Chronic Pain Linked to Low Vitamin D
· Low vitamin-D levels may be the source of nerve dysfunction seen in chronic pain syndromes, according to a study published in the journal Pain Medicine.
· Dr. Turner, lead investigator of the study comments “many patients who have been labeled with fibromyalgia are, in fact, suffering from symptomatic vitamin-D inadequacy.”
· The study found that patients who had inadequate vitamin-D levels and required narcotic pain medication were taking much higher doses; almost twice as much medication as those with adequate vitamin-D levels. Subjects with low vitamin-D levels also reported worse physical function and worse overall health perception.
· This was a retrospective study of 267 patients who were admitted to the Mayo Comprehensive Pain Rehabilitation Center.
· The study’s authors compared vitamin-D levels at the time of admission along with the duration of pain, the medication patients were taking, self-reported levels of pain, emotional distress, health perception, physical functioning, and demographic information such as sex, age and body-mass index.
· Patients with low vitamin-D levels, below 20 ng/mL, were considered to have inadequate amounts of vitamin-D. The prevalence of low vitamin-D was 26%.
· Researchers report that the patients with low vitamin-D levels required 48% more pain medication to control pain. The patients with low vitamin-D levels also needed narcotic pain medication for 38% longer than the patients with normal vitamin-D levels.
· The researchers also observed a link between increasing body-mass index and decreasing levels of vitamin-D.
· The authors conclude that low vitamin-D levels may create or sustain pain.
· One of the study authors suggested that patients with inadequate vitamin-D levels may benefit from vitamin-D supplementation. But he urged caution for patients with calcium or phosphate-processing disorders. Dr. Turner comments, “Increasing vitamin-D levels could be problematic in patients with kidney failure or stones, or primary hyperparathyroidism, or sarcoidosis. ” For patients with adequate vitamin-D looking to maintain levels, he recommends 10 to 15 minutes of sun exposure with no sunscreen on the trunk and arms and legs 3 times a week.
· The importance of adequate vitamin-D is just recently being recognized by the medical field. Vitamin-D may help reduce some forms of cancer and heart disease. Deficiencies may be important in the development of Multiple Sclerosis and now researchers are seeing an association with chronic pain.
Our society is likely at a higher risk of vitamin D deficiency today with the current avoidance of sun exposure, one of the sources of vitamin-D.
Vitamin D levels can be easily checked with a simple laboratory test and reviewed with your doctor.
References
Pain Med. 2008;9:979-984.
Posted on March 27, 2009
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