Vitamin deficiency may be causing your chronic pain
If your pain meds just don't seem to be cutting it lately, your doctor may be keen to up your dose. Before you go along with it, you'd better read this.
A recent study showed that vitamin D levels make a difference in how high a dose of opiods you need and for how long you're likely need them.
I just wrote in House Calls a few weeks ago about the dangers of these drugs. They've risen to the realm of infamy for being the 2nd leading cause of death in this country.
This study linking vitamin D included 267 patients who had entered a pain rehabilitation center. Over 27 percent of the 140 who were using opiods were deficient in vitamin D. Research has shown that if you are deficient in vitamin D— an essential nutrient needed for your bones and to help fend off arthritis—your body's reaction to pain can be affected.
Before you up your dose of pain meds, ask your doctor to check your vitamin D status. Have him to order a 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood level test. It provides the most accurate assessment of vitamin D in your body. The results should be at least 30 nanograms per milliliter, but I like to see levels above 40 nanograms per milliliter to keep you on the safe side.
Sources for vitamin D include 15 minutes in the sun every day, with bare face and arms. The challenge for most of us is with those winter months if we don't happen to live in a warm, sunny climate. (I'm sure you don't like your arms exposed to arctic temps any more than I do.) Try taking 1,000 IUs of vitamin D year round plus an extra 1,000 IUs from November through April (2,000 IU daily total). These doses are well within the safe range.
