Fibromyalgia is a non-specific diagnosis based on a collection of certain symptoms. According to "Professional Guide to Diseases," fibromyalgia affects approximately five percent of the U.S. population, the majority of whom are female, and includes symptoms of debilitating fatigue, widespread muscle and bone pain and chronic headaches. Though no consistent medical consensus currently exists as to the primary cause of fibromyalgia, some researchers believe that vitamin D deficiency plays an important role. The symptoms of both fibromyalgia and vitamin D deficiency have many similarities.
Chronic Pain
Fibromyalgia is usually diagnosed only after other diseases and disorders can be ruled out. Additionally, a person diagnosed with fibromyalgia has to experience pain for three or more consecutive months and have at least eleven confirmed tender points spread over both sides of the body. These tender spots typically produce deep and achy pain when touched, although no signs of inflammation or injury exist.
The diffuse musculoskeletal pain experienced from vitamin D deficiency results from a condition called, osteomalacia, has similarities to fibromyalgia pain syndrome. Pain from osteomalacia feels deep and achy, as it comes from the bone, and can be readily elicited by pushing on the surface of muscles. Trigger points, common in fibromyalgia and found over certain tendons, also occur with vitamin D deficiency. Further, the pain from both conditions does not respond to pain medications.
According to Mayo Clinic, a 2006 study later published in "Pain Medicine" found that vitamin D levels of chronic pain sufferers diagnosed with fibromyalgia were deficient. The researchers concluded that inadequate levels of vitamin D may play a role in creating or sustaining chronic musculoskeletal pain.
Debilitating Fatigue
Fatigue is one of the first symptoms of vitamin D deficiency and usually proves the first symptom to resolve with appropriate exposure to sunlight or vitamin D supplementation, according to the National Institutes of Health. Fatigue from vitamin D deficiency often becomes debilitating.
Debilitating fatigue remains one of the hallmarks of fibromyalgia, which is why it is often misdiagnosed as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Although sleep cycles often become disrupted within fibromyalgia sufferers, sleep medication rarely makes an impact on the degree of fatigue and tiredness experienced during waking hours.
Chronic Headaches
Both fibromyalgia sufferers and vitamin D deficient people experience chronic headaches, often described as dull, tension-like headaches. These headaches are rarely considered migraines as they don't include auras, nor do they throb. Pain medication and anti-inflammatories do not make a dramatic impact on head pain from these conditions.
According to "Human Biochemistry and Disease," vitamin D, either through sun exposure or supplementation, can mitigate chronic headaches otherwise thought to be related to other factors. Vitamin D deficiency is more common in developed nations then many realize, and can cause symptoms that become misdiagnosed as other diseases or conditions.
References
- "Professional Guide to Diseases: Ninth Edition"; Springhouse Publishing; 2009
- Mayo Clinic: Mayo Clinic Study Suggests Those Who Have Chronic Pain May Need to Assess Vitamin D Status
- Nayional Institutes of Health: Office of Dietary Supplements: Vitamin D
- "Human Biochemistry and Disease"; Gerald Litwack; 2008
