Recently diagnosed with Vitamin D deficiency

Every time I have a new procedure or surgery I seem to get further away from recovery. This year so far I've had 3 procedures done (2 with local anathestic and 1 under general anathestic).

I'm back to the GP tomorrow for more blood test results so will see how the vit d is after more vit d supplements.

Can they do anything about your spine? Hope you feel better soon

Also when my level of vitamin D was severely deficient I was informed my vitamin B12 and ferritin levels while in the normal range where too low. My ferritin level was actually on the lower border of the normal range. I was actually advised to take supplements to get them both mid-range. Incidentally again it wasn't GPs who advised me on this. It was other practitioners.

Within a few months of taking the B vitamin complex and iron supplements I stopped having fatigue plus foot numbness issues.

I suggest you get tested to find out whether your vitamin B12, folate and ferritin levels are high enough. I should add in my case low ferritin and B12 levels means my white cell count is suppressed.

I started to feel pain in my arms a few weeks ago. Maybe it's because Vitamin D deficiency?

It won't if the cause is something other than vit D deficiency. There are a lot of causes of these sort of symptoms, vit D deficiency is one and probably the easiest to rule out and sort out.

The figure itself is not helpful without units since there are two ways of measuring - in one 39 would still be slightly deficient, in the other it would be OK. As ptolemy says, more than 60,000 IU per week isn't a good idea although you are well within the safe range there.

Thanks ptolemy, EileenH my ESR test rate says I'm 27, Doctor says that for my age is safe,. I'm also on Crestor & Vecepa Since my cholesterol & Tygles are extremely high, These two can also cause muscle pain, going to ask my Dr to take me off for a week or two and see what happens. Thank you for replying. 

Hi Liza, 

Sorry to hear that you are feeling so awful, but hang in there. Just because your blood levels of vit D go back up does not mean that your syptoms will go away yet. If you have been deficient long enough to have the symptoms of osteomalacia (soft bones), it will take time to reverse this process, build up your bone mineral levels and normalise all the body systems that rely on vitamin D (clue: there are a lot of them!) 

It took over seven months for me even to feel I'd turned a corner, and realistically, a year to get back to normal enough to work five days a week. Unfortunately, GPs don't seem to be very clued up about just how long it takes to recover from D deficiency serious enough to give you osteomalacia. Prof Michael Holick, who is a leading expert in the metabolism, pathology and epidemiology of Vit D maintains that it can take over a year to recover. 

Your pain is likely to stop when your bones have hardened and re-mineralised enough that the nerves running through them are not being irritated by deforming under weight, and when your proximal muscles, which are likely to be weakened, have been built up again. You will see lots of anecdotal reports on here of people whose pain was at its worst while they were on the very high dose of vitamin D - I know it was for me. 

Chin up - there IS life after vitamin D deficiency and osteomalacia, but it won't be tomorrow. My advice would be to prepare for a rocky few months ahead and accept your current limitations while your body heals, which will be full of ups and downs, leaps forward and setbacks if it is anything like my experience! 

All best wishes, 

:-)

Vitamin D levels rise slowly so it can take 3 to 6 months to raise your level significantly.

Thank you Jaybelle, it's nice to talk to people who understand. 

God Bless