Vitamin D - Deficient
Deficient Levels - Adults
Vitamin D Deficiency
If your recent blood tests show you have a low Vitamin D level this may be causing you to feel a bit tired or suffer odd muscle aches.
The recommended treatment for this is:
1) To take a course of high dose Vitamin D to correct your levels back to normal. *A PRESCRIPTION IS WAITING FOR YOU ON RECEPTION IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED A TEXT MESSAGE NOTIFYING YOU OF A DEFICIENCY - PLEASE COLLECT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
2) Once you have finished the course you will need to take a recommended supplement of 800 - 1000IU (International Units) daily for the rest of your life to keep your Vitamin D at a satisfactory level as we don’t absorb Vitamin D well from our diets. You can buy either: Holland & Barrett Vitamin D3 25mcg (1000IU) tablets, Boots Vitamin D3 25mcg (1000IU) tablets, Tesco Vitamin D3 25mcg (1000IU) tablets or Sunvit D3 20mcg (800IU) tablets, we do not prescribe them.
3) You must also make sure the amount of Calcium you take in from your diet is enough to allow you to use the Vitamin D correctly. We have enclosed a fact sheet so you can work out how much you eat/drink at the moment and increase it if you need to.
4) Please book to have a blood test to check your Calcium levels 4 weeks after starting your medication.
5) Our main source of Vitamin D is sunlight. In the UK you can improve your Vitamin D levels by exposure to the sun between March and October. However people with darker skins will have more problems absorbing enough compared to those with lighter skins due to the strength of the suns rays. We have enclosed a fact sheet about boosting your Vitamin D levels using the sun in a safe way.
*** Further routine monitoring of vitamin D is not required ***
We hope this information is useful, however, if you feel you need to discuss this further please contact the surgery and book a telephone consultation or a face to face appointment with any of our GPs.