Lupus and Vitamin D: Symptom of Vertigo is no joke!

Vitamin D Deficiency. Do you know much about it? 

I didn't, either, despite the fact that I've blogged about Vitamin D frequently on this blog!

But that's where I left off, after posting about my first appointment with my new rheumatologist last month, and her discovering a deficiency in my vitamin D levels. I've been tested and treated periodically before, but I'm glad she caught it this time. I am fairly certain the events of the last few weeks had everything to do with my lack of Vitamin D! 

(Note: My new doctor ran a TON of labs, to the tune of $2000, $900 of which my insurance won't cover. That's a another blog post entirely - so here, I'll just be thankful that the tests resulted in finding something that needed attention.) 

Here's how things unfolded: 

My doctor's office called within a few days of my appointment to prescribe a vitamin D supplement.

A week after my appointment, I found time to get the store to pick up the OTC vitamin D. I started the capsules the same day 

The following Monday, I started experiencing symptoms of Vertigo - not only moments of dizziness, but 5-10 secs where it felt like everything was spinning. I had to stop, stay still, hold my head, close my eyes, and wait for it to subside. It occurred once or twice daily for a couple of days, and I considered possible causes: my period, which had just started, my low weight, which I'd mentioned to the doc, or maybe even my history of low iron (I've been anemic ever since lupus arrived.) 

I decided to monitor it, and over the course of the week, the bouts of vertigo continued and increased. By the end of that first week, I was experiencing 10 second bouts of spinning, multiple times a day. 

I broadened the list of possible causes, and started tracking what I was eating and drinking, and how I was moving. Was it exercise? Low blood pressure? Dehydration? Getting up too fast? Too little protein? 

Before I could get a call in to the doctor, I went on vacation for four days, and the bouts of vertigo continued. I think it was about this time that I looked up Vitamin D and Vertigo in Google.  

Bingo. 

The link was quite clear between a lack of the vitamin and the symptom. 

I swear I'd looked it up before, when the doctor had called about the deficiency to begin with, but I hadn't actually typed in those two words together, because at that point, I hadn't experienced the vertigo. My search was more like - "symptoms of vitamin D deficiency" - and none of them included vertigo. 

Now that I was pretty sure I knew the cause, I waited a few days to call the doc. By the time I placed the call, it was a Friday, and little did I know, my doc's office is closed on Fridays (which is another post as well. Who's closed on Fridays??!) 

I put a reminder in my calendar for Monday to phone the office first thing when it opened, but over the weekend, the symptoms subsided. By Monday, no vertigo. No nothing. It was such a relief! 

I'll be sure to share my experience with my doctor at my next appointment. It will be interesting to hear her thoughts, and whether that was truly the cause. (I'm trying not to play Dr. Internet, here.) 

Any thoughts on vitamin deficiency - please share. I'm going to start paying more attention!