereby if you reach over 100 , then IF your symptoms are due to low Vit D , then after a few months ( not just weeks ) then you should see some improvements. It is not commonly known , that insomnia has also been associated with lack of Vit D, also depression .

It's helpful if you're deficient.

Don't guess. Get tested.

I've never had my vitamin D levels tested, but used to have terrible trouble getting off to sleep.
Someone suggested I try vitamin D and the effects have been very noticeable.
I used to also get very painful aching joints and bones (I am only 31!) which massively improved through taking vit D also.

I am told that studies have seen doses of 10,000 nanograms given to people with no adverse effects, so a standard dose you will get from health food shops will be safe. I take the spray which is thought to be the best and quickest way to absorb it into the body.

27 is low. 25 and under is the point at which you do not have enough vitamin D to sustain your bones, but you need much more than that.

40 is the absolute minimum and ideally you should have enough so that you do not drop this level over winter, when you are not making any.

PS mine was 38 and taking 25ug a day has made a noticeable difference. It took 6 weeks for me to see. I really notice it if I stop, within 2 weeks.

Thanks to this board I discovered this spray and it's made such a difference to my sense of wellbeing that I have no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending it to others - it's cheaper to buy on eBay: www.google.co.uk/search?q=vitamin+d+spray&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b&gfe_rd=cr&ei=pWsvWOmDA7On8wfyq4iQAw

I suggest you as surgery for a print out of your blood test results and post them here - if your GP can be so wrong about what constitutes normal/desirable levels of Vitamin D, s/he may be wrong about others.

ask your surgery... etc

My vit d level was 15 over 5 years ago. I'd had loads of miscarriages too because of it. My bones ached and felt cold, if that makes sense. I even booked a holiday abroad as I just felt I needed to warm my bones, even though I had no idea I was vitamin D deficient! I had severe headaches, lost a lot of weight, and felt tired all the time. Once I'd been treated the tiredness went, the cold aching bones went away. So I'd give it a shot. I don't think supplements can do any harm.

I have never been tested. I just started taking vitamin D. More than the dose usually available in tablets at boots (I took about four of those tablets a day). Lo and behold, my health improves. No more winter blues. I rarely get ill. I just feel better.

I now take 5,000 whatever those units are called a day. Very affordable on Amazon.

By the way, it's harmless to supplement with large doses. You'd have to take stupid amounts for a while to get too much.

The problem is that various things could cause the same symptoms so it's more efficient to work from clear blood results than to go through trying things in turn.

Also; Vit D is a hormone and can affect and be affected by other hormones in a dynamic way.

I was on level 23 when I was first tested. I was so ill, I thought I had something really really serious to feel so unwell. My body hurt. I was so tired, so out of energy but I could not manage to fall asleep at night. I could just about manage to get the kids to school. Then I had to lie down and rest until pick up. I struggled to put food on the table. I lied on the sofa until bed time. It was really bad.

I was lucky, my sister lives in the Canaries, I spent 9 weeks there the winter I got my vitamin D deficiency diagnosis. My GP also prescribed me some vitamin D pearls, they were 30.000 times daily recommended dose (to take one doze a week for 12 weeks). If you are really low you need monitoring, and something stronger than over the counter.

But it is worth trying the ones you can just buy in your pharmacy anyway.

Just buy some Vit D supplement. Your levels are low but supplements are cheap so you might as well just buy it. There is a spray that is high enough dose to remedy deficiency if you use it every day

Thank you all so much for listening to me. And for the info on those threads. Lots of people seem to have been helped I am hoping me as well

I am a bit overweight quite a bit really, so from what I have read I might need more than normal to boost me up quickly. So I have bought that spray from holland and Barratt I am taking 2 sprays a day. that is 3000 twice per day. One in the morning one in the evening. Fingers crossed.
In a couple of months I am going to get one of those private blood tests and see what has happened. If it is looking good then i will drop down to 1 spray a day. The proof of the pudding is how I feel in a few months. I want my level to go from 27 up to about 140.
Thank again all.

If it doesn't work I am going back to the doctor.