The symptoms of scurvy usually begin three months after a person stops getting enough vitamin C in their diet.
In adults, the initial symptoms of scurvy include:
- feeling very tired and weak all the time (fatigue)
- a general sense of feeling ‘out of sorts’, such as feeling irritable and miserable all the time
- pain in your limbs, particularly in your legs
The first noticeable symptom of scurvy is the appearance of reddish-bluish bruise-coloured spots on your skin. They develop where individual hairs grow out of the skin, and they often occur on the shins.
Hairs in affected areas usually twist around like corkscrews and break away easily. Without treatment, the spots can grow and merge to create large dark patches on your skin.
Other symptoms then follow, including:
- swollen gums, which become soft and spongy and vulnerable to bleeding; badly affected gums may no longer be able to hold your teeth in place
- severe pain in your joints caused by bleeding inside the joints – the pain can be so severe that you may be unable to walk
- extreme shortness of breath, particularly after periods of physical activity
- vision problems, such as blurred vision, which are caused by bleeding inside your eyes; you may also become more sensitive to light and your eyes may feel sticky
- redness and swelling in recently healed wounds; new wounds may fail to heal
Left untreated, scurvy can enlarge the muscles in your heart and cause bleeding inside your heart, both of which can result in sudden death.
Scurvy in children
In children, the initial symptoms of scurvy include:
- lack of appetite
- irritability
- poor weight gain
- diarrhoea
- high temperature of 38ºC (100.4ºF) or above
As the condition progresses, additional symptoms include:
- pain and tenderness in the legs, which is often severe – this can make a child very upset when they're having their nappy changed
- as with adults, the appearance of reddish-bluish spots on the skin
- bleeding inside the bones of their legs – the blood can pool and is often noticeable to the touch
- the eyes bulging outwards
