The symptoms of vitamin D deficiency can be extremely varied, and there is also disagreement over the best regimen for correcting it. Sometimes people have great success with supplementation, as this reader did:
Q. I recall reading a story from a reader who was debilitated by vitamin D deficiency. I had the same experience myself. It was frightening.
Luckily I was seeing an endocrinologist for thyroid problems and the deficiency was detected through blood tests. I now take supplemental D and have had no recurrence of the pain that made it so hard for me to crawl out of bed each morning.
A. Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to a wide range of problems. In addition to pain, it can disrupt sleep, weaken bones, lead to weight gain and make asthma worse. Recent research suggests that people deficient in vitamin D are more prone to skin conditions such as vitiligo (Medicine, July 2018) and psoriasis (Medicine, June 2018).
Vitamin D Supplements
There is a lot more information about testing and supplementation in our Guide to Vitamin D Deficiency. The blood test can be run by the doctor as part of a regular checkup, or you can get one to use at home and send in the blood sample for testing and results. It makes sense to know what your 25-hydroxyvitamin D level is and how you respond to supplements rather than to blindly take an amount that may be either too little or too much for you.
Inadequate levels of vitamin D have been linked to a wide range of chronic diseases. Most experts recommend vitamin D3 supplementation, but as we have written, the amounts of vitamin D in such supplements can vary widely.
Sunlight as a Source of Vitamin D
Human skin makes vitamin D precursor chemicals when it is exposed to sunlight. These are then converted by the kidneys into the active form of the vitamin.
Some vitamin D scientists suggest brief (15-20 minutes) sun exposure several times a week as a way of getting natural vitamin D. The exact amount of sun exposure depends upon many factors, including the geographic location, the time of year, the color of the skin and even the amount of fat a person has under the skin.
Revised 8/30/2018
