Vit Deficiency & Depression, Fatigue, Muscle Aches

Hi everyone,

I'm just dropping in with a quick plea for all of you to please not ignore any vague un-well symptoms you might be experiencing.  Over the last year, I've slowly verged into chronic fatigue, a sad depression (nothing suicidal, just no interest in anything anymore).  My body ached, especially in the calf muscles and through my shoulders.  My fingers tingled and went numb occasionally.  A couple of times, I got an electric shock jolt feeling when I went to pull a drawer out or move my fingers in a certain way.  I had cramps a lot.  I caught every cold out there.  Nothing definitive.  Everything really vague.  Since I am a woman and 38, the doctors said the word 'perimenopause' and encouraged me to take anti-depressants.  No one really took any tests except for my yearly labs (labs I later learned that didn't cover all possible vit defiencies that a rnyer might have.)  Anyway; knowing my body, I really didn't think "the start of the change" was the answer.  I started asking about B-12, and, after studying everything I could find about the vitamin (and all B vits) pretty much had myself convinced that I was deficient in B-12.  My doctor (slightly wiser than someone that depends on Google results for all her information) ordered comprehensive lab tests, including Vit D.  It turns out that she was right-- I tested, in her words, "seriously way too low" in the active form of Vit D.  As in single digits.  So my vitamin regime (in which I had been taking 2 chewable multi-vits every day... or at least every day that I remembered) now includes massive doses of Vit D.  (Getting my daily dose of Vit D from the sun doesn't work well in Minnesota.  I also am not a milk drinker.)  It's been about two weeks since the huge doses of Vit D have started and all the vague little symptoms seem to have disappeared.  Hopefully they will all stay gone! 

WOW!!!  Great post as a reminder to us in Minnesota that Vit D is a problem for us.  Thanks for the info!!!!  Glad you are feeling better!!!  I think I'll take an extra  Vit D for the rest of the winter because of it.....

I've been D deficient and I live in SoCal!  :)

I hope you're taking Dry D, the D in oil that you get by Rx isn't effective on us.  Vitalady carries it at a reasonable price.

I'm glad that you discovered the cause of your symptoms!

Michele

Glad you stopped ignoring the symptoms!  I did the same thing last year...Same results, different deficiencies! Same doc experience too...They were NOT running all the tests yearly!  So I got a list. here...I copied it and took it to my PCP who runs them and encourages me to be my own health care advocate and ADMITS she has no clue how what to do with me and my RNY!  (My insurance no longer covers my surgeon) so I see my PCP and I have to stay up to date on what I should be looking for on my labs etc... so I can prevent more defs/other complications etc. from getting too far away from me....

I don't know about your symptoms, but mine were so mild and slow to grow worse that I thought it was just a normal process of getting older! Once I got on the right vits and started getting my vit levels back is when I REALLY noticed how bad I actually felt becuase I  felt SOOO much better!   So that was quite scary....Had the same doc lady for 15 years...although she kinda irritated me the last time by not listening to me and kept forgetting a few tests so that I had to go back three days in a row to draw more blood! (I DO NOT LIKE GOING TO THE DOCTORS!)  LOL   so I requested a different doc for my last tests...I'm going BACK to the first doc...She knows me better and lets me talk without making me feel like I'm on the damn clock or something!  Sheesh! But I will have to watch closer and make sure she has all my labs in BEFORE they draw any blood!  LOL I do NOT care if those people think I am some kinda sickness chaser or something...The lab people look at me like I've lost my derned mind getting so many tests!  Don't care! It's my health...I'm not going to lose it because I am afraid to look like a hypochondriac or something...Doctors, lab assts etc are NOT there to judge you...they are there to serve you!  I have to look at my doc like a waitress or I get intimidated...easy! 

Good luck...My Vit D was at 40 last year...which is low normal...but my PTH was very high suggesting my bones were being robbed of calcium somewhere...so I am probably sensitive to low Vit D and defiitely magnesium (same family as calcium)...It took me 6 mos to raise Vit D to 98 (HIGH norm) with 50,000 IU daily!  I since cut back to 5000-6000 IU daily...It takes a while and I started much higher than you!  So don;t be too discouraged if it takes a while....Just for your info!
Hugs!

Hi Lilac, your post caught my attention when you mentioned fatigue and muscle aches. I have been having the same problems for the past 3-4 months.Not joint pain as comes with age , but muscle pain. I had some labs done in November. I always get a copy of results. In my untrained mind I thought they are not to bad. By the way have not been to surgeon in a few years. Embarrased brcause of 20lb. gain. Well   dr off ice called and demanded I make an appt. and keep it.  The obvious lows are pth 9, osmol calcium 273, calcium 8.4, ferritin 8, and vit d 22.6. I take supplements for all of these but apparently not enough.  Thanks for your post . I think I will be feeling better soon. And I will keep this appt. Susan

I have been being treated for a high calcium levels and extremely low Vit D for about a year now. I am also very anemic. I had my surgery 10/18/04. They found a tumor on my parathyroid and went in and did surgery to remove the pth. Well, they didn't get it and now want to go back in and remove the thyroid with 2 nodules and the parathyroid if they can find it. This is why they say my calcium levels are off. I have always been low on D since surgery as I don't drink milk very much. I need to find a new surgeon for the surgery as I am afraid to have the same one do it for fear that he won't get it again. Not fun having a 4 inch slit across your throat to find out you have to do it again.

Milk isn't a good source of vit D. Neither is the sun.

Have you taken DRY form vit D3, as in thousands of IU, not hundreds? It CAN be fixed, but you have to use the right tools

No I haven't tried the dry form vit D. Is that in powder form and where do I get it?

Let me clarify that it has to be both dry AND D3. The dose you take depends on how low your D level is and/or how high your PTH is.

it comes:
400*
1000
2000*
5000
10,000
50,000


* (I don't know where you might find those)

Our bands, VSG and proximals all start on 10K right out of the gate. That's assuming their pre-op D issues were solved pre-op.

I don't know what the levels were, but they gave me 3 different times, 50,000 IU's to take once a week or 4 weeks and another Dr. had me take the same amt for 6 weeks. I do have a tumor on my  parathyroid, so my calcium levels are all haywire. My thyroid is also as The Dr. didn't get the parathyroid and took a couple of pieces of my thyroid instead, which is very small. Only about 1cm. instead of 5cm's. He wants to go back in and take everything out. I need another Dr. I do believe. I haven't found one here that specilizes in parathyroid surgery. They are very hard to find anywhere.