Its one of the most common things to happen living in cold countries .. coz firstly there is very little sun , secondly due to cold mausam we remain fully covered or indoors most of the times … that leaves us with very little exposure to Vitamin D ..
I was told specially muslim women who wear hijab must keep a slot aside for themselves to get enough sun exposure as much as they can ..
Unfortunately we cant get enough Vit D from dietary factors , so its either supplements or the sun ..
One of the symptoms is depression , which we fail to recognize in good time and this is not a good sign at all ..
So how many of you , keep a track of this particular deficiency ? do you get yourselves tested often ? and if you have been told that you are deficient , how do you recover from it ?
AFAIK vitamin deficiency diagnosis is expensive. If you want you can go ahead with in but some vitamins even if taken in excess dont cause any problems.
Why not? You'd really have to take huge amounts of vits or minerals for you to be in danger. If you don't need them, your body just gets rid of them.
Vit D is really important. Do you remember the article I linked about tooth decay some time back? Recently, my dad's friend who is a GP (ready to retire) also bought up the same topic as information forgotten/overlooked by the modern medical community.
yup I remember stoppit , I think that a very valuable piece of information ...
Actually I brought this topic up coz a friend who is a GP mentioned that most of the asian origin women , specially those doing the hijab , have been coming at the Surgery recently and majority suffering from visible signs of V-D deficiency ...
most of them have no clue if its their general health on decline or a particular Vitamin deficiency causing this !
well my dad is having shoulder problems (pain and limited movement) and he thinks it's the muscle (keeps asking for a massage). his doc said it's actually osteoarthritis and yes, supplements like glucosamine and vit-D will certainly help.
I've been hearing for some time now that asian people living in the west need more vit-D and the lack of it is increasing the risk of type II diabetes and such.
I was badly vitD defficient. I take 30 microgram vit d everyday, and get myself tested every 3 months to see if the level is ok. I didnt see any signs of depression but i definitely was very tired all the time and my body ached.
i recently had my complete blood work n though i was expecting some issues i had none but extremely low vit D. i'm hijabi too but i was still surprised coz i go out a lot n over here we do see sun in winter too. if u expose ur hand in sun for 15 mins u get enuf vit D for the day. anyways doc recommended me 1000 units a day. i'm taking it now regularly. i havn't noticed any change taking it myself but i even started giving it to my kids n i see dd's facial color has surprisingly improved. so this was something new for me that deficiency of vit D can actually darken ur skin tone.
Mabrook , thanks for sharing this info ... its very helpful.. The problem is that women generally blame the hormones even when they are feeling the symptoms of a possible V-D deficiency .. perhaps we need to give more attention to this factor ..
LP , I think by cold country I meant where we dont get enough sun .. and where you get enough sun like in Saudi , the potential problem is staying indoors and being fully covered when you are outdoors .. eventually your skin hardly gets a chance to gain exposure to the sunlight ...
Injections seems to be an extreme treatment .. waht kind of symptoms was she showing?
In the UK it's estimated 9/10 south Asians are vit D deficient to some extent. Mine levels were dangerously low and I was showing symptoms of tiredness, aches, low moods (although not depression because I think that's more extreme). Been taking supplements and also regular blood work to keep a check on it.
It's extremely important to keep an eye on the levels, too high or too low. Too low and your in danger of osteoporosis and some cancers. Too high and then too much calcium can build up in your system and cause kidney problems. So do NOT just take supplements for the sake of it. Yes your body can't store vitamins but if you have other problems such as hypercalcemia your putting yourself at risk!
In some countries (Canada i think) staple foods eg eggs, milk are fortified with vit D to combat this problem. Especially in young children as that's when it can cause serious problems in bone development. Alot more countries need to adopt this IMO.
My desk at work gets some sunlight for an hour or so on sunny days ... I remove the blinds to enjoy the sunlight mainly with the intention of encourage production of Vit-D ...
Question is , sitting in the sun indoors , can it create Vit-D?
In some countries (Canada i think) staple foods eg eggs, milk are fortified with vit D to combat this problem. Especially in young children as that's when it can cause serious problems in bone development. Alot more countries need to adopt this IMO.
Yes, our food is fortified with Vit D.
My desk at work gets some sunlight for an hour or so on sunny days ... I remove the blinds to enjoy the sunlight mainly with the intention of encourage production of Vit-D ...
Question is , sitting in the sun indoors , can it create Vit-D?
Ultraviolet rays from sun stimulate vitamin-D production - I am pretty sure UV rays can pass through windows. Although, I know some sunglasses are made so UV rays can't pass through them so there is some glass which doesn't let UV rays pass.
I read something above that you can take as much Vit D as wanted and thats not true. Vit D is fat soluble (along with A,E & K) which have a toxicity level (UL=upper limit). The UL for Vit D is 4000 IU/day or 100 micrograms/day. The RDA for adult male and female is 600 IU/day.
I don't know about other countries but in Canada anyone over the age 50 is recommenced to take 400 IU/day on top of their regular intake.
Nope CDG , just found out that there two kind of UV rays .. UV-A and UV-B .. A is the harmful one that causes the tan and over exposure to it can cause skin burns and cancer ... UV-B is the beneficial one , that creates Vitamin D and it cant unfortunately pass through Glass .. though UV-A can ...
So if you like a room to be light filled and bright , you let as much sunlight into the room as possible .. but if you want Vitamin D then gotta go out in the sun for at least 15 minutes daily :(
i recently got my blood work done as was getting some treatment done. Vit D levels came as 17 when they are meant to be between 50-150. Am already pretty anemic so was severely tired and aching body. have had 2 injections in 2 months and 3rd soon - lets see what the levels are after that.
The GP mentioned there are alot of people vit D defecient at the moment.
Maheen, thats not good ... I really hope you recover soon from this deficiency .. why not try and make an effort to sit in the sun for 15 minutes every day ?
I am doing that... i keep my water bottle with me and sit in the sun for half hour ... specially around asar time when its not at its peak ...
Also I have got a question, when our bodies get exposed to sun for longer periods of time , say for example, an hour .. does this vitamin get produced continuously or does it stop after a while? and can our bodies store extra Vit-D produced?