Fibromyalgia and Vitamin D, Is there a connection?

From a prior posting on healthandsurvival.com

I have been  checking Vitamin D Levels on select patients for about 1 year now.  I was surprised to find that more than 75% of those that I checked were moderately to severely deficient in Vitamin D, and this is in Southern California where we have sunshine 340 days a year.

I noticed that my patients with fibromyalgia were deficient of Vitamin D,  100% of the time.  The more severe the fibromyalgia, the lower the Vitamin D levels.    I then looked up Vitamin D Deficiency in my Merck Manual. The signs of Vitamin D Deficiency were muscle aches (myalgias), joint pains (arthralgias) and generalized fatigue. Could this be a cause of their fibromyalgia?   I started treating my patients with about 2000 IU of Vitamin D daily. A few patients have reported feeling better, others have not.    I am still collecting data and will keep you posted.  Many other studies have shown that vitamin D deficiency has also been associated with osteoporosis, colon cancer, breast cancer and other maladies.

So how do you get Vitamin D?  Increase your sunlight exposure! Everyone is too afraid of skin cancer so they are avoiding the sun. Are we  contributing to more colon and breast cancers than preventing skin cancers?  If you choose to supplement, most will need 1000-2000 IU. The recommended 400 IU of Vitamin D is too low.

To check your Vitamin D levels, have your doctor order a Vitamin D 25-OH Level.

addendum: May 13th, 2008- It is important that you take Vitamin D3, not regular Vitamin D as its not as potent. I have seen favorable results in patients, including a drug rep whose pains have diminished significantly...read more here….