GAHHHHH!
Oh, I am so pissed off, I really am. Spoke to my doctor this evening, and it turns out that my vitamin D level is WAY WAY low. Ridiculously low. The bottom of the reference range for "normal" is 75 nmol/L, and mine is 14!
When I phoned up the surgery three weeks ago to ask about the results of my blood test, this was the sort of information they were supposed to give me. I had specifically asked to have my vitamin D level tested since I know it's one of the things that can cause unremitting fatigue, especially mental fatigue. And the fun thing? I take a multivitamin that supplies 100% of the RDA of vitamin D, and have it supplemented in my soy milk, and I drink a LOT of soy milk.
So I started looking this up, and found "Occasionally, drugs used to treat fits, particularly phenytoin (epanutin), can interfere with the liver's production of 25 hydroxy-vitamin D." I'm on an antiepileptic for bipolar. Checked that and found low vitamin D level is a known side-effect with carbamazepine - there are studies in actual journals on PubMed. GODS DAMN IT! What are the other symptoms that go along with low vitamin D level? Aches, pains and LEG CRAMPS!!! My legs are so stiff and sore that I can hardly walk. And according to some of the research I've seen and web sites I've read, the deficiency is so severe that over-the-counter supplements and/or more time in the sun isn't enough to help.
Well, that would be an explanation of why I'm so damned ill right now, wouldn't it? Covers all the symptoms. Hopefully, it means that I should be able to recover again fairly quickly.
But honestly, why didn't whichever doctor who looked at the results before flag up that vitamin D level as insanely low? Or why didn't the nurse I spoke to tell me about it? That's three whole weeks of treatment missed :/
When I phoned up the surgery three weeks ago to ask about the results of my blood test, this was the sort of information they were supposed to give me. I had specifically asked to have my vitamin D level tested since I know it's one of the things that can cause unremitting fatigue, especially mental fatigue. And the fun thing? I take a multivitamin that supplies 100% of the RDA of vitamin D, and have it supplemented in my soy milk, and I drink a LOT of soy milk.
So I started looking this up, and found "Occasionally, drugs used to treat fits, particularly phenytoin (epanutin), can interfere with the liver's production of 25 hydroxy-vitamin D." I'm on an antiepileptic for bipolar. Checked that and found low vitamin D level is a known side-effect with carbamazepine - there are studies in actual journals on PubMed. GODS DAMN IT! What are the other symptoms that go along with low vitamin D level? Aches, pains and LEG CRAMPS!!! My legs are so stiff and sore that I can hardly walk. And according to some of the research I've seen and web sites I've read, the deficiency is so severe that over-the-counter supplements and/or more time in the sun isn't enough to help.
Well, that would be an explanation of why I'm so damned ill right now, wouldn't it? Covers all the symptoms. Hopefully, it means that I should be able to recover again fairly quickly.
But honestly, why didn't whichever doctor who looked at the results before flag up that vitamin D level as insanely low? Or why didn't the nurse I spoke to tell me about it? That's three whole weeks of treatment missed :/