Vitamin D could reduce fibromyalgia pain

People with fibromyalgia may benefit from less pain through the use of vitamin D supplements, says a small study published in Pain.

 Experts assessed 30 women with fibromyalgia who had low levels of calcifediol, a prehormone produced in the liver. Measuring calcifediol is a standard way of showing a person’s vitamin D status. Because low levels of calcifediol are common in people with fibromyalgia and severe pain, the team wanted to see if increasing the levels of calcifediol would help to alleviate pain.

 The women were split into two groups; one group received supplements of vitamin D for 20 weeks and the other group received a placebo. After 24 weeks, it was found that women who had taken vitamin D supplements to raise their calcifediol levels experienced reduced levels of perceived pain and had improvements in terms of their physical function and morning fatigue. But there were no significant alterations in depression or anxiety.

 “Vitamin D supplementation may be regarded as a relatively safe and economical treatment for fibromyalgia patients and an extremely cost-effective alternative or adjunct to expensive pharmacological treatment, as well as physical, behavioural and multimodal therapies,” says lead author Dr Florian Wepner.

Fibromyalgia is an extensive and complex disorder that cannot be explained by vitamin D deficiency alone, but levels of the vitamin should be monitored regularly people with fibromyalgia, especially in winter, suggests Dr Wepner.

“Low levels of vitamin D are common in people with fibromyalgia, which has led to suggestion that vitamin D is involved in the perception of chronic pain, although the evidence is mixed,” highlights a spokesperson from Arthritis Research UK. “This study showed that supplementing vitamin D in women with low levels of vitamin D led to an improvement in their pain. However, this trial contained a small number of patients and therefore further investigations are required in a larger numbers to fully assess the potential of vitamin D supplementation as a safe and economical treatment. There is a great need for more effective treatments for fibromyalgia and it remains a poorly understood condition.”

 To read the original research visit http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304395913005411.