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I posted this because I've been deficient for over a year and half now. It seems my body has stopped producing Vitamin D. I was on supplements for 8 months then
by robg 16y ago
I posted this because I've been deficient for over a year and half now. It seems my body has stopped producing Vitamin D. I was on supplements for 8 months then went hiking for three weeks and off supplements. I came back and my levels had actually dropped.
In my case the supplements have literally changed my life. I sleep better, I don't get mid-afternoon drowsiness any more (which I had for years), and my wife can predict whether I've been taking my supplements based on my mood.
EDIT: I should have mentioned that the blood test is extremely easy and inexpensive. Though try to avoid Quest Labs as there have been reports that their results are not accurate for Vitamin D. I have little doubt that my grad school years - in the office before 9am and out after 7pm - hurt my skin's ability to make Vitamin D. I started having afternoon drowsiness then and for over five years. Within one day of starting the supplements it has completely gone away.
- carbocation 16y agoYou got drowsy in grad school each afternoon, but now you're no longer drowsy and you take Vitamin D. Are you also no longer in grad school?
- robg 16y agoIt carried over for years after grad school even as I regularly got 7-8 hours of sleep. Quite literally, it was gone within one day of supplements (5,000 IU) and it has never come back. For me there couldn't be a stronger personal causation. One day it was there and for years, the next it was gone.
- carbocation 16y agoThanks for the follow-up. From your original post the timeline wasn't clear to me, but this helps clear it up.
- robg 16y agoSorry, I usually don't post comments because of how much context is lost. Part of the problem was trying to isolate the cause. I was in grad school for five years. In year two I started to notice the problem but I thought it was simply stress related. The solution was the futon in the office. I'd take an afternoon nap and then I was mostly good to go. During my post-doc I was less stressed but the problem remained. Only after my three year post-doc, a family member nutritionist literally looked at my eyes and said I was Vitamin D deficient. Sure enough, the results came back and I was badly deficient. 1.5 years of supplements later and I never take a afternoon nap.
- pmikal 16y agoVitamin D deficiency is the most common medical condition in the world. A majority of persons that live above the 33rd parallel north, San Francisco for example, are deficient. If you are at all interested, a must read is The Vitamin D Solution.
- nl 16y agoExcuse my language, but that's bullshit, and it makes me angry. Firstly, vitamin D deficiency is not the most common medical condition in the world. I don't know what the most common medical problem is, but of serious diseases Hepatitis B affects around 2 Billion people (http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903696.html http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0903696.html). Secondly, even if you believe vitamin D deficiency is a serious problem then you may be surprised to learn about places such as China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria etc etc, all of which have very very large populations well south of the 33rd parallel. In fact, by far the majority of the worlds population lives south of the 33rd parallel north. Thirdly, where I live (Australia) one of the major causes of death is cancer, specifically skin cancer. I know at least one person who sends her kids out to play in the sun in summer after hearing this (without sunscreen). In my view Vitamin D deficiency is a minor problem, easily fixed which affects a small number of people. Blowing it up into a major issue has the potential to cause a much bigger problem (skin cancer) in a similar way to how vaccination scares caused public health risk.
- nl 16y agoTo be more explicit about it being "easily fixed", here's a quote: Asked for a general recommendation, Dr. Holick suggests going outside in summer unprotected by sunscreen (except for the face, which should always be protected) wearing minimal clothing from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. two or three times a week for 5 to 10 minutes. That's all it takes to fix the "problem"
- tjmc 16y agoI mostly agree with you but I think Australia is a special case. We've got a largely white population living in some extremely hot areas so the risk of skin cancer is far greater than the risk of Vitamin D deficiency. For people in northern latitudes those risks are going to be reversed.
- gojomo 16y agoAre you familiar with any theory as to how your natural D-making capability atrophied? (Is there evidence that it is lost over time in the absence of sun exposure?)
- msluyter 16y agoMy understanding is that we lose the ability to synthesize vitamin D as we age.
- robg 16y agoNo, and none of the clinicians I've seen have any idea what's going on. They just know I've been tested 6 times and my levels haven't moved to acceptable levels even as I've been on supplements pretty regularly. I've experimented here and there - like the 3 weeks of hiking and being off supplements and while I was outside a bunch last summer - but it seems either I'm not making or I'm not storing. They could do more invasive tests - like a biopsy from my intestine - but I feel so good on the supplements, I don't see any reason to change anything. My nutritionist thinks my levels will bounce back after sticking with the supplements and I think that's the best course of action.
- nandemo 16y agoHow do you measure your vitamin D level? A quick search didn't help.