Can Vitamin D Help You Be Free From Pain?
A lot of people suffer from chronic pain without any real physical injuries, illnesses or disease to account for their discomfort. This can be muscle pain, joint aches and pain or even bone pain that has lasted for an extended period of time. Often a patient will go through a series of x-rays, scans and multitudes of expensive doctor visits ending in no real information about the source of their pain. What pain sufferers don’t realize is that the solution to their pain could be as simple and inexpensive as taking a vitamin supplement each day.
Chronic pain tends to leave patients feeling depressed and quite hopeless especially when there is no obvious cause for their discomfort. As pain increases, our movement decreases and our muscles become weak, adding to the discomfort and that overall feeling of just being defeated. There is hope. There is help and you CAN be free from pain.
Many recent studies have noted that people who suffer from long lasting aches and pain often are also lacking in Vitamin D. The “sunshine vitamin” may be your best friend in solving your bodily aches and pains. Our bodies produce Vitamin D naturally in our skin when it is exposed to the Sun; however many people, especially those in less sunny climates, don’t get enough Vitamin D on a daily basis.
Our kidneys and liver break down Vitamin D to form an active chemical that functions very similarly to hormones. It works in almost every part of our body as it is essential to our tissue, organs, muscles, nerves and brain. A lack of Vitamin D has been linked to muscle pain for years. Even more importantly, Vitamin D must be present in order for our bodies to absorb calcium. If calcium is in short supply, our bodies will take calcium from our bones to function which leave bones weak and fragile, as well as susceptible to pain.
While Vitamin D is fortified into many of the foods we eat and even in the beverages we drink because it doesn’t occur naturally in many foods except fish liver oil. It takes a lot of Vitamin D fortified food to get the right daily dose of our “Sunshine Vitamin”. Not many people would consider drinking 10 glasses of milk or eating 17 bowls of fortified cereal a day, except those in a lot of pain perhaps. So the best way to get more Vitamin D is to get outdoors and let your skin do its thing. The next best way to add Vitamin D to your day is to take a multivitamin which has at least 400 to 800 IU (you’ll find this measurement on your vitamin packaging). A healthy pain free adult should ingest at least 1000IU of Vitamin D each day. Taking a multi-vitamin in combination with eating Vitamin D fortified foods and a solid daily dose of sunshine and you should be on the right track for ample Vitamin D intake.
If you are suffering from chronic pain, your daily dose of vitamin D should jump to 2000 IU daily. You can use an additional Vitamin D supplement of about 600 IU (this is in addition to your multivitamin and outdoor time) to reach this goal. It is important to understand that there is no immediate relief when using Vitamin D to treat pain. Vitamin D is not an analgesic. It could take weeks or even months to feel improvements. You must be patient and diligent, but should begin to have a better overall well-being feeling.
Vitamin D should not be taken in place of prescribed pain medications. Additionally, you should always consult your physician before taking doses of Vitamin over 1000IU. Vitamin D may have interactions with other prescriptions. Additionally some illnesses and diseases prevent the absorption of Vitamin D or using it properly. Always be safe and consult with your physician before taking supplements while on medications or under the care of a physician for kidney or liver disorders, Chron’s disease, celiac disease or irritable bowel syndrome.
