12 weeks post op. At 10 weeks I visited the GP who was concerned about my general health but happy with the knee. Had blood tests and discovered I was very low on Vitamin D ( should be 50, I was 18). Given a course of high potency Vitamin D.
Symptoms of low Vitamin D are: fatigue, pain in bones and muscle, depression and impaired bone healing.
Hopefully after these have kicked in I should be feeling better. Thought I would share.
Please be careful with this and do it under MD supervision. FDA guidelines are for less than 1,000 IU daily. I also need some extra Vit-D and I take about 5,000 IU with no ill effects and good blood levels. Anything more than that might cause problems since "D" is NOT a water-soluble vitamin. In contrast, Vitamin C is water soluble so your body uses what it needs and excretes the rest via your urine. The main consequence of vitamin D toxicity is a buildup of calcium in your blood (hypercalcemia), which can cause nausea and vomiting, weakness, and frequent urination...but you'd need HUGE amounts of "D" to cause that. Just be aware and be careful.
Your GP was good to pick up on it as they don't usually do these sort of Vit checks.....mine was so low in the minus region and the high level of Vit D did the trick for me ( 2 high dose capsules a month)! So many people suffer from this and many are walking around with astonishingly low levels without knowing. Some people (like me) have a malabsorption problem and just getting their forearms for 15 miins in the sun won't help the defficiency.....hope it makes you feel better but I think you need to take some calcium with it to be able to get the best absorption...but check it out with your GP or research it a bit on-line - don't take my word for it as I can't actually remember myself without looking it up but your GP would probably have checked that anyway..... hope it makes you feel better very soon....x
I am under MD (GP in Uk) supervision. Only been given three months course.
Aw thank you. Will research the calcium as well. He is very through, and he's helped me through this. X
That's meant to get your levels up quickly...then you have to maintain them. That part is all trial and error. After a few different dosages and blood tests, my doc settled on 5,000 IU...now my Vit-D levels remain constant with that dosage. You'll figure it out.
PS: Vitamin D is sometimes called the Sunshine Vitamin or The Happiness Pill. It does have an effect on mood.
ok - let me know if you discover anything about combining Vit D with anything......I can't recall tbh...be good to know....thanks x
I will do x
After all this ordeal, a bit of ‘happiness’ will be welcome Chico
Chico, are you taking Vit D 5,000 IU a day?
In 2016 when I had my TKR, my Vit D level was 44.6 and I had osteopenia. I talked with people that used high potency Vit D (50,000 IU) once a week plus at least 2000 IU daily or more and their bones returned to normal. I did the 50,000 IU once a week and 5000 IU MWF, 2,000 IU T, Th, Sat. the rest of the week. My recent Vit D level on 03/15/2018 was 119!!! I am now back down to 2,000 IU daily. May need to go back to 5,000 IU depending on what my next Vit D level shows. I had no side effects from that high level of Vit. D that I know of but now I do feel fatigue, pain in my fibula (tibula?), some depression. It is too soon for a bone density test.
Yup... Blood levels have been in the 40's for years now. Everyone is different!!! Gotta have your doc do the blood test to see if your levels are between 25 and 50...very low is like 10-15. The Feds say that 800 IU of Vitamin D is adequate for most healthy people. I need a bit more. Can't just start popping Vit-D with out the data.
Hi Kim, I take AdCal D3 for osteopenia, have done for 8 years now. The vit D3 aids to absorption of calcium in the gut, which is the reason it's there. Apart from an increase in Adcal after my Thyroid removal, I only take the standard 2 chews a day. Just had more poking about in the neck (ultrasound guided FNA), after oncologist concerned about blood test!!
I think the majority of us in the UK have some form of vitamin D deficiency, mainly caused by interminable winters & usually not so sunny summers! I say tongue in cheek, sitting in the garden in the brilliant sun!
Not sure if it's aided my recoveries from TKR but compared to some I have had it easy! Still only 5.5 months out from left TKR, so I shouldn't tempt fate!!
(At the moment it's just the neck that hurts!)
Marilyn
XX
Thanks for that information Marilyn. Hope you get on ok with your neck. I would love more sun but just booked 5 weeks in Spain in September so should increase my levels then x