Freaking Out over blood test results

I had bloodwork done for a few things and all that was checked was well, except that I have an ongoing vitamin D deficiency (which I know is normal and I take supplements for it), but I was also found to have a bit of a vitamin A deficiency. My doctor told me what strength supplements to take, etc.

But then, I went on Google to read about it and less than 1% of people in my country have a vitamin A deficiency. I looked at a list of foods that contain vitamin A and I eat several of them often.

Then the things I read went on to list some gastrointestinal disorders that could cause it. A few are things that I have Googled and thought I have, that doctors have suspected I have, or in some cases, things I had fleetingly.

The thing I'm worried most about is I read that people with biliary diseases shouldn't take vitamin A. Well, I once had an episode a few years ago of a completely white poop and when I went to the ER, they told me that I had stopped producing bile briefly which caused the white poop, but they couldn't figure out why that happened. Some kind of bile duct blockage they suspected, but it didn't show on imaging so they felt it had cleared. The only thing odd with my blood work that day was a slightly elevated white count, which I have never had again. I sometimes, rarely, have pain to the left of my belly button(been going on about a decade but rarely), but I don't know if that means anything because I'm afraid to Google it. Also, before my doctor told me to go gluten free a few years ago, I had some instances of passing a bunch of oil with my poop. That stopped happening in recent years since I have been gluten free.

Long story short, I am now terrified. I have avoided invasive GI procedures so far. I am afraid that something is really, seriously wrong now though due to having this deficiency. My B vitamins and iron were all fine. But, I'm really scared that I have a biliary disease or irritable bowel disease or something.

My doctor is great, but my hands feel cold even thinking about bringing up to him the question about whether I should take the vitamin A supplements since a few years ago, I randomly had a bile duct issue. How do I word a story about white poop without feeling crazy?

I'm very worried that the various GI symptoms I have written off as IBS as doctors told me when I was younger might be more. I'm just so anxious I'm actually shaking right now. Can anyone try to help me calm down about this or give any advice on how to ask my doctor questions on the phone tomorrow? Thank you.

FinneousRex said:

I have IBS and I love a normal life. I have stomach pains, upper and lower, every single day. About 10 years ago I thought I had some sort of bowel cancer because of the crazy things I was dealing with. Never went to the doctor for it specifically. Still alive to this day. If it were that kind of cancer I would be very dead by now.

If you don’t want to physically say your problem, see if they have a portal where you can message the staff at the office to give the doctor a message or try emailing them.

If you only had that ER experience once years ago, sounds like it was an isolated case and not a long term disease going on.

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Thank you so much. I have IBS also. It can cause crazy things at times. But I worry about IBD because I've been told by some doctors that they think I may have one of the conditions falling under that umbrella and that's a risk factor for this vitamin deficiency also.
You're right though, that experience was an isolated incident and the oil issues happened around the same time.
I just don't know how I ended up with a vitamin deficiency that less than 1% of people in the US have and most have serious underlying GI disease.

Souris said:

FWIW, I have a GI disease (ulcerative colitis). I've had it about 20 years, and it's been mostly well-controlled with medicine. I've had a few flares over the years, and I have to watch what I eat, but it hasn't affected my life too badly. And look at swimmer Kathleen Baker -- she has Crohn's Disease and won medals with it in the last Summer Olympics! So even if you end up having chronic IBD, it doesn't have to be something that ruins your life.

My advice is to be completely honest with your doctor. Bring up anything that you think might be pertinent, even if it's hard. I assure you, they have heard just about everything!! And any doctor worth a darn is going to want as much information as they can get. I think they are more annoyed when patients hide things from them, because then it can affect their instructions and course of treatment. If you just can't bring yourself to say it, I second the recommendation to write it down.

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Thank you, I am glad that you're doing well.

gadamsgrega2 said:

there are "fat" soluble and "water" soluble vitamins.... vitamins that are fat soluble your body builds up as time goes on and you consume vitamins or foods containing them.. Water soluble vitamins you eliminate daily through your urine so they can be taken daily...

Fat soluble vitamins are -
Vitamin A,D,E and K

Water soluble vitamins are -
Vitamins B,C

So if you want to impliment A & D , simply do a multi vitamin 5 days per week... The other 2 days , do a B Complex and your vitamin C... Make sense? Also, throw in a Fish oil...

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Thank you. My doctor told me to take 3000 IU of vitamin D and 10,000 IU of A daily.