Has Anyone Ever dealt with A Vitamin D deficiency?

[AprilRainCaleb]

I just found out i was Vitamin D deficient a little over 6 wks ago @27 optimal health level between 50-80. I believe i started to be deficient during my pregnancy because i rarely got any sunshine especially being in Ohio & i wasn't able to consume dairy products during my pregnancy because i was having gall bladder problems. Six months after the baby was born i got my gall bladder removed & was able to eat & drink dairy products then. During my pregnancy the last 2 months i was getting severe lower back pain off & on. (Note the last 2 months is when the fetus requires the most calcium to harden the babies bones)I started to breastfeed once the baby was born and the first 3 months after the baby was born i was fine but then shortly after around the 3rd month i started to have lower back pain again & teeth sensitivity. Anyways i breastfed until the baby was 13 months during the 13 months i complained to my primary & orthopedics about the bone pain but they couldn't figure the problem out. By the end of the 13 months i was experiencing more pain in other bones. Finally i seen a endo & reumot. doctor & thye ran blood tests & did a bone scan before the Vitamin D results came back showing i was deficient. I was taking some vitamin d during my pregnancy but i guess it wasn't enough. Now that i been taking higher doeses of vitamin D for 6 wks i've been feeling worse at times with more bone pain in places i've never even had pain before ,muscle aches,fatigue, & anxiety. The endo doctor said my body may want my vitamin d level to be at least @ 40 & it may take 3 to 4 months to feel better. Plus considering if i wasn't having the calcium in my diet for the breastmilk since the calium wasn't being absorbed in my diet the calcium comes from my reserviors.Has anyone else dealt with Vitamin d deficiency after breatsfeeding?

[sbgrace]

My level was the same 6 weeks ago.

This is a great site about all things vitamin D. http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml My first thought would be what type of vitamin D are you taking? You need vitamin D3. The one my doctor prescribed was actually D2..the wrong form.
I've been taking 10,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day with some fat. I'm feeling better and my bone pain is gone. But it took that much to start correcting things. Prior to this I was taking 5,000 IU and was still deficient and still in pain. You maybe need even more. You won't know if what you're doing is working if you don't do another draw to check levels. But before you do that I'd take 10,000 IU per day of D3. You can get 5,000 IU pills and that is most economical and easy for the big doses. Take it for say 6 or 8 weeks and then get re-test.
This site also talks about pre-formed vitamin A and how it interacts (negatively) with vitamin D. There is debate about that but in my experience a lot of vitamin A was making my vitamin D situation worse. I think it's hard to correct a defiency when you're consuming a lot of A. Cod liver oil (in case someone mentions it) isn't going to have enough D to correct a deficiency and also has a lot of vitamin A. So if you do that do it away from your D3 supplement. Also, I decided fortified dairy wasn't a great source either. The vitmain D levels are way too low and they are fortified with...vitamin A as well. So I don't do fortified dairy with my vitamin D.

[AprilRainCaleb]

My endo has me only taking Vitamin D3 (CHOLECALCIFEROL) 2000IU A day which didn't seem like it was enough because i was already taking at least 1000IU already & somedays 2000IU. My endo was new he was working under a Fellow endo & the Fellow was calling the shots & was out the room most of the time. I'm going to have to bring this to the endo attention when i see him. I started to take more Vitamin D here & there through out the 6 wks so far & was tanning maybe 3 times a week but now i stopped because of the fear of skin cancer. Did you have all kind aches & pains when you started taking the vitamin D? It freaked me out at first until i read that you are going to feel alot more bone pain when you first start the vitamin D therapy especially if your were pregnant & breastfeeding at the time of the deficiency. I get retested by my endo doctor June 17th. I hate waiting that long & he was trying to make me wait until August but i pressed him to see him sooner because of how i'm feeling. I've been having alot vitamin A in my diet but have been trying not to go over the daily RDA of 5000 IU but its hard when your trying to eat lots fruits & veggies to get healthy again & alot them have alot of Vitamin A. I think your right about the Vitamin A & i've read to much Vitamin A does take away from the bones. Were you pregnant or breastfeeding whiile you were deficient?

[kjbrown92]

I found out I was deficient last year. 27. The rheumatologist had me taking 2000mg of D3 as well. I got tested recently and it was up to 35. The osteopath now has me on 4000mg of D3 a day. It did not make my pain any worse. You say that you were off dairy because of gallbladder issues and now that you've had your gallbladder removed, you're back on dairy. Is it possible that you're dairy intolerant? I only mention this because I was off dairy because my DS was intolerant, and when he weaned and I started back on dairy is when I started getting back spasms. Last summer I went off dairy (and gluten and soy) and my 8-10 periods of back spasms a day went away and I was able to wean myself off the Lyrica and antidepressants that the rheumatologist put me on, thinking I had fibromyalgia. So I'm just throwing that out there as a possibility. I also noticed since taking the Vitamin D that I don't sunburn anymore, and I used to burn really easily. They did a bone scan as well and I have osteopenia. I'm now taking lots of magnesium, which helps with the pain (I was deficient in that as well). Just some other ideas for you. I hope you get some relief soon.

[tinuviel_k]

I am currently taking 6000-8000 IU a day 9I'm going to cut back this summer a bit though). My levels started out in the low 20s. After 3 months of taking 2000 IU a day my levels didn't budge. After 3 months of taking 4000 IU they improved a small amount. After 3 months of taking 6000 IU I was almost up to normal (level of 50), and now I am taking the higher amount to get me in the solid normal range before I scale back and try to find a good amount to maintain.

In my year of vitamin D supplementing I have never, ever had any bone pain, muscle aches, anxiety. Perhaps there could be something else going on there? Are you taking a good cal/mag supplement? My doctor told me it was really important to get enough calcium while supplementing with vitamin D, and that it is important to keep the calcium and magnesium in a good balance (western diets are notoriously low in magnesium compared to calcuium).

[SeekingSerenity]

My level was 24 back in Feb. I thought literally for years that I had rheum. arthritis since all the symptoms pointed in that direction. The pain in my wrists and hands has all but disappeared (not entirely but it is certainly bearable now) since I went on the Vit D treatment. The other pain turned out to be fibromyalgia. I went on Cymbalta for that, and I'd shout from a mountain top as to the benefits of this miraculous medicine. It gave me my life back. Sucks that I am losing my health insurance and so I will only have 6 more weeks to be on it, that's the only supply I have. I could never in a million years afford $300 a month for the scrip without ins. Anyway, I will have to stop the vit. D, too, since I can't go back to the rheumatologist without ins.

I think I have been deficient for a very long time. I try, try, try to get sun exposure every day now and I don't look forward to the return of all my symptoms. But, that's life, eh?

[kjbrown92]

You can (and should) get Vitamin D without a prescription. What you should take is D3 and most prescriptions are D2. And yes, most people are deficient in magnesium so the cal-mag supplements are usually the wrong ratio.

[AprilRainCaleb]

I think i been lactose intolerent for a long time but i never got any body aches or pain from that other then a bit gas & having to go to the bathroom. I read at the doctors office you can tested for that through a blood test. I'm going to look into that test. If your lactose intolerent does that mean you don't absorb much of the milk (Dairy products)? The bone pain just started when i was breastfeeding & all the other aches started when i started getting alot vitamin D. I asked my endo doctor on the phone if the vitamin D could give me all these new aches? He said "Among other things". I'm start taking 6000 IU until i see my doctor in 3 wks. I like my level in a the healthy range of at least 50. I also am going to try add more magnesium when i take the calcium supplement. How much magnesium do you recommend compared to the calcium? Was anyone breastfeeding or pregnant while they vitamin D deficient? I read this

(For anyone with Vitamin D deficiency, here is my recommendations based on my experience and talking to experts:

1. Talk to your Physician about following treatment method suggested by Michael Hollick in previous post: 50000 iu weekly for 6 weeks followed by 50000 iu every two weeks thereafter
2. After the first 6 weeks of above recommended treatment, recheck Vitamin D levels again. If not normal, recheck again after another 6 weeks. If it does not correct by then, see ONLY an endocrinologist who is an expert in Vitamin D deficiency - not all of them are and Vitamin D deficiency is serious enough to leave unsuccessfully treated for too long.
3. If above treatment is successful, then develop a plan to check Vitamin D levels periodically as agreed by you and your doctor.
4. Also, make sure you are not consuming too much calcium (but do consume about 1200 iu of calcium or so as recomended by your physician) as consuming so much Vitamin D and excessive calcium at same time may lead to calcification of organs, kidney stones and the like.
5. Vitamin D treatment initially replaces lost calcium from bones - so early during treatment you will notice lots of bone pain depending on how much bone calcium you lost that is being replaced (if you have vitamin d deficiency when you are pregnant or lactating, you will lose more calcium from your bones as the bones are the body's calcium store and they are used as a last resort if dietary calcium is not made available due to vitamin d deficiency - vitamin d helps in absorbing dietary calcium, with deficiency, this won't happen and so bone calcium is used up)
6. Vitamin D deficiency is serious - triggers all kinds of disorders and illness - so please consult with someone who is an expert and get it corrected soon

*** Vitamin D treatment is known to initially aggravate bone pain and cause other side effects but bone pain and weakness should improve over time )

[AprilRainCaleb]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I found out I was deficient last year. 27. The rheumatologist had me taking 2000mg of D3 as well. I got tested recently and it was up to 35. The osteopath now has me on 4000mg of D3 a day. It did not make my pain any worse. You say that you were off dairy because of gallbladder issues and now that you've had your gallbladder removed, you're back on dairy. Is it possible that you're dairy intolerant? I only mention this because I was off dairy because my DS was intolerant, and when he weaned and I started back on dairy is when I started getting back spasms. Last summer I went off dairy (and gluten and soy) and my 8-10 periods of back spasms a day went away and I was able to wean myself off the Lyrica and antidepressants that the rheumatologist put me on, thinking I had fibromyalgia. So I'm just throwing that out there as a possibility. I also noticed since taking the Vitamin D that I don't sunburn anymore, and I used to burn really easily. They did a bone scan as well and I have osteopenia. I'm now taking lots of magnesium, which helps with the pain (I was deficient in that as well). Just some other ideas for you. I hope you get some relief soon.

The bone scan the rheumatologist did was not a bone density scan like you had the bone scan i had was to look for anything abnormal which was normal but then a month later the endo let me do a bone density scan which he said was good but he said to keep taking the calcium supplements because you can loose up to 10% your bone density in 6 months

[SeekingSerenity]

Originally Posted by AprilRainCaleb

Was anyone breastfeeding or pregnant while they vitamin D deficient?

I was (maybe am?) deficient for a long time, probably as far back as 2004. Since then I have had two pregnancies. I BF'd DD for 18 months (weaned before we were ready due to outside circumstances) then got pg again, and am still BF'ing Lil'Man, who is almost 11 months. When I got the test confirming my level at 24, Lil'Man was barely 7 months old, still EBF, no solids. I did the 50,000 IU per week x 6 weeks thing while BFing too. My daughter has never shown any signs of having a deficiency although I was pg with her and BF'd 18 months while being deficient myself. Lil'Man also shows no signs of anything.

[SeekingSerenity]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

You can (and should) get Vitamin D without a prescription. What you should take is D3 and most prescriptions are D2. And yes, most people are deficient in magnesium so the cal-mag supplements are usually the wrong ratio.

How much D3 should I be taking? Daily or weekly? Brand suggestions? Any help is appreciated.

[AprilRainCaleb]

Originally Posted by SeekingSerenity

I was (maybe am?) deficient for a long time, probably as far back as 2004. Since then I have had two pregnancies. I BF'd DD for 18 months (weaned before we were ready due to outside circumstances) then got pg again, and am still BF'ing Lil'Man, who is almost 11 months. When I got the test confirming my level at 24, Lil'Man was barely 7 months old, still EBF, no solids. I did the 50,000 IU per week x 6 weeks thing while BFing too. My daughter has never shown any signs of having a deficiency although I was pg with her and BF'd 18 months while being deficient myself. Lil'Man also shows no signs of anything.

I'm glad your babies aren't showing any signs of vitamin d deficiency. My son is real bow legged. My daughter who i also breastfed is fine & i believe that is because i tanned while i was pregnant & breastfeeding her for 10 months. I'm glad you got tested fairly early with the vitamin D deficiency before it drained your calcium reserviors even more. What level were you when they first tested you for Vitamin D when your baby was 7 months old? Sorry i don't know what DD stands for.

[SeekingSerenity]

The first time I was tested was in February, when Lil'Man was 7 months old, and I was at 24.

DD is "dear daughter." I also got more sun when I was pregnant with her. I think I was still pretty deficient, but it's just been getting worse since I had Lil'Man. The 50,000 IU per week helped but lately the pain in my hands and wrists has slightly increased. Still way better than it used to be, though!

[AprilRainCaleb]

How much vitamin D are you taking now? I read the best vitamin D in a bottle is vitamin D3 make sure its Cholecalciferol. I buy the 1000 IU that way if i wanna take a certain amount i can. They say to get the optimal health benefits from vitamin D your levels should be at least be between 50-65.

[SeekingSerenity]

I am not currently taking any. I need to start up again, because I don't want to fall back into a deficiency. I was waiting to go back to the rheumatologist, so he could do a follow-up blood test to see if my levels were back where they should be, and so he could give me a recommendation as to how much I should be taking daily. However, I lost my private insurance and cannot afford an out-of-pocket visit to a specialist at this time. I am hoping someone on here can give me an idea of how much I should be taking and what brands are best. Like you, I just want my levels to be in the healthy range.

[AprilRainCaleb]

Look at the link left by kjbrown92 that gives you alot info on the recommended dosage & brand you should use. You don't want let your level drop. If your getting at least 20 minutes of good sun a day in the summer you don't need to take a supplement.

[dachshundqueen]

I get 20 minutes of good sun a day, probably at least an hour, and my level is 14.

I took the 50000 iu once weekly but now doc wants 3-5k daily with recheck in 3 months, saying he wasn't getting great improvement in levels with weekly doses.

Liz

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by SeekingSerenity

How much D3 should I be taking? Daily or weekly? Brand suggestions? Any help is appreciated.

I take Vital Nutrients D3. I take mine daily. The rheumatogist said 2000mg/day. The osteopath just upped mine to 4000mg/day.

[AprilRainCaleb]

Originally Posted by dachshundqueen

I get 20 minutes of good sun a day, probably at least an hour, and my level is 14.

I took the 50000 iu once weekly but now doc wants 3-5k daily with recheck in 3 months, saying he wasn't getting great improvement in levels with weekly doses.

Liz

t
Thats why its always important to get your vitamin D levels rechecked at least every 3 months or sooner if a doctor has you on very high doses. Everybody different with how much they need to bring there levels up & then to maintain that level. I get my levels rechecked in 2 weeks. I'm really curious to see what it level is.