things that make you go hmmmmmm.....

disclaimer: i know it will not be this simple, lol, but let me dream for a second....

just got a call from the pediatrician...difficult child 2's bloodwork came back....

severe vitamin d deficiency.

pediatrician looked at me like *i* was crazy when i asked to have it done (i was actually asking for a slip for the fall, when things start to go downhill...but she was nice enough to add it on to the routine slip for now)

vitamin d affects 8,768,907 things in your body...big ones of which are mood and fatigue.

now this from a kid who is outside every day, either at the park or in the pool, + recess....and we live 5 miles from the beach.
she's not really a milk drinker, but you dont get much from that anyway.

*I* have a severe deficiency too, but i only supplement during the summer months...i save the horse doses for winter. but i can tell you how *I* felt before it was diagnosis'd...exhausted and moody wasnt the word. i literally couldnt get off the couch. literally. i felt like a million bucks after supplementation (well, in comparision, lol!)


so if anyone is doing bloodwork, ask to have a Vit. D level thrown in.

i'll fall over if this could all be fixed with a vitamin ;)
 

Wiped Out

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Would be great wouldn't it? Even if it isn't all fixed I would think it could help. I think it should be come a routine check because it seems many people are Vitamin D deficient.
 
:-D...

oh i'll let you know, lol...between the N.N. fish oil, the Vit D, and no school....

she ought to be bouncing off the walls in a few weeks, LOL.

and i too think it should be routine...it IS rampant these days, and man, do you feel like koi when you are severely deficient.
 

smallworld

Moderator
Our pediatrician tests every kid in his practice, and every kid (except teenage boys) comes back deficient because their parents use sunscreen. My kids are deficient, but replenishment with vitamin supplementation has not eliminated their mood disorders. Sorry to burst your bubble.
 
M

Mamaof5

Guest
If you don't have enough Vit C or A and K in your system it doesn't matter how much supp's you take for D (particularly D3) - body needs C, A and K to absorb D3 properly.

Could be more than one vit deficiency that's causing it.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Vitamin D deficiency is nothing to play with. My docs didn't do anything for mine for almost a year and never once said it was even a minor deal. Then all of a sudden I guess they realized they had ignored it. I went for several years with almost none in my system and now I am paying a huge price. Your bones soften and become painful and it destroys your teeth. There are so many more problems caused by it.

In my case they think it went back to childhood because most foods with Vit D make me quite sick to my stomach and always have. I did specially compounded shots at over $200 per month because I couldn't keep oral Vit D down even with anti nausea medications. Then I got to where I could force myself to keep it down but I still have to take 3 times the standard recommended dose and after a couple of years am still not up to the recommended amount. I live on antinausea medications and with an upset stomach.

Do whatever you can to treat this aggressively. If she can tolerate the sun adding just 15-30 mins a day will help. It MUST be without sunscreen though. I don't tan and get very very ill from sun exposure or heat. My skin gets a strange texture and quickly stops sweating regardless of how much water I drink. The skin actually looks like I have saran wrap stretched over it, it is scary looking to my kids and their friends if I have been in the sun more than just a couple of minutes.

PLEASE do not let your daughter ignore this!!! It will take so much from her life and possibly leave her with lifetime pain problems. Softening bones HURT. ALL the time. I cannot describe the pain but it is enough to drive you crazy. Quite literally. Lots of the last few years I have missed out on because I am either sick to my stomach or in severe pain even with some of the strongest pain medicines that are made.

It also causes problems with moods. It contributed to hideous PMS before the hysterectomy.

If you can deal with this now, and keep on top of it, then she can avoid many of these problems. I am not saying my problems to whine or for sympathy. I just want you to see some of the other problems with a long term severe deficiency that is untreated. Your daughter may think that you and the doctor are over reacting. Please have her read this and if she wants to ask questions I would be happy to answer them. Sometimes our kids won't believe us no matter how right we are but they will believe a stranger, almost any stranger. While that makes EVERY parent want to scream, it is one reason why we are here. (To have someone listen to us scream, lol!)

In spite of the problems I have a good life and many blessings. I am thankful everyday for so many things, including the fact that I know about this deficiency and can take steps to help it. I just don't want your daughter or anyone else to not realize how serious this can be. I am not even 41 and the docs right now are alarmed because they cannot get the levels of Vit D and Calcium up enough for me to take any of the bone building medications like boniva or fosamax. If you take those with-o enough available calcium and Vit D you end up with very severe pain. That, right now, is our goal. For me to choke down enough Vit D and Calcium to be able to start one of those medications in a year or so. I am just thankful that I may have a chance to take the medications, that they will be there when I can take them!

I am sorry she is faced with this, and that you are. I hope this helps. At least you know you are not alone with it.
(((hugs)))
 
thanks susie...sorry to hear how bad its been for you. they missed mine for a long time....first i was diagnosis'd with depression and handed over an AD (even though my life sux, i wasnt depressed, LOL), and then trotted out the menopausal diagnosis's and handed over different AD's (even though it so wasnt that). turned out between a freaky thyroid issue and the vitD deficiency it was a miracle i could move. the exhaustion and depression were beyond overwhelming, and i saw massive improvements with high-dose d and a low dose of armour thyroid.

but i'm "female, fat and 40-something". its not unreasonable to have a vitD deficiency. (or a thyroid issue)

it kinda IS in a healthy 11 year old girl who plays outside daily.

and who has been diagnosis'd with depression and mood issues.

in her case, i've complained all along that abilify seems to be doing nothing for the depression, and she's constantly exhausted--i thought maybe it was a side effect from ability, or teenage angst, or who knows what....but i really didnt expect a vitD issue....particulary in JUNE...(i would have believed it more in november)...i was just trying to rule out as many things i can think of.

so yea, its no joke....nor do i think it will fix my difficult child. but the long term ramifications, as you've pointed out, arent worth skipping a simple treatment of a vitamin.

this was more of a PSA....sorry if anyone thought i was implying it was some kind of a cure, because i'm not by a long shot. i'm suggesting if you havent had your kids levels tested, AND you have regularly scheduled bloodwork upcoming, its worth a look.
 

hearts and roses

Mind Reader
There were a few years when my girls were little and still listened to their mommy about taking their vitamins!. I was able to make them take a few supplements daily - vitamin D being one of them - and their behavior and energy was dramatically different from what it eventually became. Even easy child has issues with mood and lethargy. Our APRN tests Vit D every year and again if any of us complain of tiredness. Mine just came back within normal range but difficult child and easy child both are deficient, and often anemic as well - but they still refuse to take any supplements. By the time they were in HS, I gave up arguing with them about it. Now they will have to learn on their own.
 
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