Pain Management Category
Vitamin D as an Analgesic for Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain
Chronic pain involving muscles, bones and/or joints is the leading complaint that drives patients to their doctors seeking relief. Now, according to peer-reviewed clinical research looking at adult patients of all ages, inadequacies of vitamin D might be linked to pain of all types including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, seasonal affective disorder, rheumatic disorders, osteoarthritis, migraine headaches and other somatic complaints.
Vitamin D has long been known to be involved in other metabolic processes other than building strong bones. The process that links vitamin D to musculoskeletal pain is presumed to begin with a lack of circulating calcium due to an inadequacy of vitamin D. This calcium deficiency stimulates increased parathyroid secretion and precipitates a cascade of events that leads to chronic pain.
Vitamin D receptors have been found in various brain structures, the spinal cord, and the sensory ganglia. Results of some studies suggest that benefits of vitamin D supplementation might also help with neuropathies, another pain syndrome frequently found in people with diabetes.
