Vitamin D Deficiency in Women

[EmilyEmmabob]

I've recently been diagnosed and waiting for a prescription for vitamin D but my initial symptoms were varied and I'm not sure if they are all down to this.

I'm feeling pretty horrific and my joints are really painful. The worst is the constant headaches. I was wondering what symptoms other people had and how long it took for things to improve.

I'm in my early 40s and am also low in iron but not enough to be considered anaemic. I'm also overweight which I know is causing problems and I just don't know what to tackle first.

TIA

I take vit D and iron supplements daily. Do you have any chronic health issues? Some can change how your body absorbs vit and minerals and you need supplementation.

The joint pain for me is ferritin level related. When my ferritin is low my entire body just hurts and aches and any touch feels painful.

I haven’t found headaches to be connected for me.

I felt like you op when I was found to be deficient. Was given 6 weeks of 50,000 units a week and at the end of that felt loads better. The prescription then changed to something like 800 units/day and after I while I started feeling rough again (but not as bad as before). Am buying 4000unit/day ones now and they seem to do the trick. I've got other stuff going on too so I'm not 100% tip top health-wise but the vit d definitely made a massive difference.

Concentrate on getting your vitamin D levels up. (You should vitamin K2-Mk7 supplements with it, which you need to buy yourself as it helps you absorb the vitamin D3. )

This means the pain will stop and some of your fatigue. Be aware that the pain in some of your bones could increase before it gets better.

Then concentrate on getting your iron levels up. Should get rid of the rest of the fatigue.

Then once you aren't in pain and tired you will be able to move more and lose weight.

I was that way in my 30s.

Oh and my daily dose of vitamin D is 2000iu to keep my blood levels up. If you have been chronically deficient it is unlikely 800iu will be enough. I have to buy them myself and I also have to pay for my own blood test once a year. I use this NHS lab that does private at home tests if I just want a vitamin D testing https://www.vitamindtest.org.uk/

Thanks so much for the replies, they're really helpful. I'll check the dosage once the prescription is ready and buy a stronger supplement if it's low. I'm wanting to get some exercise in but until this joint pain goes away that's just not going to happen.

As far as I know I don't have any health conditions which would cause this but I know that I've been pretty unhealthy in my diet and lifestyle for a while so I imagine that's what has done it. When I say unhealthy it's basically from eating crap and surviving on carbs and cups of tea. Work has taken over my life and so that's what I've been spending my free time doing.

So I'll start with the vitamin d, and the iron, and then hopefully I'll feel more able to get my body moving.
Thanks so much everyone.

I also struggle with low vitamin D, currently on 2000iu maintenance dose per day but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. I initially had high doses prescribed and then moved onto this maintenance dose but don’t seem to absorb it.

I recently discovered that low oestrogen makes it difficult to absorb vitamin D- is it possible your perimenopausal op? I’m 42 and think that’s probably the issue for me

I’ve just been in and have a prescription for vit D. The NP told me to take it with a handful of nuts as it’s fat soluble to help with absorption

I bought a tub of supplements the other day if Vit D and they are 10ug equivalent to 400IU

Does anyone know how long I would need to take these for to see if I notice any difference?

I had such a low vitD the doctor wondered how I was getting out of bed

I've taken an under the tongue spray - the better you one that has VitK in - that helps with absorption as the pills prescribed upset my stomach too much

They've retested my blood 3 months later and the levels are far higher so it's definitely worked

(I also took the vitB12 one and folate and those levels have doubled!)

https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/betteryou-vitamin-d-k2-spray-12ml-60017826?gbraid=0AAAAAD96OoIRIXYQGPE03l8LgNm9Y6BI&skuid=017826&utmmcampaign=shopping&utmmedium=cpc&utmmsource=google&&gbraid=0AAAAAD96OoIRIXYQGPE03l8LgNm9Y6BI&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2v-gBhC1ARIsAOQdKY3SSLOm51ApNfnF-urmTdmdYWHmiNtgMja2c79Mggf8KO5zhRzgiSIaAuQ3EALwwcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

I think these might be too low dose for a deficiency

Have heard good things about the spray also

OP in early 40s could be perimenopause also, headaches can be hormonal perhaps? You could see how things go after the other things are tackled

Thanks all - I initially thought peri but my hormone levels are all 'fine' apparently. However, I've since learned that vit D deficiency causes low oestrogen but as hormone levels are checked against an average rather than individual it's not going to be that obvious.
I've just collected my prescription - 20,000 x2 once a week for 4 weeks, then x1 once a week for 4 weeks (loading dose). Got to have levels checked again in 3 months.
I hope this makes a difference, my knees are so painful and I feel awful.
I've been taking a multi vit which includes vitamin D but I think anyone deficient really needs a loading dose as they haven't done anything to help me.

I hope you feel a bit better soon

My shins were so painful, mentioned that and they tested my vitamin D
Level was about 12 and improved after the high dose. I take 4000 daily now

I’m afraid my headaches got a lot worse when I started my Vit D script and they had to slow it down because they were so bad. Every time I’ve stopped taking them my levels have plummeted again. So they’ve just left me on them for the last couple of years. I take it once a week.

Thank you

I felt hideous. My levels were really low. Brain fog, aching joints, exhausted all the time.

I had the huge tablets for 6 weeks and then I use the better you spray all winter and lower dose tablets from April to September.

It took a few weeks to notice but I definitely know if my levels are low, I just want to sleep all day

I really hope this doesn't happen to me. What dosage are/were you on please?
I hope you're feeling a lot better now.

I was prescribed 20,000iu per day initially I think that was supposed to be for a month. Now I take 20,000 once a week and have done for years.

Isn't there something about vitamin K and how we are supposed to take that along with it?

Yes.

Vitamin K2-MK7 though doctors don't tend to recommend you take anything but calcium if your blood tests show you need it.