Wake up, SleepyHead

Any of you who know me, know that I have issues when it comes to sleep. I have insomnia part of the time, but am also extremely fatigued. It has been a problem since I can remember. School was made that much more difficult because I would miss half the lecture due to my extremely regular in-class naps. During this last stretch of school it got to a point where I couldn't even control it. I remember a teacher making the comment that if anyone slept through his class he would wake them up unkindly. When he said that, everyone in the class turned and looked at me.

Well, it is so wonderful to finally have insurance and get all the blood tests done and whatnot to figure out why I am so blasted tired all of the time. It turns out that I am extremely vitamin d deficient. This also pulls together all the symptoms that I had, which are very similar to PCOS and hypothyroidism. I was convinced of hypothyroidism and my friend was convinced PCOS.

As it turns out, most people are somewhat deficient of vitamin d. We just don't spend much time outside anymore, and when we do we are too slathered up with sunscreen to really be able to produce vitamin d, which is a chemical reaction created by the sun. The levels that the doctor told me were normal was between 30-80, but about 50-80 is best. Want to know my level? Oh yeah, I'm totally rocking the scale at a lovely 16.

So now I am on a prescription vitamin d pill that is gi-normous and I only have to take it once a week in order to get my levels up. Hopefully that will take care of some other issues I have had for a long time now, too...like my ever-present shin splints and knee pain. Here's hoping.

Anyway, here are some of the symptoms that I found through different articles:
High blood pressure*
Weight issues, hard to lose, weight gain, etc.*
Fatigue*
Depression
Low immunity*
Periodontal disease
Affects insulin resistance
Muscle pain/weak bones*
Sleep irregularities*
and even intestinal issues*

*all symptoms I have.

This could go back as far as when I started working out in gymnastics more and so didn't spend much time in the sun. That was when some of my symptoms started.

Oh, and just a note: When the doctor is talking to you about vitamin d deficiency, don't make a joke about osteomalacia. He won't laugh.