Vitamin D Deficiency Is More Common Than You Think

It's been a long six months for my mom. She's been extremely ill since before Thanksgiving. She had been having severe symptoms since September, but ignored them. She also is lactose intolerant and was trying to lower her cholesterol. In turn she cut out anything that contained Vitamin D. She chalked all her symptoms up to being overworked and just burned out. So, she ignored her aches and pains until they were just unbearable.

Let me tell you a little bit about my mom. She just turned 63 in September and leads an active life style. She's never been one to sit home. So, when she got sick I became very concerned. It was even so bad that she had to come stay with us. Her symptoms included weakness in her limbs, dizziness, tremors in her arms and legs, aching in all her joints and complete exhaustion. She could hardly walk or function. She went to five different doctors before they figured out that her vitamin D levels were dangerously low. A normal vitamin D level should be at around 70 and hers had plummeted to only 19. She was diagnosed as being malnourished. It's hard to think my mom is malnourished. You'd think a malnourished person would look like those poor people in third world countries. How ignorant I was. It doesn't help that we live in a state that is cloudy nine months out of the year. You can get tons of vitamin D from the sun.

The terrible thing about mom mom's story is that she has been having problems like this for over 30 years. When she was twenty nine they diagnosed her with rheumatoid arthritis. Now, we come to find out that she never had arthritis. The culprit was vitamin D deficiency all these years and she was never treated correctly. Shame on all those doctors. She still has to undergo several more tests for Lou Gehrig's disease, which I'm praying and hoping she does not have. Lou Gehrig's disease is a cruel and malicious disease.

My mom finally went back home and is living on her own once again. She seems to be feeling better and getting around. She has started enjoying all her activities again, but at a slower pace. She has been on medical leave from work since November and I'm not sure she'll ever return. She will probably be on a high dose of vitamin D the rest of her life. This incident has scared me so much that I've started taking 2,000 units of vitamin D per day and I'm feeling really good. Check out this great article that I came across regarding vitamin D deficiency. Please help spread the word. This problem really needs to be addressed.  If you think you might be deficient in vitamin D talk with your doctor.  A simple blood test is all it takes to check your Vitamin D levels.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs