Vitamin D deficiency...?

Hey Guys,

So this post is on something a little different to usual. I wanted to use this platform to talk and document things going on in my life to hopefully relate to someone else. Today’s post is discussing something which has been prominent in my life for I’d say around the last 3 years. My Vitamin D deficiency which I still, after many doctor appointments believe is actually something else. I thought I’d speak about my symptoms, the doctors appointments and what I have done to try and combat the symptoms over the last few years.

So from the beginning, I have always been someone who dislikes veg and clearly hasn’t been fuelling my body with the right vitamins throughout my life. However, as time has gone on eating habits have changed and I have become more open to trying new foods. During my last years at high school I found myself at the doctors due to feeling drowsy and drained which led to me fainting. Blood tests were run and I would be told all my levels were fine which happened at least 3 times. However, over the last few years I have come to realise there must be more to it as no mater what I ate, how much I exercise I did or what I used on my skin, I never felt awake, I constantly looked, felt drained and my skin was horrible. Over the last year I started getting aches and pains in different areas of my body. It initially was just in my hands and fingers. I would get sharp but dull aches which where almost shooting pains In the joints of my fingers and it would hurt so bad I felt like I couldn't do anything. The pains then started spreading to my arm, legs and feet which I ended up going to the doctors about.

My first appointed entailed me explaining all my symptoms to a doctor, however, the pains had gone due to me making an appointment 2 weeks before I actually got seen to. This made it hard for the doctor to assess exactly where the pain was coming from and why. She put it down to stress and anxiety and asked if it came on at particular times. I decided to make a log of when it would occur so I could see if there were any patterns. She told me if it returned to go straight to A&E or the walk in centre. At this point, in my final year of university, I obviously had a lot on and I was very stressed and worrying a lot. A few weeks later and the pains had returned multiple times so I decided to take myself to the walk in centre...which was pointless. I had the most un-helpful doctor look at me and tell me it could be either stress related or the fact that I was low on vitamin D but he wouldn't be able to tell me. So I had to personally book blood tests for me to get my vitamin D levels checked.

A week or so later I went to see another doctor whom told me I was in-fact below the desired level of vitamin D and they prescribed me some tablets which I believe were 800IU. I took them for a course of 4 weeks, once a day and she advised I buy some generic ones to use when I had finished the 8 week course of the strong ones. I did exactly that but after the 8 weeks, the pains had come back and this time under my arm pits which got me worried. I started reading things online which scared me so I decided to YET AGAIN, make an appointment.

Seeing another doctor (which I think is ridiculous, having to explain your situation to different people every time was so annoying) I explained everything which had gone on over the last few months and he checked my arm pit. I had stopped going to the gym so he advised I get back into exercise, run some more blood tests and see if the tablets had worked to increase my Vitamin D levels.

Unfortunately, they hadn't worked. My levels were back to what they were at before which was extremely odd considering I had continued to take other Vitamin D supplements. So they prescribed me some more tablets, this time they were 20,000IU and I had to take them once a week for 8 weeks. This seemed to work as the pains weren't there as often and after I finished them I knew it had improved significantly. But 2 weeks later, my pains have returned and I am back to square one. I cant say it is stress related because it seems to come on when I am both relaxed and working which completely blows my mind.

I take multiple vitamins and I am back at the gym and feel a lot more positive and healthier within myself but I find the pains still occur at least once a week. Not really wanting to go back to the doctors I've decided to keep going with the positive mind set and if the pains continue over the next month to book another appointment and demand they do more tests as to either why the Vitamin D levels keep dropping or that it is in-fact something else!

Sorry for the more word based post than a visually pleasing one but I would like to document this so I can update everyone on the situation in a few months. Meanwhile if anyone has any tips/feels the same way with the same symptoms please get in touch with me!

Thank you for reading!

Chlo x