Limb Pain Caused By Vitamin D Deficiency?

A little while ago, I made a thread on this forum asking about the pain in my body, thinking I had fibromyalgia. Based on the responses I got, and what I've heard from other people elsewhere, I no longer think that's what I have. In fact, I have absolutely no idea what I have. I've spent over a year and a half looking into what's causing my pain, and so far, no tests have shown anything wrong with my body, and no treatments have helped the pain even a little. However, I've heard that sometimes a vitamin deficiency can cause various issues throughout the body that aren't picked up by anything but a blood test specifically for that issue, which I haven't had yet.

Basically, I feel various forms of pain in my elbows, fingers, shoulders, and knees. My elbows and fingers hurt whenever I'm straining myself via any activity that involves dexterity, especially video games, which are currently flat out impossible for me to take part in. If I try to resist against this pain, it just gets worse until I give up, and even then, I'll be even more sensitive to it for several days after the fact. I have a job that requires me to type, which would be awful if not for the fact that I wear wrist splints at work, which help with some of the pain but not all of it. Sometimes there's a tiny bit of tingling and/or numbness in my fingers, but that's actually pretty rare. Also, my shoulders are sore basically all the time.

The knee pain didn't start until about a year after the arm pain started, but it's starting to become the more immediate concern. It's severely limiting my ability to walk from place to place, since I can only walk a relatively small distance before one of my knees basically gives out and starts hurting so bad I have to limp the rest of the way I'm going, or just stop walking altogether. I went out and bought a cane and some shock absorbing insoles for my shoes, but I'm not sure those will be enough.

Does any of this sound like something that could be caused by vitamin deficiency? I'm getting a blood test in a couple of weeks, but I want to know what other people here think.

Hi Alex, yes low vitamin D can cause overall joint pain for people along with other issues. Several years ago when they started doing studies on vitamin D, they studied people that lived up north that had long winters with not a lot of sunlight. The cold temperatures kept people indoors. Joint pain & fatigue were common complaints. Keep in mind even in states where winters are mild people can still be deficient. Not everyone can get enough in their diet & the natural way. A quick trip to your dr for lab work is all it will take. Do not start supplementing until you know your levels, too much can cause issues. We live in a mild winter state & my husband's level was low so he now takes vitamin D per his dr.

Taller Now brought up some great information about foods that can cause inflammation. I would do my labs asap since the getting results would be much quicker & work on the food thing.

Take care.

Taller Now said...
This may sound crazy but you may have food sensitivities. I recently went to a dietician/ nutritionist and was tested for food sensitivity. It validated some I knew, confirmed a food I was suspect and identified some I would have never guessed. I know they can show false positives but overall it was spot on. So now I go off everything I am sensitive to for 12 weeks. After that I start reintroducing things back to see which foods are major offenders.

I have started to read up on all of this and foods can be linked to nerve pain, inflammation and many other things. For me now I have figured out what was causing my asthma, migraines and I have been sleeping better too. Since I suffer from severe spine pain I can’t detect a nuance in that pain. The hard part is giving up the food. I am sensitive to milk, eggs, vanilla, wheat, almonds, and many more foods. I can do it for 12 weeks but it is hard. My curiosity keeps me on it because I want to see the changes.

You could keep a food journal and pain journal to see if you see patterns. No harm in taking some vitamins too!

That's one thing I have yet to look into. Thus far, I haven't noticed any correlation between what foods I eat and how much pain I feel afterwards, but then again, I don't mix my diet up all that much.

straydog said...
Hi Alex, yes low vitamin D can cause overall joint pain for people along with other issues. Several years ago when they started doing studies on vitamin D, they studied people that lived up north that had long winters with not a lot of sunlight. The cold temperatures kept people indoors. Joint pain & fatigue were common complaints. Keep in mind even in states where winters are mild people can still be deficient. Not everyone can get enough in their diet & the natural way. A quick trip to your dr for lab work is all it will take. Do not start supplementing until you know your levels, too much can cause issues. We live in a mild winter state & my husband's level was low so he now takes vitamin D per his dr.

Taller Now brought up some great information about foods that can cause inflammation. I would do my labs asap since the getting results would be much quicker & work on the food thing.

Take care.

Yeah, part of the reason I'm suspecting a vitamin D deficiency is that I can't even think of what my source of vitamin D is right now. I'm not so sure if the problem is linked to inflammation though. I've had an MRI of my left arm, and they noticed a little bit going on at a particular point near my elbow, but other than that, there doesn't seem to be much, if anything. Plus, I've taken so many anti-inflammatories at this point and none of them have helped even a little.

pitmom said...
Have you been tested for Lyme disease? When I had it, it attacked my joints and got progressively worse.

Typing and video games makes me think repetitive stress injuries and posture issues.

When I did factory work, I started also having problems with my knees from sitting in chairs where my feet would not be flat on the floor, causing strain on the ligaments. At this point, even driving can cause me excruciating pain!

I'm only 4'11" tall, living in an 'average' sized world. Nearly everything puts a strain on my body, reaching for things, adjusting to counter heights, desk heights, cabinet heights, chairs, car seats...the list goes on and on!

A good look at posture and ergonomics may help.

I've asked a couple of doctors about lyme disease, and they both dismissed it as being way too out there. They say that it's not something that really exists much in Georgia (or something like that). I still kind of want to get tested for it, because at this point I need to try everything.

Also, I thought it was a repetitive stress injury at first, but that stopped making sense to me over time. It just didn't explain why I have almost perfectly symmetrical pain across my upper body, and it made even less sense when my legs started to hurt as well.

They did a blood test for autoimmune diseases, and the results came up negative. Also, they don't seem to think the symptoms match up.

Your work station should be ergo friendly, appropriate heights to work from, especially while on the computer. Getting up & moving around as much as possible. Above all check out your posture. When my office brought computers in for everyone our offices were not set up for this at all. My computer screen & keyboard had to be placed on a credenza that sat up far too high. It just about did me in. A lot of extra stress & tension with my neck, shoulders & arms. My boss came into my office one morning & my back was to him while I was looking something up on the computer for him. He said doesn't that junk cause more problems with your neck? Perfect timing, I told him what was going on. We bought new office equipment & it made a huge difference. My boss, he was old school. He had a brand new computer sitting in his office, he no idea how to turn it on & never did.

I sure hope it's not fibro. The people who responded to my last thread, as well as other people I've asked, described things that make it seem like it isn't, which gives me a bit of hope. The last doctor who suspected it to be fibro prescribed me lyrica. I'm currently on 150 mg of it daily, and it's not doing anything at all.

Also straydog, I've made my workstation as ergonomic as I can. There's no keyboard tray, so I keep my keyboard in my lap, I use a trackball mouse, and I do my best to type with as little effort as possible, using a very light touch and as many keyboard/mouse shortcuts as I can.

Got a blood test from a walk-in lab. My results came back as 15.8, with a reference range of 30.0-100 ng/mL.

I'm... not sure what to make of this. I'm flagged as LOW, but I'm not sure this is considered low enough for me to be feeling this amount of pain.

No recommendations were made, but I already have an appointment to see my primary care physician next week, and I'll be sure to bring these results in.

15 is low...at 19 i felt like i was 85..

I really do not feel well anywhere under 45..

You can get about 20,ooo units from about 15 minutes of sitting in sun..

But i am sure the dr will want you on supplements til that gets higher and you will need rechecks

Best of luck with it

darn, looks I should have also gotten a test for B12. Ah well, I guess I'll find out about that when I see my doctor next week. I'll also be sure to ask about Lyme disease, even though it's apparently really rare around here and the last two doctors I asked insisted I don't have it.

My thought is also a possible Lyme disease. Lyme has now spread all over the world. I would test for all common tickborn infections... Lyme, Babesia, Bartonella etc. I have all 3 I just named and have been sick for 6 years now. I also have low vitamin D levels and have mthfr mutation in my methylation cycle and have problems absorbing folic acid. I’ve read it’s best to keep you vit. D levels 60-100. I’ve never been able to get my levels above 30 something. I have constant full body pain. I’m hoping if I can get my vit. D levels up to 60 that maybe my pain level will reduce some and immune system will function a little better. Testing is simple, so I would definitely test for tickborn infections and vitamin deficiencies. Just keep in mind that tickborn testing can be very inaccurate. If you’re really not getting answers, you might want to see a Lyme specialist. They check cd57 which is low in patients with Lyme and will examine you clinically rather than just relying on testing that might be showing false negative. Hopefully it’s not Lyme though and something that is more easily treated. All the best!

No, I would disagree that Lyme is easy to treat.

The bacterial culprits can be difficult to identify and isolate through testing. Antibiotic treatments need to be given on a long-term basis. Some/many people experience recurrent symptoms due to incomplete eradication of the underlying bacterial pathology. As is true with other systemic bacterial ailments (ex. bacterial infection of the mitral valve; soft tissue cellulitis) a low level of bacteria can remain hidden in moist tissues folds and spaces (nasal sinuses; abdominal fat pad called the omentum; tissue folds of the tonsils) that can lie dormant and latent for weeks/months only to resurface and re-multiply at a later date when the immune system may be less vibrant (ex. Increase in life stressors, presentation of another illness).

The effects of Lyme disease can affect many body systems and to varying degree of intensity that can be life-altering. Anyone who has symptoms suspicion of Lyme disease is best advised to seek a physician with Lyme speciality. Lyme is not a benign illness. It is frequently mis-diagnosed and under-treated, patients dismissed and the severity of their symptoms minimized which complicates access to effective antibiotic therapy.
Karen

Alex, you may want to read some on the fibro site, just in case..

The vit d defiency and the fibro combination are very bad together..believe me i have been there..

Did she put you on the 50,000 and is it d 3 ?

If you have fibro the dr can help and there s a lot of self help..its better to know what you have so you can begin dealing with it...

I forget your age, but i was much worse when i was younger than now..so see ... you can feel better

Lj