Many women with Endometriosis are vitamin D deficient. Maybe you don’t spend enough time outside in the sun, or when you do, you are ‘covered’ up with clothes and sunscreen to prevent skin cancer. How does this affect your Endometriosis?

Let me start with a fun fact about vitamin D: it is actually not a vitamin, but a hormone!

Most of us know that vitamin D plays an important role in bone growth, by carrying calcium to the bones. But more importantly for you and your Endometriosis is that it helps to regulate the immune system.

Studies on the role of vitamin D in the immune response have shown that T cells and B cells (key cells involved in the immune response) are able to process and respond to vitamin D.  That means that vitamin D can help protect against infection.

And even more important is the fact that vitamin D deficiency seems to contribute to autoimmune diseases like inflammatory bowel disease. In light of the inflammation that underpins Endometriosis, healthy levels of vitamin D are needed to:

• help ‘calm down’ the growth of T and B cells;
• reduce the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines; and
• increase the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines.

So how you know if you might be vitamin d deficient?

1. You have recurring infections and are sick often, for example with the flu or colds.
2. You’re fatigued all the time.
3. You regularly experience low moods or depression.
4. You’ve noticed you’re losing more hair than usual.
5. Your muscles ache.
6. You are less able to keep up fitness activities, for example you can’t run as long.
7. You have problems with your sleep.
8. You get hot very quickly and your head is sweaty.
9. Your wounds heal slowly.
10. You feel dizzy often.
11. Although you may not be able to feel this, but your blood pressure is higher than normal.
12. You’re gaining weight but haven’t changed your diet or amounts of exercise.
13. You’re finding it more difficult to remember things and to think clearly.

These are just indications you might be vitamin d deficient. Please know that there may be other reasons for these symptoms.

So how does the body get the right levels of vitamin D?

The main process is through sun exposure. When the sun hits unprotected skin (if you’ve got sunscreen on, this will not happen as easily), the ultraviolet light is turned to previtamin D3 in your skin. Body heat then creates a version that is transported via your blood stream to the liver. In the liver it is turned into another form of previtamin D which goes to the kidneys where active vitamin D is produced. And if the body produces too much vitamin D, it gets stored in fat cells.

Quite a bit of a process, isn’t it?

Now, you may or may not be vitamin D deficient. So, should you then take a supplement?

Unless you has been tested and shown to have serious vitamin D deficiency, no. Too much vitamin D creates high levels of calcium in the blood which can lead to kidney stones.

Also, because of your leaky gut (read more about that in this article: “Why you should spend more time thinking about your gut”), absorbing vitamin D from food or supplements may not be very effective.

My first suggestion is to get some sunshine, around 10-20 minutes each day on unprotected skin or if you use sunscreen, longer. Allow your body to do what it does best when it comes to vitamin D.

If you are worried that you might be vitamin D deficient, the quickest and most reliable way is to get a blood test. Your family doctor should be able to organise a test and discuss the results with you.

If you are concerned about your Endometriosis symptoms and would like to find out if nutrition can help to manage them better, feel free to book a free 30-minute Endometriosis SOS Call (via video call). In this call we can discuss your Endometriosis journey, your goals and how nutrition may play a part in your overall strategy to manage your symptoms. You can book your Endometriosis SOS Call here: https://theendometriosisnutritionist.online/endometriosis-sos-call/