Q. About five years ago I began to suffer with severe pain in my left hip and leg. It was agonizing when I lay in bed. I had to crawl on hands and knees to climb stairs.
Physical therapy did not work. Scans showed no arthritis. After two years of disability, a blood test revealed that I was severely deficient in vitamin D. I don’t get much sunlight on my skin to produce the vitamin naturally.
I began taking vitamin D3 to raise my blood levels. Happily, I am now free of that terrible pain and can walk and climb stairs freely! I am convinced that the vitamin D3 has done wonders for my mood and wellbeing. I wonder if combatting vitamin D deficiency would help many of your readers as it did for me.
A. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle weakness, bone pain, achiness, arthritis, cancer, depression, diabetes, heart disease, asthma and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis. What we don’t know is whether adding extra vitamin D in the form of a supplement will reverse any of these conditions.
Our Guide to Vitamin D Deficiency tells how to interpret lab tests and optimize levels through diet and supplements. We hope that this will help others who, like you, are suffering joint or limb pain with no obvious cause.
