Monday, February 25, 2013

What are the symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency?

Q. I haven't been out in the sun a lot for a while now. I was indoors for basically all the Summer and it's almost Winter now. I don't think I was even outside much before Summer. Could this help cause a vitamin D deficiency?
By the way, I'm 16, overweight, and tan.

A. Symptoms and Health Risks of Vitamin D Deficiency
Symptoms of bone pain and muscle weakness can mean you have a vitamin D deficiency. However, for many people, the symptoms are subtle. Yet even without symptoms, too little vitamin D can pose health risks. Low blood levels of the vitamin have been associated with the following:

Increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease
Cognitive impairment in older adults
Severe asthma in children
Cancer
Research suggests that vitamin D could play a role in the prevention and treatment of a number of different conditions, including type1 and type 2 diabetes, hypertension, glucose intolerance, and multiple sclerosis.

Causes of Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency can occur for a number of reasons:

You don't consume the recommended levels of the vitamin over time. This is likely if you follow a strict vegetarian diet, because most of the natural sources are animal-based, including fish and fish oils, egg yolks, cheese, and beef liver.

Your exposure to sunlight is limited. Because the body makes vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight, you may be at risk of deficiency if you are homebound, live in northern latitudes, wear long robes or head coverings for religious reasons, or have an occupation that prevents sun exposure.

You have dark skin. The pigment melanin reduces the skin's ability to make vitamin D in response to sunlight exposure. Some studies show that older adults with darker skin are at high risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Your kidneys cannot convert vitamin D to its active form. As people age their kidneys are less able to convert vitamin D to its active form, thus increasing their risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Your digestive tract cannot adequately absorb vitamin D. Certain medical problems, including Crohn's disease, cystic fibrosis, and celiac disease, can affect your intestine's ability to absorb vitamin D from the food you eat.

You are obese. Vitamin D is extracted from the blood by fat cells, altering its release into the circulation. People with a body mass index of 30 or greater often have low blood levels of vitamin D.

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Does Laser treatment for facial hair cause vitamin D deficiency or skin cancer ?
Q. my wife is undergoing a a laser treatment for hair removal for past 5 to 6 years . She seems to have developed a severe Vitamin D deficiency and bone loss. Could This be a effect of laser treatment ?

A. I can't find any concrete evidence that laser hair removal causes vitamin d deficiency, although everyone's bodies react differently to different treatments. As for cancer, according to the below article, no, it doesn't cause skin cancer.


I'm a vegan and the doctor gave me medicine with gelatin in it, help?
Q. I have vitamin D deficiency and I found out the medicine I have been taking has gelatin in it. I told the doctor and she said there is no other medicine without gelatin. I feel really bad and don't even know what to do.

A. There really is nothing you can do.
Big Pharma uses gelatin in almost ALL pills as a stabilizer to maintain the chemicals inside.
There is no alternative compound that does the same thing.
So really your choice is take the pills and get treatment, or don't take the pills and get worse.


What affects does a severe deficiency of vitamin D have on the body? And can you take vitamin D IV?
Q. my vitamin D level is 23.. I have been on vitamin D supplements for almost 5 months and it continues to drop. Now I am suffereing weakness, muscle weakness, bone pain, chest shortness of breath, etc.

A. What form of vitamin D supplements are you taking? and how much are you taking?

First, you should be taking cholecalciferol (NOT ergocalciferol).

Second, if you are as deficient as it sounds, you should be taking MASSIVE doses (at least 100,000 IU per day).

Third, do you have a malabsorption problem? Vitamin D is fat soluble, consequently it may not be well absorbed if you have pancreatic insufficiency, gall-bladder dysfunction, or common types of malabsorption disorders such as Celiac Disease.

Lastly, why is your doctor not giving you vitamin D injections?

The symptoms you describe are consistent with severe vitamin D deficiency. You need effective treatment ASAP. If your doctor cannot/will not help, get a referral to a specialist or find a new doctor.

Best wishes and good luck.





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