Not a pregnancy question. Husband vitamin D results - 8!!!!

[MumToBe2015R]

Hubby had a vitamin D blood test done 2 weeks ago & results came back as 8! Nurse said she had never seen results this low before. I'm 28wks preg & so worried about him, he's not been well lately, he's had a cough for 6weeks now & doctors have said he has suspected TB. He's going for tests for this.

He's generally very weak lately, low energy levels, lost some weight, generally not himself

What can this low vitamin defiency cause?

Low vitamins can't cause you to 'catch' a disease. You can only get TB from being exposed to it but low levels of vitamin d has been linked to people being more likely to pick up TB. I am sorry you are going through this. What information and advice have you been given?

Vitamin D deficiency is often marked by feeling very achy, low (depression can be linked to it), stomach problems (weight gain and loss), tired, depleted energy levels, sweating. The list goes on and on. It can affect most areas. I would urge you not to worry right now about what it can cause because if you start googling, you'll find links saying it causes absolutely everything from the mild to the terrible. The bottom line is that it does need treating and now that it's been identified, they should be pretty quick at sorting it out. I would hope that he will feel like his normal self once it's fixed.

My Mum had very low vitamin D levels and had some pretty intensive treatment and ended up with too high a level. All fixed now and the symptoms vanished once she was sorted.

Vitamin D deficiency is getting more common with more people avoiding sun exposure and more people indoors working long hours. It's also more common as you get older as you don't use Vitamin D in the same way.

Firstly, get him checked out for parathyroid problems. That can cause v low levels of vit d.

It's possible he's just seriously run down and feeling the effects of the British weather, in which case get thee a cheap week somewhere sunny.

But, it's also possible he has a parathyroid tumour (don't panic, these are generally small and totally sortable.)

What needs to happen now is a full work up at the docs to check what the root cause is.

Thank you for the replies. He finished a booster vitamin D course of 40,000 a day for 10days. Had a re-test done today which we'll get the results for on Friday.

Nurse said to look in to foods in high vitamin D, which I did today. So will be going for a shop first thing in the morning & starting on that in the mean time until they start him on regular Vit D.

Just so worried if it is TB. We're expecting our first lil one after TTC for 4yrs & so far not had a very good experience with all the problems we've both been going through with health

Really hoping it's not TB, that's all that seems to be on my mind 24/7.

He needs to get his calcium levels checked as well. No point boosting your vit d levels if your parathyroid are out of whack. Just ask the doctor " have you tested the calcium level and can you definitely rule out a parathyroid issue?" :)

TB has quite a distinctive cough - kind of quiet and careful, it's hard to describe. Do you live in an area with higher TB levels (parts of London are quite bad for it.) curious why this was the thing that they thought of rather than parathyroid issues...

If it is TB, the best thing is a quick diagnosis, then he will have a long term course of antibiotics, which he must comply with (v important!)

Wishing you both a happier time when the little one arrives!

Hi skip thanks for the message.

Hubby has had a X-ray twice now, so would parathyroid problems/ parathyroid tumour not have been picked up by now?

Hi again skip yes we live in North London. Ive heard london has high levels on TB. Doctors haven't even mentioned Parathyroid, just read a brief article on the Internet about it, sounds very worrying & scary. Has worried me even more

Chest X-ray? For TB?

He had a general chest X-ray first, then doctors rang him to say they could see some signs of TB.

2nd X-ray was for TB, that's the one we get results for this Thursday.

No, you'd need tests for parathyroid hormone and calcium (blood tests and sometimes a urine test to look at excretion) then a scan.

It's hard to image - your parathyroids are little glands that sit in your thyroid gland - you generally give the patient an isotope that gets taken up by the tissue and scan them that way.

If it is a parathyroid issue, it's not one of the 'bad' tumours at all... Some need just a watch and wait approach and if you do need surgery it's over 95% cure rate. If I had to pick a tumour it'd be on my list :)

But your doc is the expert! Just double check with them they've ruled it out (they may well have done a blood test already and seen the calcium is normal.)

Any persistent cough needs a good work up, so it sounds like your doctor is doing the right thing. Hopefully they will find a cause soon. Don't rule out the havoc that being run down can play with your body though, it may be nothing more than that. Crap weather, no sun, work stress..,can all really do a number on you.

Hope everything works out! Best case scenario you get a medicinal week in the sun!

Could well be TB then - poor chap :( it's not easy to catch! St possible to catch it, have no symptoms and then it re activate years later when you're run down.

They'll put him on a long term course of antibiotics and may treat you as well as a precaution. They will manage it - they have really good procedures in place.