7 improvements in lives of veterans with chronic pain with 50,000 IU vitamin D weekly – June 2012

Improvement of Pain, Sleep, and Quality of Life in Chronic Pain Patients With Vitamin D Supplementation.

Clin J Pain. 2012 Jun 13.
Huang W whuang4@emory.edu, Shah S, Long Q, Crankshaw AK, Tangpricha V.
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation ?Geriatrics, Extended Care Service Line, Atlanta VA Medical Center, Decatur
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine §Department of Medicine, Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism & Lipids, Emory University School of Medicine
Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA.

OBJECTIVES:
To evaluate the effects of vitamin D supplementation in outpatient veterans with multiple areas of chronic pain.

METHODS:
A case series was performed as an outpatient vitamin D supplementation quality improvement project. A total of 28 US veterans with multiple areas of chronic pain and low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] (<30 ng/mL) concentrations at baseline were identified in a major Veterans Affairs Medical Center from May 2009 till November 2010.
They were supplemented with vitamin D

• 1200 IU daily if serum 25(OH)D was in the insufficient range (20 to 29 ng/mL) or
• 50,000 IU weekly if serum 25(OH)D was in the deficient range (<20 ng/mL).

Standardized outcome measures were assessed before and after supplementation, including pain assessed by the 0 to 10 pain score and the bodily pain domain score of the Veterans Rand 36 item, sleep by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and quality of life (QoL) by the Veterans Rand 36 item.

RESULTS:
Participants reported no side effects during the study.
Relative to baseline, pain, sleep, and QoL all improved except for role-functioning emotional.
The improvements remained significant in

1. pain score (P<0.001),
2. sleep latency (P=0.019),
3. sleep duration (P=0.012),
4. bodily pain (P=0.014),
5. general health (P=0.006),
6. vitality (P=0.048), and
7. social functioning (P=0.017)

after controlling for age, sex, race, body mass index, season, baseline serum 25(OH)D concentration subgroup, and whether or not participants received additional procedural intervention during the supplementation period.

CONCLUSIONS:
Standardized vitamin D supplementation in veterans with multiple areas of chronic pain can be effective in improving their pain levels, sleep, and various aspects of QoL.

PMID: 22699141

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See also VitaminDWiki

• Overview Pain and Vitamin D
• Overview Fibromyalgia or Chronic Fatigue and vitamin D
• All items in Chronic Pain and Vitamin D 167 items
• (Veterans and Vitamin D - many studies))
• Quality of Life
• 150,000 IU vitamin D reduced pain in immigrants – RCT Dec 2012
• Poor sleep and lack of vitamin D - Nov 2011
• 100 Million Americans Have Chronic Pain – IoM June 2011 no mention of vitamin D
• Discover the Pain of Vitamin D Deficiency