Vitamin D3 is an Endocrine System produced Steroid Hormone. It was unfortunately mislabeled when originally discovered. The word “vitamin” generally applies to substances that our body can’t make, but need, so we must get vitamins from exogenous sources. Vitamin D3 is instead, an endogenous hormone that we make naturally in our skin from exposure to the sun's UVB rays. It is the most ancient hormone, and important to the function and balance of other hormones such as estrogen or testosterone. It is called "The Sunshine Vitamin", but more accurately would be called "The Sunshine Hormone".
Vitamin D receptors are present in virtually every tissue and cell in your body, and adequate Vitamin D level is essential for optimal balance, homeostasis, and functioning of these tissues and cells. The vitamin D receptor is present in nerve cells called nociceptors, which sense pain. This means that more vitamin D impacts the level or feeling of pain experienced. While best known for roles in maintaining bone health and the immune system, Vitamin D activates receptors that signal pain and inflammation reduction.
RESEARCH ARTICLES, WITH SELECT QUOTES
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Vitamin D helps maintain muscle strength, while reducing inflammation. This combination led researchers to conduct a randomized controlled trial in which they discovered vitamin D supplementation significantly reduced musculoskeletal pain
Vitamin D has anti-inflammatory effects in the body by reducing the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and suppressing T-cell responses.
The impact of vitamin D on sensory function, including pain processing, has been receiving increasing attention. Indeed, vitamin D deficiency is associated with various chronic pain conditions, and several lines of evidence indicate that vitamin D supplementation may trigger pain relief.
Vitamin D may be the most common and manageable factor in pain: the case for presumptive treatment
The only thing worse than chronic pain with six causes is … seven causes. Obviously. Anything you can do to simplify the pain equation is a good idea, and you can certainly take vitamin D. (Just consult with a doctor first, please.)
Vitamin D deficiency can be fixed. It may be tough to get enough from diet and sunshine, but supplementation is cheap, safe, and effective, so it’s an ideal candidate for presumptive treatment: going ahead and treating based on the presumption of vitamin D deficiency even if it has not been established with blood tests. By all means do that too, of course! But if a lot of healthy people take this stuff “just in case,” it’s hardly radical for pain patients to give it a shot. There’s just not much downside to this one … and chronic pain is a major bummer. So talk to your doctor, get tested, and get supplementing — it could be a big deal for you.
Chronic pain is highly prevalent in the developed world, and levels of vitamin D are often lower among those with chronic pain conditions than those without. Supplementation of vitamin D has been investigated as a potential independent treatment for chronic pain. This paper presents an overview of the scientific evidence and provides recommendations for use of vitamin D in clinical practice with chronic pain patients.
A study [1] in a previous issue of the Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care (SJPHC) adds to the growing list of publications on vitamin D as a possible treatment for chronic pain. It describes a high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in patients with non-specific musculoskeletal pain, headache, and fatigue.
There have been loads of studies that have linked a lack in Vitamin D to a high increase of Chronic pain,