Vitamin D, a fat-soluble vitamin, aids bone development, growth and maintenance. Your physician might order cholecalciferol blood testing to confirm a suspected vitamin D deficiency if you have symptoms affecting your skeletal and muscular function. Common causes of vitamin D deficiency include decreased sun exposure, sunscreen use, an indoor lifestyle, a daytime work schedule or seasonal changes. A deficiency may also occur with nutritional lack or poor intestinal absorption.
Muscle Weakness
Vitamin D is vital to bone absorption of calcium and phosphate. Muscle weakness and pain can be indicators you have a vitamin D deficiency, but initially these symptoms might be unremarkable, even overlooked, according to the journal "American Family Physician." Other symptoms can include muscle pain when walking and difficulty with regular physical activities. Decreased calcium causes muscle spasms in breast-fed infants. Breast milk does not contain vitamin D, so infants require supplementation and appropriate sun exposure.
Bone Abnormalities
Vitamin D deficiency can cause pain and tenderness in your joints and weakness of your spinal vertebrae, pelvic and leg bones, leading to possible fractures. A deficiency can cause softening of your bone tissue, called osteomalacia, and worsening of osteoporosis, according to The Merck Manual for Healthcare Professionals. A vitamin D deficiency in both children and adults can cause deformed bones that cause bowlegs and spinal vertebral abnormalities such as scoliosis and kyphosis. Deficiency of vitamin D in children is called rickets, and in adults, osteomalacia.
Weight Loss
Two consequences of malabsorption syndrome are vitamin D deficiency and potential weight loss. Poor absorption of fats in the intestines, including vitamin D, is the hallmark of malabsorption syndrome, according to MedlinePlus. Diseases such as Crohn's disease or irritable bowel syndrome can lead to the vitamin deficiency. Additional losses can also occur with prolonged antibiotic therapy, lactose intolerance and gastric bypass surgery, which all affect vitamin absorption in the intestinal tract.
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