I posted here before last month when I was diagnosed with a severe Vitamin D defiency. I had to go back to the doc last week due to really agonising bone pain and she said I definately have what is called Osteomalacia which is caused by very low vitamin d levels and can make you more prone to bone fractures and breaks
Jut wondering if anyone else has or knows someone with this and if there is anything that can help other than painkillers? Keep thinking maybe to try yoga (though the pain is so bad just now not sure i could manage) or accupuncture.
Have you tried stretching? Nothing fancy like yoga (which I find sometimes the asanas can make you push your body too far), just the sort of ones people do in their warm-ups.
All of the above stretches are ones that I use when I'm teaching in the warm-up section and I can confirm that they are the safest that I know. If it hurts beyond a mild ache or a slight burn of muscles having to flex then stop. Don't try and push yourself too hard as that's when people get hurt, letting their egos overrule their bodies. Stretching your whole body from the neck downwards will also help relieve tension all over your body and hopefully at least stop clenched muscles from exacerbating your pain.
I tend to try and fit a few stretches into my day when I'm having a bad chest day and can't do anything too energetic as the act of stretching makes you release endorphins and relax, promoting a sense of wellbeing.
Yes - me!
You can cure osteomalacia in 3 to 6 months by taking high doses of Vitamin D3 daily. The simplest test for osteomalacia is prodding someone in the sternum - usually they back away because the fear of the pain of being touched is so great.
The problem with UK GPs is that:
1. They do not prescribe enough Vitamin D because they have been taught, wrongly, that Vitamin D can do more harm than good. Heck, Marie Curie and Einstein actually did lots of research into the benefits of Vitamin D but, after WW2, that conveniently got forgotten as big pharma took over medicine.
2. British GPs prescribe D2 and not the correct D3 which is not only much, much cheaper than D2, but which is the wrong type of Vitamin D that our bodies produce. Plants produce D2 and we produce D3 from sunlight.
The D2 that you will get on prescription also costs between £50 to £100 for the NHS but you can buy a year's supply of D3 from ebay or Amazon for under £15 including P&P. I use a make called Healthy Origins who sell D3 in softgel form and I take 3 2,400 IU softgels per day except on days when I get 30 minutes of no sun-block sunbathing.
I had terrible pain in my sternum for years - so painful I could not touch it and I would gingerly wash around it when I washed. I saw numerous Docs and Consultants and all rubbished me as it being in my mind or that it was muscular. Then the pain began in my right hip.
I then discovered the greatest man on the planet - Professor Michael Hollick of Boston University School of Medicine who talked about people with the exact same symptoms as myself and who had seen numerous docs without any success. First thing Hollick does is give people a Vitamin D test, discovers their D3 levels are chronically low and he puts people on 50,000 IUs of D3 for 3 months to ""fill up the tank"", although he says that osteomalacia can take up to 6 months to clear up using Vitamin D.
These same people who have had terrible bone pain for years, and some who end up unable to walk, then begin to quickly recover once they start taking Vitamin D. Within months their pain and symptoms are gone and they are healthy.
I could talk for hours on this but, in short, there are lots of docs linking lack of Vitamin D with asthma, autism, MS, 17 types of cancers and that osteomalacia is often indicative with people with some of the above illnesses. Basically, without enough Vitamin D your body does not absorb calcium properly and the calcium just gathers in your arteries but by taking calcium, magnesium, some boron and high doses of Vitamin D your bones can properly absorb the calcium.
In 30 minutes in the Sun the Human body makes about 10,000 IUs of Vitamin D in half an hour if NO SUNBLOCK is used. You need to not wash for a few hours after sun-bathing to allow the process to complete.
Sunblock cuts out 98% of Vitamin D creation.
On the Equator the Human Body can make up to 100,000 IUs in a day.
From mid-October to mid-April the Sun in the UK is too weak to make any Vitamin D at all. You could walk around naked all day and not make any Vitamin D. Hence why it is important to supplement in the Winter.
More children are born with Autism in the UK at the end of the Winter.
I suggest you read the following:
vitamindcouncil.org/ - Dr. John Carnell's excellent site. If you look in the archives you will read of chronic asthmatics who claim that they have cured themselves of asthma over 12 months by taking 10,000 units of D3 daily.
Finally, I am not a Doctor so do your own research. Most GPs will be horrified to even contemplate taking more than 400 IUs of Vitamin D per day because that is what they have been taught but, re the above links, many Doctors and Scientists are now indicating that the levels of Vitamin D that we need are much higher than the RDA of 400 units.
Think about it for a minute, if we evolved to create 10,000 international units (IUs) of D3 in our bodies in 30 minutes of British Summer sunshine why do British GPs think anything more than 400 units is bad for us?
The fact that you have osteomalacia and asthma is interesting is it not?
Asthma researchers in America and Holland now think that the T-Cells in our bodies which fight infection do not activate without adequate levels of D3 in our bodies... or that they do not switch off and thus keep on fighting non-existent infections once they have stopped the original infection... and our airways/lungs are full of T-Cells.
Do your own research but if you do nothing else make a cup of tea and spend 60 minutes watching the above youtube video - it might change your life for the better.
Bob.
I get severe bone pain that affects walking and all sorts. The docs aren't sure of the cause, they think it could be a side-effect of the pred, could be due to my low vitamin D levels or could be something else entirely...
My GP has prescribed Vitamin D3 but has also said I should aim to get 20 minutes sunlight on my skin each day without sunblock as this is the most effective way of increasing Vit D levels.
I'm afraid I can't help with things to make it better. My consultant prescribed pain killers, but my GP wasn't happy about this as she doesn't want me on pain killers long term. My GP said to try walking despite the pain and it should ease it. Hah!! I ended up trying that and getting to the docs crying in pain because I'd forced myself to walk - not good! I've recently started swimming again and this seems to be having a positive impact - not sure if it's the non-impact exercise, just generally moving more or because I've lost a little of the weight I put on with the steroids and this means less impact day to day.
Ratty - I know it sounds terrible for me to be kinda glad someone is in pain but I am a bit glad that someone has this kind of terrible bone pain and can understand how Im feeling as i dont think many people do
Bob _ I read quite a lot of stuff when i was diagnosed and also a lot of the links you previously gave me and have found them very helpful
It does seem a lot of Gps are bad for getting to grips with this problem but to be honest mine has been rather good. She prescribed 1000 units of D3 a day but says it may still be very painfull etc just now because my vitamin d levels were extremely low. She gave me some anti inflammatory and painkiller to help with the pain just now but if im not greatly improved by 9th July she is going to refer me onto a specialist
Hi PamPam, I understand what you mean and it's good to know I'm not the only one experiencing this pain - it's so difficult to explain too.
I'm seeing a specialist for this next week so I'll let you know how I get on.
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