Winter blues: Hi, wondering if anybody has... - Vasculitis UK

Vasculitis UK

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Winter blues

Foggy56 profile image
6 Replies

Hi, wondering if anybody has tried vitamin D during the winter months to help with fatigue and if it has caused any adverse effects. My Vasculitis is in remission at the moment and I am no longer taking medication for it now so don't want to rock the boat.

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Foggy56 profile image
Foggy56
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6 Replies
PMRpro profile image
PMRpro

Have you ever had your vit D level checked? That is an important factor - are you replete or not? If your level is OK adding more probably won't make much difference. But be sure the level they quote is up-to-date and not the sort of level they accepted even 2 or 3 years ago.

One no-side-effects approach (except for people with lupus) to the winter blues is light therapy.

Katie18 profile image
Katie18

hi Foggy56 I have been asked to take vitamin D through the winter until end of March. I havent had any side effects - or noticed much difference really but i thought it may help protect my bones

Sima1952 profile image
Sima1952

I've been on Vit D + right from the beginning, they also put me on another tab. to do with Vit D, which was taken once a month, but l stopped that when l was told my bone scan was excellent; still take the Vit D though.

Back to your question, took Vit D as usual last year and it didn't help with the "winter blues" but maybe because it was a "long" Winter. Sally

PMRpro profile image
PMRpro in reply to Sima1952

Being told to take vit D in winter isn't to help the "blues" but because we cannot make vit D from the action of the sun on skin during the winter. If we are low on vit D anyway, and most people in the UK are, especially when they have an autoimmune disorder, we will get even lower during the winter as we need vit D every day for normal functioning. Taking the supplement all winter stops our body stores being totally depleted.

The other tablet you took will have been a bisphosphonate, a drug that makes sure vit D and calcium are taken into the bones to form new bone.

Alfsdad profile image
Alfsdad

I had a blood test done. Found my vit D was very low. So on prescribed vit D. It has helped with neuropathic pain, not been as lathargic. I know it's "only" a vitamin, but it really has helped me with some of the Vasculitis problems.

PMRpro profile image
PMRpro in reply to Alfsdad

It's a very important vitamin - and the only one it is worth taking a supplement for without a diagnosis of specific illness. Lack of it can cause all sorts of aches and pains, similar to at least one type of vasculitis in fact. Most vitamins can be obtained from a decent normal diet - vit D can't, very little is found in food, and as we age the skin-factory slows down dramatically. And we don't go out in the midday sun as much as well as having been told all our lives not to.

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