A Personal Vitamin D Deficiency Story…
My husband felt tired and had unexplained muscle and joint aches and pains. Then he started feeling dizzy and one day his legs felt numb. He felt like he was going to collapse.
Well—that was it. We made an appointment with our natural medicine doctor.
After a careful history and physical, the doctor ordered blood work measuring a number of blood components including a Vitamin D level. He said he sees a surprising number of patients with vitamin D deficiency.
A few days later, he called saying, “Your vitamin D level is dangerously low. You need to get on a supplement right away.” Everything else was in the normal range.
My husband’s vitamin D level was 11 ng/ml. The normal level is 30-150 ng/ml.
He prescribed Vitamin D3 5000 IUs two times a day.
It took about three weeks for his dizziness to subside. His Vitamin D level a month later was in the low normal range.
We’re now grateful for his symptoms. They alerted us something was wrong. Often vitamin D deficiency isn’t recognized until too late and a chronic disease has set in. We share this story in the hopes that it will help your natural healing.
You are likely vitamin D deficient too!
Key Facts
1. Though called a vitamin, vitamin D (calciferol) is a hormone.
Vitamin D has two major forms: D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol).
Vitamin D2 is produced by ultraviolet (UV) radiation of ergosterol, which occurs in molds, yeast, and higher-order plants.
Vitamin D3 is photosynthesized in the skin by action of the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) B radiation on cholesterol.
Your sun exposure resulting from your location in relation to the earth’s equator (latitude), season of the year, aging, sunscreen use, and skin pigmentation influence the production of vitamin D3 by the skin.
Vitamin D3 is 10 times more potent than D2.
2. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to many life-threatening diseases.
Epidemiologists, scientists who study the prevalence of disease, recognized the importance of vitamin D when they noted that death rates from several potentially life-threatening conditions increased with increasing latitude from the equator.
Otherwise, the further you live from the equator (less sun exposure) the more likely your vitamin D level will be low and the more likely you will have these diseases:
- Osteoporosis
- Bone disease (osteomalacia/rickets)
- Increased risk for falls (related to muscle weakness)
- Cancer including colon, breast, skin, and possibly others
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Infection including susceptibility to colds and the flu
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
- Others, the list keeps growing
3. Vitamin D deficiency is extremely common — it’s epidemic.
A 2009 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded, “Current recommendations for vitamin D supplementation are inadequate to address the growing epidemic of vitamin D insufficiency.”
4. You most likely need a vitamin D supplement.
Food is a poor source of vitamin D. Its natural source is limited to fish-liver oils, fatty fish, mushrooms, egg yolks, avocados, and liver.
Doctors used to think you could get enough vitamin D from 15 minutes of sun exposure a day. Researchers now find even people receiving abundant sun exposure may have low vitamin D levels.
A 2007 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism of 90 Hawaiians found that 51 percent had low vitamin D levels.
The current national guidelines for daily vitamin D intake is 600 IUs for adults. But, many experts say that’s not nearly enough.
A 2008 Alternative Medicine Review article reports that blood testing for vitamin D is the only adequate and safe way to make the diagnosis.
Treatment for otherwise healthy people deficient in vitamin D is from 2,000 to 7,000 IUs of vitamin D3 per day. Chronically ill persons require higher doses.
Get your vitamin D level tested soon. Give your body the vitamin D it needs to keep you healthy.
Sources
Adit A. Ginde, et. al., “Demographic Differences and Trends of Vitamin D Insufficiency in the US Population, 1988-2004,” Archives of Internal Medicine 169, no. 6 (2009).
Adrian F Gombart , “The vitamin D–antimicrobial peptide pathway and its role in protection against infection,” Future Microbiology, 4, no. 9 (2009).
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Fat-Soluble Vitamins & Nutrients: Vitamin D,” http://www.cdc.nutritionreport/part_2b.html, accessed August 23, 2009.
John J. Cannell and Bruce W. Hollis, “Use of Vitamin D in Clinical Practice,” Alternative Medicine Review, 13, No. 1 (2008).
N. Binkley, et al., “Vitamin D Level May Be Low Despite Adequate Sun Exposure,” Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 92 (2007).
ScienceDaily,Retrieved November 25, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123142735.htm
