For the past year and a half, I have been suffering from something my physician finally diagnosed last summer as fibromyalgia. Every day, I get random muscle pains at various places in my body. At night, I sometimes wake up nearly screaming, with the feeling that a knife has been plunged into my calf or shin. I also sometimes wake up with night sweats.
The knuckle joints of my fingers are going knobby one by one, red and swollen and difficult to bend. If I carry something heavy, my elbows ache. Walking from my car into the store leaves me out of breath. Unless I take NSAIDS for days, every step makes me wince from foot pain.
I take adderall for ADHD, but on days when I don't, I am so tired that I have to take naps. Sometimes I cannot even drive places because I am exhausted.
I have iron deficiency anemia, but I knew this was not the full cause of my problems because I have had it for years and never had these extreme symptoms. I went to two rheumatologists who agreed that I did not have arthritis. I did not have lupus or any other autoimmune disorder. I did not have Lyme disease. That is how I ended up with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
At a recent medical conference that included discussion of fibromyalgia, I learned something I had never heard from my physician: vitamin D deficiency can produce fibromyalgia-like symptoms.
This is from a Mayo Clinic study last year:
"Physicians who care for patients with chronic, diffuse pain that seems musculoskeletal — and involves many areas of tenderness to palpation — should strongly consider checking a vitamin D level," says Dr. Turner. "For example, many patients who have been labeled with fibromyalgia are, in fact, suffering from symptomatic vitamin D inadequacy. Vigilance is especially required when risk factors are present such as obesity, darker pigmented skin or limited exposure to sunlight."
I brought this to the attention of my physician, who agreed to order bloodwork.
NOTE: Fibromyalgia is a real medical condition. Not everyone with a diagnosis of fibromyalgia has low or deficient vitamin D levels. They have some similar symptoms, however, which is why it makes sense to get checked for vitamin D deficiency if you have a fibromyalgia diagnosis.
My vitamin D level was 6 ng/mL. Anything under 10 ng/mL is severely deficient, and 30 ng/mL - 74 ng/mL is considered normal. Note that recently, many experts have been suggesting that 30 ng/mL is not high enough. Vitamin D deficiency can occur in men or women of any age.
In the past year, low or deficient vitamin D has been linked to poorer outcomes in several types of cancer. It is also associated with a higher risk of some cancers, like colon cancer.
A number of very good studies have shown that people with higher vitamin D levels can have as little as half the risk of developing colon cancer as those with lower vitamin D levels. One National Cancer Institute study of close to 17,000 people nationwide found that those with high vitamin D levels had an almost 75 percent lower risk of dying from colon cancer compared with those with low to moderate levels.
In breast cancer, low levels of vitamin D have been linked to decreased bone mineral density, an increase in the likelihood of breast cancer recurrence, an increased risk of death, and more pain, particularly in patients using aromatase inhibitors:
High-dose vitamin D significantly reduced muscle and joint pain in breast cancer patients treated with the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole, results of a small, randomized clinical trial showed.
A very recent study showed that vitamin D actually killed breast cancer cells in vitro and shrank human tumor cells in mice. It remains to be seen whether the results will translate to human studies, but it is a promising start. Vitamin D is also being studied in prostate cancer.
Low or deficient vitamin D has been linked to many other conditions, including asthma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, various types of arthritis, heart and kidney disease, celiac disease, anemia, osteoporosis, and high blood pressure. It has also been linked to weight gain and obesity. Some researchers believe it is linked to autism, but this research needs confirmation. A Canadian study last month said it appears to be linked to Crohn's disease.
The New York Times reports:
As many as half of all adults and children are said to have less than optimum levels and as many as 10 percent of children are highly deficient, according to a 2008 report in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
This does not mean you should rush out and begin taking high doses of vitamin D. Too much vitamin D is associated with its own health risks, including very painful kidney stones and calcification. It does suggest that you should make sure you get the required amount of vitamin D each day. For recommended amounts and sources of vitamin D, visit this NIH Website:
http://dietary-supplements.info.nih....
It also suggests you might want to get tested for vitamin D deficiency, particularly if you are having muscle or joint paints or other symptoms of deficiency.
There are many possible causes for vitamin D deficiencies, including inadequate consumption of vitamin D rich foods; inability to absorb vitamin D, possibly due to other mineral deficiencies; and interference with medications, particularly antacids and NSAIDS.
Women who are breastfeeding, children, people with dark skin, people who have had gastric bypass, and people who have certain medical conditions are at greater risk for having low vitamin D.
If you are deficient in vitamin D, you will not be able to build your vitamin D up to normal levels using over the counter supplements or through food. You will need a prescription for high-dose vitamin D and regular doses of sunshine. Moreover, you will need to be monitored to make sure you are not taking too much vitamin D.
I have an appointment next week to get a prescription for high-dose vitamin D. I have read that some women given a diagnosis of fibromyalgia have seen tremendous improvement in their symptoms after having their vitamin D levels restored to normal. I hope this is the case for me.
At any rate, it is definitely something you do not want to leave uncorrected. After menopause, bone mass starts to decrease and adequate vitamin D, combined with calcium, is necessary to help prevent osteoporosis.