a short public service announcement

[raven]

So the more astute of my friends have noticed that I walk with a limp. I have done, on and off, for about six months, and the reason why has just come to light. Which is also the reason why - somewhat circuitously - this is a public post.

My friends, let me talk to you about vitamin D deficiency. First of all, it sucks. It sucks a lot. Among its symptoms are "nondescript malaise" and "my god, why does everything HURT" and "what do I hate? ALL THE THINGS". In short, it is very easily confusable with other things, some of which are things I have and have had. (I am carefully not thinking about how I may have been medicated in the past for depression that I did not, at least before my medication's side-effects, have.) However, I'm very lucky! Partly because my GP is a Finnish cod-liver-oil evangelist. (She really is. My GP is great. When I went to see her she immediately said, "How're the migraines?" - after six months and god knows how many hundreds of other patients, and insisted on doing a quick check-in on that before moving to whatever-it-was.) And then she was like how she always is, which is, I like evidence-based medicine, let's just test you for everything; and then she went through a long list of things when the results came back and carefully explained them all, so I now know I have functioning kidneys and no diabetes (which I've always worried about) but - vitamin D deficiency. Not rickets - because I'm not young enough - and not osteomalacia - because I'm not quite that far gone - but to the point where I had dropped off the graph of normal. So, partly I am lucky because my Scandinavian GP worries about vitamin D deficiency more than most people ("You see," she said, sagely, "this is why my people engage in public nudity wherever possible") and partly because vitamin D deficiency is very easy to cure. Cod liver oil! (Ewwww.) But - cod liver oil. Easy, available in bulk, etc.

The slight drawback - it will take six months before the level builds up in my body to the bottom end of average. So - six months of hobbling, hurrah. But - on the other hand, six months of hobbling, and otherwise my body runs smoothly and calmly, so I shan't complain. (And despite feeling like crap, I have managed my job and commute and run around London chasing my lawyers, and mostly worked from home rather than take sick days, so I'm a little bit proud of self. Have crashed and burned a bit on writing this week, but I'm trying to be nice to self, also.)

And the thing is: vitamin D deficiency is very common. For people - even white people - living in northern Europe, it's actually very difficult to absorb enough of it from diet and sunlight to meet the required levels. (My GP also wants to run a study tracking vitamin D deficiency against climate change.) So this is the public service announcement she asked me to make: are you a brown person feeling crappy? You're probably vitamin D deficient! However, it's very easily curable.

Also: please be patient with me? I am not an exceptionally good correspondent at the moment.

Comments

[hannah]

That study your GP wants to do sounds fascinating. And let's hear it for simple medical issues - every so often, they're as easy to solve as a pill in the morning.

[raven]

I hope she does do it! She's a former academic, I think she probably will. And honestly, it's such a relief: a non-specific malaise leads to all kinds of awful 3am thoughts.

[falena]

I am married to a brown man who has been diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency and has been taking supplements for...A year now. No one has ever mentioned cod liver oil though. I'm going to tell him to ask his doctor. I'm curious now. Thanks for the PSA!

[raven]

You're welcome! :) I hope it works.

[rhivolution]

My best wishes to you as you recover! Do be good to yourself.

[raven]

Thank you very much. :)

[philomytha]

Yay for good doctors! I'm glad you've found out what the problem was, and thank you for the reminder, because I try to take cod liver oil in the winter but I'd forgotten about it. It was a shock to me that even down here in Devon I'm further north than any of my Canadian relatives.

[raven]

Thanks! :) That always surprised me when I was living in the States! My little upstate town where it was -30 degrees sometimes was still much further south than London.

[silverhare]

*love and such*

[raven]

thank you. <3

[sara]

My spouse had been depressed and crabby for months and months and I finally said you must go to the doctor, do not pass go, do not sit in the basement and be sad any more, and he went and it was...yep. He's a great indoorsman, works from home, and since he sunburns so easily he always wears hats and so forth outside...and we live right around the 45th parallel.

The good news is, he was MUCH better after a few weeks of massive vitamin supplement pills, and now we just have to remember to chase him outside once in a while and make him take his maintenance vitamins.

[lemon_badgeress]

Did your doctor recommend cod liver oil over supplements specifically? Because my vitD levels range from 9 or so all the way up to 13 when I've been taking 25000 units daily for three months, so I didn't know what else to do. >_

[raven]

I forget if you are in the UK or not? But her reasoning for giving me cod liver oil is that the standard NHS-prescribed supplement has calcium in it as well, which I don't actually need. (And if cod liver oil is on offer it's marginally cheaper than the prescription charge, so.)

[lemon_badgeress]

I'm in the US!

Still, I might force myself to try it -- if the pills aren't working, maybe something in actual natural format would. Thank you. Hope you feel up to the mark again soon!

[alwaystheocean]

Aw, hon. <3 Not that it's a competition but yours sounds a lot worse than mine! Still, it would explain some things for me too, so thanks for this and your tweets, it's reminding me to take my own diagnosis more seriously. (I have remembered to take my tablets and cod-liver oil capsule every day this week! \o/)

Anyway, much <3, I really hope 6 months of cod liver oil sees a marked improvement for you.

(My childhood self who devoured the Anne books and What Katy Did and Noel Streatfield and all that ilk is amused and a little bit delighted that a dose of cod liver oil is still so effective today.)

[raven]

Aww, honey, you're welcome, and sorry you're suffering with it too! I also thought that about Anne Shirley and Katy Carr! The lack of advance of medical science is vaguely depressing. :)

[soupytwist]

I think it must be WAY more common than expected, because I also have previously been diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency (although not as spectacular as yours it sounds like - mine sucked but yours sounds horrifying and I am even more proud of you for getting this far than I would normally be). I'm just on one vit D supplement a week now and it sounds like that should do it, and god, it does make such a difference. I really hope you feel the improvement soon and that this sorts many things for you.

[raven]

Thanks, you - so sorry to hear you suffer from it too!

[fyrdrakken]

Congrats on having a simple and easily-treated diagnosis! By some strange coincidence, last night I was reading on my Twitter feed someone (an American) being much-aggrieved that her insurance refuses to cover Vitamin D testing on the grounds that it's not medically necessary unless you actually have a deficiency -- though you can't tell if you've got a deficiency without the test, so... (She was annoyed by the catch-22 setup, I'm wondering if that means they'll pay for it if the test comes back proving there's a deficiency but leave the patient on the hook for the bill if the results are normal.)

[highfantastical.livejournal.com]

and partly because vitamin D deficiency is very easy to cure. Cod liver oil! (Ewwww.)

If you don't like the replacement therapy you're on, because of the taste, ask for something else. I have chronic severe vitamin D deficiency (i.e. levels periodically hitting 'undetectable'), and of course can't have cod liver oil, but there are VERY high-dose replacement therapies available on prescription which will take you to a healthy level much faster. I'm surprised your GP hasn't considered these, unless there's a serious reason (e.g. allergy) why you can't take them.* They are more expensive, but that's a ludicrous reason to put you on CLO for months when you report impairment.

*Obviously not asking you to share additional medical details. But my understanding from immunologists with whom I've discussed this issue is that it's preferable to correct deficiencies over weeks rather than months.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

Nothing profound to say except wish you recovery.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you, my friend. :)

[littlered2.livejournal.com]

"You see," she said, sagely, "this is why my people engage in public nudity wherever possible"
Um. Did she recommend you follow their example?

That all sounds very unpleasant - I'm sorry you're experiencing it. But hurrah for it being diagnosed and treated! I hope you start feeling the effects of the cod liver oil before too long.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

She didn't, but did go on a small digression about Finnish legislation regarding public indecency. :P thank you!

[tau_sigma]

Oooh, that sounds intriguing! And seconding that you should feel better soon. <3

[bibliotropic.livejournal.com]

I am so pleased that you've found answers and that things are trending upward.

This is a good reminder to me, as well, to take my vitamin D, which I am inconsistent in doing. My sister was taught in medical school that everyone in northern places should take vitamin D, she passed on the advice, and I've been trying to comply. This far north (on the same parallel as Manchester, apparently, but with significantly more dreadful, confining weather), we don't get much vitamin D-producing sun exposure at the best of times. Almost all milk and some fruit juices have vitamin D added, but supplementation is still recommended. Is there any reason to choose cod liver oil over tablets?

All this by way of saying LISTEN TO IONA, EVERYONE. SHE IS WISE.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

In my case, it's that the cod liver oil does the job and is a little cheaper - the NHS-branded supplements would involve paying the prescription charge - and also, the standard supplements have calcium in them as well, which I don't actually need. <3 <3 thank you! I'm pleased to have been of help.

[not-hathor.livejournal.com]

Several years ago my doctor ordered me to start taking 2000 IU of Vitamin D daily as a preventative against bone cancers. Earlier this year he upped it to 5000 (plus extra calcium and zinc). My older sister, who recently went through thyroid treatment, has been diagnosed as having a serious Vit. D deficiency as well. I really had no idea how common the condition was -- Thank you for your Public Service announcement!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! :)

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

I'm delighted you have a diagnosis, and that you can easily do something about it! Even out here in California we're told to take vitamin D; apparently it's nearly impossible to absorb enough through the skin. So up in your part of the world, yeah, I can see it would be necessary and important. I hope you start feeling better very very soon.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much, my dear. It's a great relief to have a diagnosis!

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

You must be so relieved to have a diagnosis! I hope the recovery is as quick as possible.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Thank you! It really is such a relief.

[alittleacademe.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness. I like the sound of your GP. I'm sorry this is something you're having to deal with, and I hope the hobbling and the rest of it resolves itself soon, although doubtless if one can rock a hobble, YOU ROCK A HOBBLE. <3

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Well, that's certainly the nicest thing anyone's said to me recently. :) Thank you.

[enname.livejournal.com]

It is also very common in those who are hijabi, and oddly those who come from countries like Australia where mandatory sunscreen during summer (and all year) is promoted. Or, like me, you don't go outside at all in summer due to the heat, take drugs that make you sun sensitive so you ar generally getting no light and not recommended to. I am always on supplements because of this, but .. better than ending up deficient. My hobble is for other reasons. Hope your levels come up properly!