Vitamin D is made when our skin is exposed to sunlight. Vitamin D keeps your bones and teeth strong by optimizing the calcium in your blood. Vitamin D deficiency means that there is a low level of vitamin D in your blood which is most commonly caused in patients who have little or no exposure to sunlight. The diagnosis is made with a blood test. Low levels of vitamin D in children leads to rickets. While low levels of vitamin D in adults are termed osteomalacia.
Signs and symptoms
In children:
- Fits due to low calcium levels in the blood— hypocalcaemic seizures.
- Soft bones lead to bent limbs—rickets.
In adults:
- Thinner, less dense bones—osteoporosis; fractures
- Soft bones—osteomalacia
- Body pains
- Muscle weakness
- Low vitamin D levels have also been linked with diabetes, multiple sclerosis, poor mental health
When to see a doctor?
Take your child to the doctor if they show any symptoms of low vitamin D or low calcium. Children who are at risk of low vitamin D should have a blood test three months after beginning to take supplements, to check their vitamin D level.
Adults do not regularly require screening for vitamin D deficiency. If they present with bones and muscle aches, proximal muscle weakness or you are easily fatigued, with imbalanced diet and inadequate sunlight exposure, your doctor may want to give a trial of vitamin D and calcium supplements before testing for vitamin D.
https://patient.info/bones-joints-muscles/osteoporosis-leaflet/vitamin-d-deficiency