I had my Vitamin D Levels tested the other day, which my Doctor originally told me that I wouldn’t need to worry about till I was older. But she ordered the test anyway. The results were surprising – I have a fairly serious deficiency.

Vitamin D deficiency is common to some extent, but serious deficiencies are hard to diagnose aside from a blood test, as symptoms can include fatigue, muscle/joint pain, and weakening of the immune system.

Vitamin D levels — what’s really optimal? >100 ng/mL - Excessive vitamin D (see note on toxicity) 50–70 ng/mL - Proposed optimal range 30–50 ng/mL - Suboptimal <30 ng/mL - Deficient <20 ng/mL - Overt vitamin D deficiency <10 ng/mL - Seriously deficient (Source)

I’m at 11 ng/mL, which hovers right over seriously deficient. Luckily, it is easily remedied… I am starting off with 8 weeks of a prescription strength dose of Vitamin D (50,000 IU/week), and I should regulate my Vitamin D intake (both supplements and sunlight) thereafter in order to stay at an optimal level.

Why am I telling you this? Because even though a a slight deficiency is normal, an overt or serious deficiency can lead to more problems if it is not addressed early enough. Have your doctor request this test next time you have a routine blood test to be sure.

Also, I just wanted to set it straight after my Twitter post set off a whole chain of replies commenting on my situation.