Vitamin D deficiency

[MorriseysGladioli]

It sounds innocuous enough, but I have just been found to be lacking (after 18 months of feeling as if I am at deaths door)

Can anyone tell me how it affected them, please?
Also, does the loading dose literally diminish the problems until I'm finally back to full health again?

Hopeful bump.

I had no detectable vit d and I ended up with a lot of joint pain and hyperparathyroidism.

So it's not innocuous to me!

I used to get so ill as well. If the kids had colds, I had pleurisy. Cuts got infected. I got UTIs if I waited half an hour to go to the loo.

I don't exactly feel tip top now but that was awful. I did get a lot better with the adcal.

Thank you.
I'm amazed that one little vitamin can have such serious consequences.
I'm also, I admit, a bit sceptical that things will come right again.

If you don't mind me asking what were your symptoms?

Prepare for a list then.
I still have them all - 6 weeks of pills should see them off a bit.

Red, dry eyes that nothing has helped.
Hair falling out - now have bald patches.
Aching, terrible aching legs, hips, knees. Shoulders and back.
Facial tic.
Dry mouth and dental problems.
Skin rash - body and legs.
Fatigue - probably the worst symptom of all.
Dizziness.
Tingling, pins and needles, feeling of water under the skin.
Forgetfulness.

Oh, and breathlessness.
Being unable to get about well, not just due to the pain and fatigue, but feeling 'doddery'.

We started taking Vitamin D at the beginning of the pandemic as it was recommended at the time. DH noticed that his chronic joint pain in has wrists, shoulders had disappeared during last year. I looked up symptoms of Vitamin D deficiency and discovered joint pain was one of them. A very happy side effect.

Thanks for sharing your symptoms. I have a lot of these myself and am currently waiting for test results. Hope you feel better soon.

Apparently a large percentage of people are deficient, mostly due to work schedules and protecting themselves against the sun.
Hoping this may help someone else to join the dots if they're feeling rotten.

I've had repeated, significant Vitamin D deficiencies, and yes, when it got severe, I've felt absolutely awful, so tired, it affected my stamina, mood swings, my bones hurt, muscle pain and cramps (Vitamin D deficiency can cause osteomalacia which I was suspected of, but they didn't do the other tests), I ended up having nearly every symptom of menopause to the point I was misdiagnosed with premature ovarian insufficency/early menopause for 5 years before it was connected to my deficiences.

The loading doses were transformative for me, I wouldn't say full health, but it was a major shift (I'd say 85% with just that) and as long as I continue supplementing as recommended, it stays that way. I know when I've missed too many doses, it messes with my cycles, moods, energy, pain.

I would suggest, if not already, having a wider nutrition panel if possible as it's pretty common to have more than one deficiency if only because a lack of one may mean another isn't being used or absorbed properly (bodies are complicated like that) and even more importantly, getting recommendations on how to supplement afterwards - once you've been significantly deficient, repeats are more likely and the best thing that happened in this for me was the last time, a nurse practitioner talk me through this - GPs usually just said take a multivitamin after the loading dose, the nurse talked through how much I should be looking for (multivits often don't have enough, especially for those with a history of significant lack) and foods to combine with it - just like Vitamin C helps iron absorb, Vitamin K works with Vitamin D so it's common to recommend having Vitamin D with natto, eggs, full fat dairy, or supplementing them together with 100mcg of K2 for every 1000ius of Vitamin D with 4x that regarded as safe without on-going monitoring (some say higher is safe, and a bit higher likely is, but the research in this area is pretty new). Some say Vitamin A up to similar levels of D is also helpful as the 3 work together.

If you're having bone pain or any other symptom of osteomalacia, you may want to look into calcium, phosphorous, and some say magnesium as well, if only to look for ways to increase them in your diet.

@Nosilayak
I hope your tests show up what's wrong and it's a simple fix.

Thank you.

I had rock bottom vitamin D levels a few years ago. My symptoms were mainly a crushing exhaustion (I would wake up exhausted and aching no matter how much sleep I got), feeling very low and really awful brain fog.

I was prescribed a week long ‘loading dose’ if 20,000 iu daily, then maintenance dose of 3,000 iu per day permanently. I actually take 4,000 iu a day, and double it for a few weeks if I start to feel tired again (usually late winter/early spring) when we’ve had dark days for months). I get my levels checked annually and they are consistently much better now.

It took about 6 weeks of taking Vit D before I felt better, but when I did, it felt quite sudden. I woke up one day and realised I wasn’t tired, I felt happier, then my mind started to feel much sharper at work and I was less achy.

(Did you also get your iron levels checked? Anaemia gives me very similar symptoms and I’m currently academic (again!) and back on high dose ferrous fumerate).

@BiBabbles

Thank you.
That's helpful and clearly explained.
I had read about that, but didnt really understand it all.
It's taken me so long to get to this point, I doubt I will get someone so invested in my recovery.
I've been made to feel a nuisance all through this.

My vitamin D level was very low at the time I had Hypothyriodism. I had many of the symptoms you quote and gained 3 stone in weight. Perhaps you need a thyroid test.

I have had my iron checked and it was ok, but they've done a few at a time, so actually the first lot of results may not be valid now.

Thyroid test was ok, because that was tested with the expectation it would be the culprit.
The vit D was an afterthought a couple of months ago.

I was diagnosed with low vit d just over two months ago, the pain, oh my god. I couldn't even sleep in bed as the pain in my skull was horrendous. Couldn't breathe deeply, lost a stone in weight. Been on daily 5000 for 8 weeks, back at gp tomorrow. Still in pain in my skull/ear, dizzy 24/7 and numb right hand side.

I also get pain at the back and sides of my skull.
It really is insidious and foul.
I have read about people having to use wheelchairs and walking sticks!
I don't feel far off that myself.
It's my legs and hips that hurt the most.

It is amazing what one little vitamin does, Vitamin D is a precursor to multiple hormones in the body and throwing off one part of the endocrine system can throw off other parts.

It is annoying many don't get the help in this area that they should, which is why I posted current recommendations on it. I think I only got the level of help I did because I made myself a nuisance - as I said, I was misdiagnosed with POI and after too long being dismissed with 'it's menopause' and 'enjoy buying fewer pads' (yes, I actually had a GP tell me that when I was diagnosed), I emailed the practice manager the NICE guidelines for menopause with the POI section marked to show that continuing with no treatment as I had been was putting my health at risk. The next appointment, not only did the GP have the guidelines I'd sent to the practice manager printed out, but had gone through my medical history enough to be able to show me, on the screen, why she thought it was a misdiagnosis. I had to re-do all the testing, plus a few additional ones, but being a pain in the ass and using NICE guidelines is what finally got me knowing what I need to do to take care of myself. You can see the guidelines for Vitamin D defiency here.

My doctor was offering tests (not in the UK) and I came in very low. 6 months later of supplementing at 5000 iu per day I’m back in the normal range but not optimal. My joint pains have just about gone and I have more energy, but still some brain fog. It was really bad just before Christmas.

I had back and shoulder pain and weakness, which left me unable to lift my arms, even switching a light on or changing gear was incredibly painful. The ache then spread to arms, hips and legs.

I was exhausted - but also couldn’t sleep. So I’d wake up after a couple of hours and be unable to sleep then be dog tired and falling asleep on the couch during the day. Apparently the deficiency causes very short sleep cycles which explains it.

And also I was very depressed and tearful.

I got given a high dose for 3 months, started to see some improvement after 8 weeks, but as soon as tablets stopped symptoms all returned. I am now on a maintenance dose and also try to get at least 30 mins sunlight on arms / legs plus eat plenty of vit d rich foods

I had symptoms for about 4 months before going to the doctors, I thought the pain / weakness was a trapped nerve and had tried various massages / pillows etc before that point, and that the tiredness was due to young child but doctor suggested it straight off and was confirmed with blood test

Yes, I've been fobbed off too.
The nurse laughed and said I was a mystery woman as blood tests were clear.
I glared at her through my red rimmed, almost closed eyes and said I'm not finding it amusing at all.

I had the initial loading doses and was still quite low I now supplement with a vitamin D spray (from Amazon and supermarkets) and my levels are higher than they have ever been.

That's what I have been told to do after 6 weeks loading.