Are you feeling off lately? Quarantine will do that, but there are other possibilities. Some of the most common effects of vitamin D deficiency are fatigue and susceptibility to illness.
Vitamin D is an essential part of your body’s health, and low levels can cause all kinds of problems besides tiredness. Here are some common symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, as well as vital information about how to improve your levels and absorption.
1. Pain
What is vitamin D deficiency exactly? It’s a significant lack of enough vitamin D, an important part of your body’s nutrition. It helps regulate your mood and can help with weight loss.
Vitamin D also helps your bones stay strong and helps your immune system fight sickness like the flu. When you lack the proper nutrients, your body may respond with pain, telling you something is wrong.
You can have pain all over your body if you’re deficient in vitamin D. From joint pain and muscle pain to deep, bone pain, lack of vitamin D leads to many health issues including Rickets in children. In adults, vitamin D deficiency is related to osteoporosis, a disease that makes bones more brittle and likely to break.
2. Headache
If you have a vitamin D deficiency, you may experience headaches. This includes migraine headaches, tension headaches, and sinus headaches.
It’s only one of many nutrient deficiencies that can cause headaches, though. Work through your consumption of the proper nutrients to determine if a lack of vitamin D could be the cause of your headaches.
3. Autoimmune Diseases
People with autoimmune diseases like lupus or rheumatoid arthritis are more likely to have a vitamin D deficiency. Hashimoto’s disease is another culprit.
Some of these issues happen because the patient gets flare-ups when they spend time in the sun. As a result, they develop a lack of vitamin D because they aren’t absorbing it while they’re outside.
One of the first signs of vitamin D deficiency is being more prone to illness. While not every illness you get is a sign of an autoimmune disease, talk to your doctor about the possibility if you’re noticing a pattern.
4. Effects of Vitamin D Deficiency: Fatigue
If you’re tired all the time, don’t automatically chalk it up to being a parent of small children or working too hard. While it’s important to take care of your body and get enough rest, the underlying cause could be more than a lack of those things.
Ask a doctor about the possibility of low vitamin D if you’re feeling exhausted all the time. They may recommend a supplement to help you get the nutrients your body needs. Remember to rest up when you can, too.
Feeling tired can lead to low energy, another symptom that people with low vitamin D complain of. Even patients with only moderately low blood levels report feeling tired and drained. An increase as small as 10-20 ng/ml has helped resolve symptoms.
5. Irritability and Mood Changes
Someone who is vitamin D deficient may be more irritable and have noticeable mood changes. It’s even been linked to depression, especially in older adults.
Spending time in the sunshine stimulates our bodies to produce the vitamin D that we need. Because we get vitamin D from the sun, seasonal affective disorder has also been linked to a lack of vitamin D. Studies show that higher levels of vitamin D lead to happier moods and less anxiety than patients with lower vitamin D blood levels.
Besides spending time outside and taking vitamins, you can get vitamin D from the food you eat. If you suspect your mood swings have something to do with your vitamin D levels, talk to your doctor about a vitamin D-rich diet. Often they’ll recommend foods like salmon or shrimp, mushrooms, cheese, milk, and eggs, all rich in vitamin D.
6. Memory Problems
One of the most common vitamin D deficiency symptoms in older adults is problems with memory. Dementia and Alzheimer’s patients with low vitamin D were found to have doubled their risk when compared to those with higher levels of vitamin D.
Patients with dementia have trouble finding the words they want to use, as well as decreased ability to complete multi-step tasks and spatial problem-solving. They experience memory loss and get confused. They’re also more likely to have anxiety and depression, as well as other psychological symptoms.
While vitamin D doesn’t cure this disease, it may significantly lower a person’s risk of developing the disease. It’s possible the reason is that vitamin D helps keep plaques at bay in the brain, deposits in the gray matter that appear with age.
7. Hair Loss
While there can be many causes for hair loss, vitamin D deficiency can accompany the symptom of hair loss. Some patients with severe hair loss have blocked vitamin D receptors, which means their bodies can’t absorb it. In some cases, topical application of vitamin D has shown to resolve symptoms.
Alopecia is another autoimmune disease that causes hair to fall out, resulting in baldness. Patients with alopecia often have low vitamin D levels. Alopecia is linked to Ricketts, the childhood disease discussed above.
Your Health and Well Being
These 7 effects of vitamin D deficiency are only some of the problems that occur because of a lack of the right nutrients. Your body needs proper nutrition to keep going.
If you’re experiencing pain, headache, mood swings, fatigue, or hair loss, talk with your doctor about the possibility of a blood test for vitamin D levels.
Getting enough vitamin D is easy, even if you can’t spend time in the sun. Shop all of our vitamins today to help ensure your body has all the nutrients it needs!