Blog Post 10: Vitamin D(eficient)
Another update! Hopefully briefer this time.
The bloodwork my rheumatologist ordered came back and showed that I am severely Vitamin D deficient. He started me on two new medications- one that I take daily and another that I take once a week. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to fatigue, frequent cold and respiratory infections, cardiovascular disease, and asthma. While this deficiency is not the origin of my symptoms, it certainly can’t be helping them, since they very closely overlap.
However, this brings up an interesting conversation. We recently controlled my anemia, after a year of struggling with it. We changed my diet, put me on over-the-counter supplements, and tried prescription-grade iron. Nothing worked. It wasn’t until I received my infusion that my levels improved. This planted the seed that I may have a GI issue- that my body isn’t absorbing nutrients (in this case, iron specifically) from my food or medications. This Vitamin D deficiency may play into this theory as well. I eat plenty of salmon, eggs, yogurt, cheese, etc. My diet should have a sufficient amount of Vitamin D, yet I don’t. It will be interesting to see how my levels look at my follow-up in 12 weeks. If I am still deficient (not absorbing it from the pills either), we will have to do more tests to see if there are issues with my GI tract. If not, then the iron was a strange one-off. That’s the thing with long covid… there are so many theories circling at any given time, but answers tend to be few and far between.
Additionally, I received my covid booster! I was on high dose prednisone for quite awhile that made me immunocompromised, so I initially got 3 full doses instead of 2. After 6 months, I became eligible for my first booster (my fourth shot). This was back in March. However, the booster is a point of debate in the long haul community. The majority of issues with long covid are related to inflammation. Vaccinations are designed to induce an immune response, so some inflammation is to be expected. Many people in my support group told horror stories of their symptoms getting much worse after receiving their booster. I am 100% pro-vaccine, but this dialogue spooked me a bit. After speaking to both my primary and rheumatologist, we decided that the booster was in my best interest. With cases rising again, I need to be extra careful and getting covid again would be far worse than having a flare up. Other than my arm hurting and being extra fatigued, it was uneventful! Feeling very grateful not to have had a bad reaction and to have this extra protection from the virus.
That’s all for now! I have a bit of a lull in appointments right now, as we wait to see how I do on all of the new meds and adjust their doses accordingly. Then I have another surge of follow-ups for repeat bloodwork. Hopefully this new combination of meds starts to offer some improvement! And hopefully WA helps me out and brings the sunshine back soon!!