Vitamin D For Fatigue

Who would've thought that a vitamin D deficiency could cause you to feel so tired?

That's what happened to me.  For the past year and a half I was feeling so drained and tired for no reason.  I hadn't been taking vitamin D or any other vitamins.  My motto has been "I just don't feel like doing anything" and I didn't.  All I wanted to do was lay down even when I wasn't sleepy.  I just didn't want to move!

I first took notice of my fatigue early this year after I got sick with something that felt like the flu. Im the type who usually never gets sick but after that bout of illness, I felt really tired for a couple weeks.  Eventually I started to feel better and went on with life.

Then about 4 months later I got sick again.  It was similar to the time before except this time I had a fever for about 10 days.  When it was over, I was left feeling tired AND cold all the time for weeks.  This kind of scared me because I knew something was wrong with me.  I started looking online and honed in on hypothyroidism which presents with fatigue and feeling cold.  

If I went out with my family I'd just lay down in the backseat and rest while they shopped.  I'd come home from work and go straight to bed--and I'm usually a night owl.  I was just so tired and there was no explanation for it.  

I scheduled an appointment and went to the doctor.  By the time I made it to his office, I wasn't feeling cold anymore but I still wanted to see if there was something else going on to make me feel so fatigued every day of my life.  All of my lab results came back normal except for my Vitamin D level which was deficient at 15ng/mol, with the normal range being 30-80 ng/mol.

The doctor ordered me to take 2000 IU vitamin D3 daily to see if that would alleviate my symptoms.

How Long Does it Take Vitamin D to Work?

I took my vitamin D3 for a month--I took 4000IU instead of the 2000IU a day, and I actually just went for my follow up this week. 

After a month my Vitamin D level has increased to 36 and I was glad to tell the doctor that I feel so much better!  My levels improved by more than half.  It's still on the low end of the range but it is within normal limits now and I can tell.  I'm still kind of lazy, but I don't feel that blanket of fatigue anymore.  I plan to continue to take the Vitamin D3 and may even up my dose to get a little higher into the optimal range.

There are all sorts of reason for fatigue, but it could be something as simple as a vitamin D or B12 deficiency that can be remedied by taking supplements.