Hello, is low vitamin D levels a part of having fibromyalgia?

Hi Chloe,

This is an excellent question! Vitamin D has been recognized more and more as being important to overall health, and also prevention of many conditions, including MS, premature labor, Alzheimer's disease and arthritis, to name a few.

Many North Americans are deficient in vitamin D, partly due to inadequate diet and partly due to our use of sunscreen, which blocks rays from the sun that are needed by our body to synthesize vitamin D. Many of us work indoors and do not get adequate exposure to sunlight. We are also more aware of the dangers of excessive exposure to sunlight; however, we do need some exposure to sunlight to prevent vitamin D deficiency.

Studies have linked viatmin D deficiency to fibromyalgia, and I think we will see more of these. Fibromyalgia is becoming an area of interest to researchers, and vitamin D is also the subject of scrutiny now that it has been linked to so many conditions.

The best thing to do if you have fibromyalgia is to be sure your diet is suffieceint to maintain normal levels of vitamin D. Foods to include in your diet include:

fish
milk
yogurt
cheese
liver
eggs
cod liver oil

If you feel that you might be deficient in vitamin D, ask your doctor to do a blood test. Some people choose to supplement vitamin D if they are found to be deficient.

Hope this answers your question!
Jennifer