Vitamin D deficiency.

I'm another who's started taking D3 religiously after feeling so tired and run down - and falling ill - in April, i.e. end of winter, 2 years in a row.

Should have started sooner, since I know someone who was on some medication that made her very sensitive to sun. So she did as she was told - always wore factor 50 and a big hat.
Roll on a year or two and she was constantly desperately tired. Back to doc, and tests revealed that her D levels were so low they were nearly off the scale.
But nobody had advised her to take supplements.

From all I've read, lack of vit D is linked to all sorts of conditions.

The Vitamin in this thread is D3. That’s the one you need to take. The recommended daily dose for over 65’s is 10 micrograms (mcg). See attached link to department of health guidelines. I actually take 25mcgs a day but I choose to do that. There is an American site called the Vitamin D council which has loads of interesting info about VitD.
assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/213703/dh_132508.pdf

NICE recommend that everyone should take Vit D supplements, but I don't know the doseage offhand.

I also take 25.My doctor recommended buying them from Holland and Barratt and theirs are 25.I did have a severe deficiency though.

I'm doing the same, Nannymarg53, I take 25 mg of D3 daily and I make Mr Bp do the same.
Avoid Vitamin D2, it doesn't do the job. Reading the research I think we need more than 10mg of D3. If you look on line there are health food sites that sell it cheaper than on the high street.

Drink full cream milk, eat full cream yogurt, cheese and use butter. Getting your vit D from natural products make it easier to absorb.

Beware vit E - too much cause cancer.

I have taken D3 for 6 weeks and I am beginning to feel less tired and my joints seem to be less aching I've been prescribed 10 weeks but I am going to carry on with them I will buy over counter

I have costochondritis and fibromyalgia and this week had to visit the doctor. I saw a delightful Rumanian locum who suggested I may be deficient in Vitamin D. She said we are very behind on thinking about this in this country - people are far more clued up on the results of a deficiency on the continent. She says she takes a supplement from September to May. I have had a blood test and imagine I will soon be taking a supplement too.

A rather cynical nurse at our practice suggested that as it is a deficiency that affects mainly women,male doctors are less concerned to address it.I was also told that the blood test to check it is rather expensive though I don't understand why.

I take vitamin D3 and vit C every day. I can't say I feel any different as I'm a well person but bring very fair skinned, I don't like being in too much sun and, being a vegetarian and a blood donor, I want to make sure my intake of crucial vitamins is sufficient.

DH and I have been taking 400 iu daily for the last 2 years (self medicating) and have been so well... most importantly barely a cold between us, certainly no chest infections. DH is on prostate cancer medication.
I know that Vit D is fate soluble (last 3 letters of “lemonade” A,D,E are fat soluble) but you have to consume industrial quantities of dairy products to get enough

Fat not fate....

Can anyone clarify how iu compares with micrograms? I also use a supplement but the dose is stated in iu.

Just ensure that it is Vit D3 not just Vit D. Vit D3 is easier for the body to assimilate ands properly Vit D is not.

Marydoll
It did conjure up a pretty frightening image in my head, of an elderly, naked, overweight woman, lying in the sun

Elderly yes, naked yes, but why would you assume overweight?

Thank you all. I haven't even heard of Vitamin D3 far less its deficiency. I will have this investigated as soon as I get home. Currently on holiday. Luckily I've been taking a daily CLO capsule for many years. Holland & Barrett. Thought this was for prevention of potential joint problems and not other stuff. However, I am fortunate enough to like yoghurt, butter, cheese and milk mentioned here and consume regularly so maybe I will pass the test. Don't want to be on medication if I can avoid it. So far so good but I am aware of my good fortune. This has been a very informative and helpful post for me. Thanks to all contributors.

I had arm and leg pains, like cramps, I was low vitamin D, I felt alot better after I had been on them a few weeks,

I was diagnosed with Vit D deficiency a couple of months ago and was advised by the GP to buy tablets from chemist. I've been taking them since then and I can't say I've noticed much difference to how I felt before I started them! Maybe I'll get a new lease of life now the sun is shining too!

Please do remember that if you are taking vitamin D by mouth, as opposed to getting it through sunlight, that you do need to take calcium tablets as well, or a combined vitamin D and calcium tablet.

Our bodies do not absorb vitamin D without a calcium supplement taken at the same time, and although the pharmaceutical industry presumably are well aware of this fact, they still make and sell vitamin D tablets that are not combined with calcium, so check the label when you pick up your pills!

Juggernaut in reply to your question to me:
It did conjure up a pretty frightening image in my head, of an elderly, naked, overweight woman, lying in the sun

Elderly yes, naked yes, but why would you assume overweight?

...because I am overweight!

Marydoll
We could go to Dubai together, and really shock people!
Although in my case I'd probably have people trying to refloat me (beached whale etc)!
I'm strawberry blonde, and like you very fair skinned, so don't spend too much time in the sun.
I take a dose of Vit D3 every day and find it gives me a bit of an energy boost.
Hopefully it will do the same for you!

Brother lives in Canada and was advised to take large dose of Vit D. He is not a pill popper at all, but noticed mood definitely lower when he stopped for a while.

I have Primary Bilary Cirrhosias (spelling doesn’t look right to me but brain not working well today) and Despite spending the winter months in Asia, drinking loads of milk etc my vit D was found to be non existent due to the liver problem. So I was prescribed Calceos, a vit D and calcium supplement. At first I had to chew. 4 of these tablets daily and then dropped to 2 a day. I take mine at night as they interfere with the workings of Thyoxide that I take for my under active thyroid. I feel so much better since I started taking them and my aches and pains have gone and my balance is so much better.

Forgot to say each tablet contains 1250 mg of calcium and 400 IU of vit D. Also I am olive skinned and always outside.

After years of muscle aches and exhaustion I was diagnosed with autoimmune conditions and read about 5 years ago that but D3 should be taken. Since then (i asked for a blood test and my vit D levels were very low) I have taken between 3000 and 6000iu/day. I am now at the top of the reference range but not as high as is recommend d for hypothyroidism (see health unlocked website). Have discovered recently that you should take vit K2 wth D3 (BetterYou make an oral spray) as this directs the vit d to your bones and not your arteries. I was taking the BetterYou one but now taking a tablet one with 1000iu of vitd 3 and the relevant amount of vitK2. The improvement has been slow but huge. No horrendous colds or flu and chest infections any more either ☺️