Recently a consultant neurologist suggested that one of the reasons for my wife's extreme tiredness might be vitamin D deficiency. So she was tested and lo and behold she was very low. The GP prescribed the usual therapeutic regime of high dose Cholecalciferol once a week for 12 weeks, then review. After the first dose she developed what I can only describe as extreme diarrhoea, which has now continued for 3 weeks! She is being referred to a gastroenterologist to see if they can find out what is going on and hopefully sort things out. I am convinced this diarrhoea is a leak issue. She has accumulated a significant amount of fluid around her belly. At 57kg she is very thin, but she now has a mini beer belly hanging over her jeans. She appears to have slowed up peeing, and I am sure fluid is somehow leaking into her digestive tract somewhere to provide all the fluid for the diarrhoea. If not she certainly is leaking into the soft tissue around her belly. It appears to me that the vitamin D has triggered some sort of trauma and the capillary leak is overreacting to it. Has anyone else experienced anything like this? As a closing comment the doctor has said, no problem because once we have sorted out the diarrhoea she can have a vitamin D injection. That makes sense, it creates havoc in the stomach so lets inject it and see what happens!

Dear Rigg The beer belly you described could indeed be a sign of abdominal oedema (fluïd) due to capillary leak. Beside oedema's in the extremities is leakage on other Parts described, and the SCLS is a general disease ( systemic) of the capillaries. In nu situation it appears quite often. I used to have a vitamin D deficiency as well and take tablets daily (800 IE). IT doesn't aggravate my situation or oedema's. The vitamin d deficiency was logical because of the home boundary situation due to persistent recurrences.(more chronic form) Hiltjo

Hello Rigg, certainly oedema can be evident elsewhere. I only get peripheral oedema if I am overloaded. My main oedema is pulmonary. I have often wondered whether the capillary leak could be abdominal. If the leak is in the gut, it could cause a chronic diarrhoea. I would be concerned about a protein losing enteropathy, in which case serum proteins would be lowered. If the oedema is intra-abdominal, such as ascites, then it could be evident in an ultrasound. It would be important to document these issues. John

Capillary Leak would probably not cause diahrrea because the leak that causes edema is in the abdominal cavity and not in the intestinal lumen. However, if she is getting the correct type of vitamin D, (D3) then by correcting the deficiency would activate some 3,000 chemical reactions needed to run the body appropriately. It seems that a shift as pervasive as the effects of Vit D, may be a stress the body thereby utilizing more cortisol to help the body deal with stress. When there is a decrease in cortisol, inflammation becomes more of a problem. For people who have lowered levels of cortisol and it affects their large intestine that then causes inflammation of the walls of the large intestine. If the large intestine walls are inflamed they also will swell and be less effective in being able to reabsorb the fluid portion of the feces. Therefore the fluid laden fecal matter will pass through quickly.