Overview Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue and vitamin D

• Vitamin D Levels can be restored quickly within a week with a loading dose.
  • With a loading dose, you will probably feel the benefits in a week.
• A Vitamin D test is generally NOT required before having a loading dose.
• If you don't feel better within 2 weeks, you do not need to continue taking vitamin D for CFS/ME/Fibromyalgia.
     When stopped, your body will naturally reduce and eliminate any excess vitamin D within 2 months.

Source of above chart = Medscape
FibroGuide - easy introduction to Fibromyalgia featured on Medscape
Fibromyalgia is the second most common condition affecting your bones and muscles. WebMD 2017
huge resource, but nothing about Vitamin D

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long-haul COVID-19

• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and long-haul COVID-19 include 2020 CFS updates

..no compelling evidence that any supplement (aside from vitamin D... - Feb 2024

in certain circumstances) will improve symptoms of fibromyalgia
ConsumerLab

59+ Vitamin D Life pages have FIBROMYALGIA OR FATIGUE in the title

This list is automatically updated

ME/CFS study Feb 2024

‘Deep Phenotyping’ Identifies Abnormalities in ME/CFS MD Edge
Deep phenotyping of post-infectious myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45107-3 FREE PDF

1.7% of American women now have ME/CFS - 2022 CDC Dec 2023 (2021-2022)

and 2% of all Americans who are below the poverty level

Fibromyalgia treated with 50,000 IU Vitamin D weekly and rehab therapy for 6 months – June 2022

Can the Combination of Rehabilitation and Vitamin D Supplementation Improve Fibromyalgia Symptoms at All Ages?
J Funct Morphol Kinesiol. 2022 Jun 20;7(2):51. doi: 10.3390/jfmk7020051.
Dalila Scaturro 1, Fabio Vitagliani 2, Sofia Tomasello 3, Mirko Filippetti 4, Alessandro Picelli 4 5, Nicola Smania 4 5, Giulia Letizia Mauro 1
6 month Results (Group A <50, Group B >50)

• Numerical Rating Scale (NRS),
• Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ),
• Short Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12)

Several studies have indicated a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and widespread chronic pain syndromes, such as fibromyalgia. During this study, the effect of supplementation with vitamin D in association with physical exercise in patients with fibromyalgia was evaluated, in terms of improvement of pain, functional capacity, and quality of life, also evaluating the presence of any differences in age. A single-center, observational, comparative study was conducted on 80 fibromyalgia patients.
They are randomized into 2 groups:

• Group A, consisting of patients ≤50 years; and
• Group B consists of patients &>;50 years.

Both received weekly supplementation with 50,000 IU cholecalciferol for 3 months in association with a rehabilitation protocol. Patients were assessed at enrollment (T0), 3 months (T1), and 6 months (T2) from the initial assessment with blood vitamin D dosage and administration of rating scales (NRS, FIQ, and SF-12). From the comparison between the two groups, we have seen that in young people, supplementation with high-dose vitamin D improves short-term musculoskeletal pain and long-term functional capacity. Conversely, musculoskeletal pain and long-term quality of life improve in the elderly. Supplementing with high doses of vitamin D in fibromyalgia patients improves the quality of life and pain in the elderly and also the functional capacity in the young.
 Download the PDF from Vitamin D Life

11 of 12 studies found Vitamin D helped Fibromyalgia - review March 2022

Efficacy of Vitamin D Supplementation in the Improvement of Clinical Status in Patients Diagnosed with Fibromyalgia Syndrome: A Systematic Review
Curr Rheumatol Rev. 2022 Mar 7. doi: 10.2174/1573397118666220307122152 behind $95 paywall
Nanditha Venkatesan 1, Mallika Gyawali 2, Rinky A Botleroo 2, Rowan Ahmed 2, Roaa Kareem 2, Opemipo D Ogeyingbo 3, Renu Bhandari 4, Abeer O Elshaikh 2

Background Fibromyalgia syndrome is characterized by extensive muscular pain and chronic fatigue. Among the pharmacologic and other nutrient supplements that have been studied, Vitamin D has garnered attention owing to the critical role it plays in inflammatory and pain pathways. We conducted a systematic literature review to examine the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in improving the clinical status of the patients and alleviating the symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Methods We searched Cochrane CENTRAL, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and grey literature (medrXiv and biorXiv) for observational studies, randomized controlled trials, case-control studies, and case reports published in English from January 2011 to May 2021, using the terms vitamin D and fibromyalgia or FMS. References were reviewed manually, and articles were only included if they were specific in their diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
Results 2651 studies were retrieved, with 12 studies fulfilling the inclusion criteria. 11 out of these 12 studies were of high quality and showed a low risk of bias. 11 of these also demonstrated definitive improvement in clinical status and various outcome measures following supplementation with Vitamin D.

Conclusions Our study emphasizes an association between the supplementation of vitamin D and the improvement of the clinical condition of fibromyalgia through a systematic review of high-quality studies. The study also identified areas for future scope for research that is needed for standardizing the detection and treatment of this chronic condition through cost-effective supplements such as Vitamin D.

German website and book – relief in 1 week - 2014

• Excellent Vitamin D website with a Free Vitamin D evaluation service in English and another in German
• Healthy in Seven Days - Loading dose of Vitamin D – book 2014, which has the following chart

Case studies in the book include Back and leg pain, Chronic fatigue, Lethargy, Fatigue, Exhaustion, Neck pain, and Emergency relief from exhaustion.

4 Vitamin D books with sections on Chronic Pain/ Fibromyalgia

• The Vitamin D Solution: CFS on pages 4,12,67 Fibromyalgia 4, 6, 12, 65-68
• The Vitamin D Cure: Chronic pain and Fibromyalgia pg 133-136
• Power of Vitamin D: contained in chapters pg 25-34, available as an e-book for $5
• Vitamin D Prescription: Fibromyalgia on pages 4, 20-23, 80-84, 171, 185, 198-199

Loading Dose of Vitamin D

Overview Loading of vitamin D
Check that you are not allergic to vitamin D by trying a small amount - say 1,000 IU and seeing any reactions (only about 1 in 300 people are)
The brand vitamin D with the least amount of additives and no reported bad reactions is Bio-Tech - which also is the highest-rated brand on Amazon.
Of the few people with reactions to vitamin D, many appear to be deficient in Magnesium - Magnesium Chloride is a good supplement.
A typical loading dose of 400,000 IU - can, for example, be achieved by 50,000 IU capsules once a day for 8 days.

After loading the dose, just one tiny capsule every 2 weeks

• One pill every two weeks gives you all the vitamin D most adults need - it also has a lot of information on Vitamin D
  About 2 cents per day. Eight of the same 50,000 IU capsules can be used as a loading dose: at a total cost of $2.00
• How often might 50,000 IU vitamin D be taken - results of clinical trials - show how many other diseases will be prevented/cured with 1 pill every 2 weeks

See also Vitamin D Life - related topics

• Rheumatoid arthritis associated with low vitamin D – Fibromyalgia makes it even lower – Oct 2014
• Inflammation
• Depression
• Headache category
• Hypothesis of Autoimmunity which includes Epstein-Barr Virus and Vitamin D Deficiency – 2012
  • Note: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome was called Epstine Barr Virus before 1988
• Pain subjectively and objectively lower in people with higher levels of vitamin D – Aug 2014
• 100 Million Americans Have Chronic Pain – IoM June 2011

Fibromyalgia worse if low vitamin D – June 2020

Association Between Low Vitamin D Levels and the Greater Impact of Fibromyalgia
J Clin Med Res. 2020 Jul;12(7):436-442. doi: 10.14740/jocmr4136
Susyane Ribeiro Beserra 1, Fabiola Isabel Suano Souza 1, Roseli Oselka Saccardo Sarni 1, Myllena Maria de Morais Pereira 2
 Download the PDF from Vitamin D Life

Background: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a clinical syndrome mainly characterized by generalized chronic pain, fatigue, sleep, and cognition disorders. The role played by vitamin D in the pathophysiology of painful syndromes is poorly known. Studies assessing the association between vitamin D and FM have presented conflicting results. The aims of the current study were to assess vitamin D levels in FM patients by comparing them to healthy controls, as well as to analyze their impact on this disease.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study comprising 43 FM patients (ACR 2010 criteria) and 40 healthy individuals. All participants had their vitamin D levels measured, and FM patients also had their total calcium, albumin, phosphorus, and parathyroid hormone (PTH) measured. Clinical variables capable of affecting the results were evaluated, and the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQ) was applied.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in global mean values of vitamin D between groups. In the total sample, only 4.8% of the individuals had vitamin D deficiency, which corresponded to the deficiency found in the group of patients; in the control, no one had vitamin deficiency; 39.8% had insufficient levels, and 55.4% with sufficient levels. The mean serum vitamin D values were similar between the FM and control groups (34.8 ± 12 and 34.7 ± 12.3 ng/mL, respectively; P = 0.806). However, a significant negative correlation was found between vitamin D concentration and FIQ values; that is, patients with the greatest impact of the disease had lower concentrations of vitamin D (P = 0.018).

Conclusion: FM patients did not present a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency than healthy individuals, although low vitamin D concentrations could indicate more severe disease impacts.

Clipped from PDF
“…” fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQ), which comprised questions organized into 10 different items focused on investigating participants’ functional capacity, professional status, psychological disorders, and physical symptoms.”

See also PubMed - CFS, Fibromyalgia, and Vitamin D.

Search for (fibromyalgia OR "Chronic Fatigue") "vitamin d" 105 items as of Dec 2020

• Is hypovitaminosis D associated with fibromyalgia? A systematic review Aug 2019, inclusive
• Vitamin D and fibromyalgia: a meta-analysis Oct 2017, yes, FREE PDF
• Effects of vitamin D optimization on quality of life of patients with fibromyalgia: A randomized controlled tria April 2018. 50,000 IU weekly helped FREE PDF
• Vitamin D Supplementation Seems to Improve Fibromyalgia Symptoms: Preliminary Results June 2018 50,000 IU weekly helped FREE PDF
• Vitamin D in Fibromyalgia: A Causative or Confounding Biological Interplay? June 2016 Free PDF online
• Effects of vitamin D on patients with fibromyalgia syndrome: a randomized placebo-controlled trial Feb 2014
  "The goal was to achieve serum calcifediol levels between 32 and 48ng/mL for 20 weeks via oral supplementation with cholecalciferol."
  "A marked reduction in pain was noted over the treatment period."
  "This economical therapy with a low side effect profile may well be considered in patients with FMS."

See also web - CFS, Fibromyalgia

• In-depth overview of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at Examine.com Jan 2023
• Efficacy and safety of weekly vitamin D 3 in patients with fibromyalgia Feb 2021, 50K 12 week
  • DOI: 10.1007/s10067-021-05640-8 Most likely too short of time to be of benefit without a loading dose
• PubMed CoQ10 and fibor drug better than just fibro drug in reducing pain - RCT Aug 2019
  • Should consider taking CoQ10 in addition to Vitamin D
• 20+ Natural Fibromyalgia Solutions Including The Gluten-Free Diet GreenMedInfo, Feb 2014
  includes: Magnesium, Vitamin D, CoQ10, D-Ribose (reduced symptoms in 2/3 of people,
• 4 minute excellent review of Fibromyalgia studies and trials
  Michael Greger, M.D. FACLM July 3rd, 2017 Volume 36
• Mercola 2022 PDF
  Mitocondria and IR light, Vitamin D and Magnesium 1-hour video.
• People commenting on CFS and vitamin D
• Are sunlight and vitamin D good for chronic fatigue syndrome?
• Fighting Fatigue website on vitamin D
• Is Vitamin D Important For Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?
• How Fibromyalgia and Vitamin D Deficiency Are Linked?
• Fibromyalgia & CFS Blog at About.com
  • Updated Jan 2011 - feeling much better with 5,000 IU daily - many comments
• Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia at About.com
• WikiPedia : African Americans and Native Americans have a significantly higher risk of CFS.2009 (Dark skin is associated with less vitamin d)
• Vitamin D deficiency and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Oct 2012 - long blog post with lots of references
• Editorial: Fibromyalgia: could vitamin D help? International Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, June 2014
  No abstract, Publisher charges $20 to rent the abstract for a day
• fibromyalgia patient overview Vitamin D Council - 2013?
• Fibromyalgia is worse during pregnancy fibromyalgia-symptoms.org
  This could be predicted since vitamin D levels drop during pregnancy
• Symptoms of Fibromyalgia Patients Like Me

• Patients Like Me has lots of Fibromyalgia information, such as a chart that show who has it

• Vitamin D at CureTogether: Fibromyalgia, MS, Psoriasis, etc - Dec 2013
  Vitamin D is fairly popular among 113 treatments and has some effectiveness even at low doses (assume 2,000 IU without a loading dose)

• 15,000 at Patients Like me commenting on CFS

CDC on Fibromyalgia

• Fibromyalgia is a disorder of unknown etiology characterized by widespread pain, abnormal pain processing, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and often psychological distress.
• People with fibromyalgia may also have other symptoms, such as Morning stiffness, Tingling or numbness in hands and feet, Headaches, including migraines, Irritable bowel syndrome, Sleep disturbances, Cognitive problems with thinking and memory (sometimes called "fibro fog"), Painful menstrual periods and other pain syndromes.
• Fibromyalgia often co-occurs (up to 25-65%) with other rheumatic conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and ankylosing spondylitis (AS).
• Prevalence 3.4% women, 0.5% men - averaged over all ages - increases with age
• Working-age women with fibromyalgia hospitalized for occupational musculoskeletal disorders were almost 10 times less likely to return to work
  Causes and/or risk factors for fibromyalgia are unknown, but some things have been loosely associated with disease onset:
      Stressful or traumatic events, Repetitive injuries, Illness (e.g., viral infections), Certain diseases (i.e., SLE, RA, chronic fatigue syndrome), Genetic predisposition, Obesity
      Note by Vitamin D Life: most of these are associated with a decrease in vitamin D levels
• Effect of Correction of Low Vitamin D in Fatigue Study (EViDiF Study) Aug 2014
  Full free text online. 50,000 IU of D2 3 times per week for 5 weeks got 96% of subjects > 30 ng. Total fatigue scores dropped from 33 down to 11
  same study described at Vitamin D Council free
• A Primer on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome GreenMedInfo Jan 2015
  Mentions Vitamin D
• Hope for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome SLATE Nov 2015
  "And the hallmark symptom of the illness is that exertion can make patients much, much worse."
  ". . . the National Institutes of Health spends $5 million to $6 million a year on a disease that affects a million Americans. (For comparison, about the same number of people with HIV/AIDS receives $3 billion in NIH funding.)"
  the article describes the major shortcomings of the previous PCE trial
• ME isn’t just ‘exercise phobia’: it’s a physical illness. Nov 2015
  People die of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) when PCE-type techniques are used.
  74 percent of ME patients are harmed by the therapy
• CHRONIC PAIN: WHAT IT IS AND HOW PROPER TESTING HELPS Dec 2020
  • does not mention Vitamin D

ME and CFS share 85% of the altered genes - Jan 2024

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia: A Single Disease Entity? MD Edge

• "Close to 2,100 proteins were identified, of which nearly 1,800 were common to both conditions."

Rreporting on

• Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia are indistinguishable by their cerebrospinal fluid proteomes - Sept 2023 FREE PDF

Wonder if Long-COVID has similar altered genes.

Fibromyalgia description - diagnosis takes many years

Fibromyalgia - Burden of disease and disability and how it changed History by Drdoc on-line

Fibromyalgia pain is worse than labor pain

Pain Medical Musing from a 1988 book

If you have gut problems & Fibro - you may need a different form of Vitamin D

Standard Vitamin D is not absorbed well in poorly functioning guts (IBS, etc.)
There are many different "gut-friendly" forms of vitamin D
Vitamin D injection is far better than oral for diabetics (poor gut) – RCT March 2017

Nice body chart by Dr. Carey

EasyImmuneHealth 2014?

Fibromyalgia and Vitamin D Don't Get Misdiagnosed
Fibromyalgia and Vitamin D Deficiency very often have COMPLETELY IDENTICAL symptoms.
Large numbers of people have been misdiagnosed with Fibromyalgia when they simply have Vitamin D Deficiency- don't be one of them.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome associated with different gut bacteria

• Gut Bacteria Are Different in People With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome New York Times July 2016
  "The stool samples of those with C.F.S. had significantly lower diversity of species compared with the healthy people — a finding typical of inflammatory bowel disease as well."
• Reduced diversity and altered composition of the gut microbiome in individuals with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome
  Full free PDF online, Published June 2016

5 Common Causes of Chronic Fatigue - Sept 2018

5 Common Causes of Chronic Fatigue and Tests That Help Reveal The Cause Self Hacked
1) Anemia: Iron Deficiency, Vitamin B12 Deficiency, Folate (Vitamin B9) Deficiency
   Overview Iron Supplements and Vitamin D
   Vitamin B12
2) Poor Thyroid Function (Hypothyroidism)
   Thyroid and vitamin D are the only body components which have a receptor on every cell in the body
  Hypothyroidism risk reduced 32 percent in those getting vitamin D levels above 50 ng – Oct 2017
  The Role of Vitamin D in Thyroid Diseases – Sept 2017
3) Vitamin D Deficiency
4) Poor Liver Function
5) Low Testosterone Levels

Magnesium fights Fibromyalgia - a few PubMed studies

• Magnesium and Fibromyalgia: A Literature Review - 2021 PDF
• Fibromyalgia and nutrition: Therapeutic possibilities? July 2018 (Magnesium) 10.1016/j.biopha.2018.04.056
  amino acids, magnesium, selenium, vitamins B and D
• Effects of transdermal magnesium chloride on quality of life for patients with fibromyalgia: a feasibility study Sept 2016 doi: 10.1016/S2095-4964(15)60195-9

A Wiki dedicated to ME/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

https://me-pedia.org/wiki 3,300 entries as of Jan 2024
Has an OK entry for Vitamin D and CFS

CFS sufferer for 25 years helped by improving his mitochondria - May 2022

Toby Rodgers

• He was helped by Sarah Myhill’s book, Diagnosis and Treatment of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Myalgic Encephalitis, 2nd ed.: It’s Mitochondria, Not Hypochondria
• Johnson thinks ME/CFS is caused by a virus.8
• "...estimated 1% of the global population has ME/CFS
• took >20 years for him to be diagnosed as having ME/CFS
  • Note: on average, the time is seven years to be diagnosed

Short URL = http://is.gd/fibrovitd