Can Vitamin D Offer Relief from Chronic Pain?
Me, getting my hands hennaed in Pushkar, India
In May, I posted on the benefits of Vitamin D as a way to help reduce the risk of blood clots – as a stroke and APS (antiphospholipid syndrome) patient, that’s always on my mind.
Now a new study, reported in Internal Medicine News, has linked low Vitamin D to increased musculoskeletal pain.
The study showed that patients in chronic musculoskeletal pain have lower levels of Vitamin D. Thus, the study’s author, Dr. Suzan Abou-Raya, professor of geriatric medicine at the University of Alexandria in Egypt, recommends that all patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain consider Vitamin D supplements.
That could be huge news for autoimmune, fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome patients who count chronic pain as one of the worst villains of their disease.
I know Vitamin D seemed to help me–a lot! In May I wrote:
A funny thing happened after I began taking Vitamin D: I began to feel better. I noticed fewer of those classic autoimmune “flares”–puffy hands, aching joints–days when it hurt just get out of bed; days when I wanted a nap just from the effort of taking a shower. When my D was up, I seemed to have more energy, higher stamina, more enthusiasm.
No one could think of a reason that Vitamin D should reduce flares but, hey, I took it for the blessing it was.
Now we know, maybe I’m not crazy; maybe there is a reason.
Have you had experience with Vitamin D?
Related links:
Low Vitamin D Linked to Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain
