I have not felt really well-health wise for months. Aches,sore joints, fatigue, headaches. Now, I realize I have had 4 surgeries in last 2 years to fuse 2 areas in my back and neck. But I felt better right after surgery. A few times got a vague chest pain also-went away after a few minutes. Finally was ready to just accept this and get on with my life. Did I mention depression also? (This especially scares me since 2 of my siblings have ended their own lives.) In talking to daughter that is in school midway through a PharmD-she mentioned gout. ??? Now my dad had gout-I remember his swollen big toe 
. So I send an email to my doctor-he instructs me to make an appointment so we can figure out what is happening.
A week later as I sit with my shoes and socks off in the doctor’s exam room-my toes do not look swollen at all. I tell him all this vague things(did I mention the increase in appetite)happening to me. We decide to run a rheaumatoid test, autoimmune tests,CBC and a few more-checked my cholesterol panel also. So over the next week these results are trickling into my inbox- so far everything ok. Following week doctor sends an email re:vitamin D defiency that I have- 17, range is 30-100. This was the last test to result. I am now on vitamin D 50000 units once a week and already feeling better. I had read in a couple magazines about the wonder vitamin-“Vitamin D” and how most adults don’t get enough. Our bodies can manufacture it-but not with sunblock slathered all over. And where I live the smog layer does not help either.(my daughter told me this-the pre-pharmacist.)Then my local paper has an article on back page regarding same theme-many adults are deficient and don’t know it. One cardiologist commented that when people complain of nonspecific chest pain, ruled out heart attack,he tests their vitamin D and it is frequently too low.
And yes I do take a multivitamin and I used to take 2 calcium tablets(they have 500 units vitamin D each) daily, but the worse I felt, the more I forgot to take them.
So just saying....take care of yourselves in case no one else will.
My mother has been badgering me to take vitamin D for years, mostly for all the health benefits that are discovered consistently. I finally started. And I try to get 15 minutes of sunshine on my skin a day without sunscreen. It’s easy in my area but I realize that other parts of the country it’s not so.
I’m glad you‘re feeling better. Thank you for sharing all this information. It’s really helpful when we all share these experiences with one another.