Hi I am new here... my name is Rachel and I am 27 from Arkansas. I must say first off that this forum has been an invaluble resource to myself and my fiance who once was extremely confused as to what fibromyalgia really is -- and thanks to the 101 resources link, I think he finally understands it!
Well, I will try to get to the point here without having to give too much backstory. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and severe vitamin d deficiency in October of last year. It took years to reach the diagnosis, since for years my pain stayed localized -- it was either in my hips or in my knees. Last August is when it finally just got everywhere, in every joint and muscle in my body.
The thing is this. My rheumatologist believes the Vitamin D Deficiency is what caused my fibromyalgia, along with severe knee trauma in my teenage years. (which is probably why that's where it started.) Basically, he thinks this because of a few things. At age 15, I got psoriasis -- which he says is linked to Vitamin D. Shortly after that is when I started sleeping all day and night -- I would come home from school and go to sleep until I had to go to school the next day quite frequently. Then that's when I got periodontal disease, and by the age of 22, I had to get dentures because it had gotten so bad -- which he says is also linked to the Vitamin D. My teeth were malformed and had, as the dentists always put it (who were baffled by the severity of the situation, given my age) almost no enamel on them. The pain started when I was about 20 years old.
It finally became unbearable a few years ago, when the pain finall started lasting longer than a few months at a time before fading completely and persisted to the point that I could hardly walk. I finally saw a doctor. Fibromyalgia was never even mentioned. The absurd amount of blood tests were run, but they only found one thing -- EXTREMELY high cholesterol. My total cholesterol was over 700. LDL was 300, HDL 30, and triglycerides 450. At age 25 -- so the whole diet and exercise speech was given to me along with cholesterol medication (Vytorin, before the press release on it). Now, I may not have had the best diet at the time, and had slacked off on exercising -- but I was 25 years old? and I wasn't overweight or underactive physically? They never seemed interested in pursuing WHY I might have it, not even when my LDL level went down, but the HDL and triglyceride levels continued to get worse, which they called "metabolic syndrome".
Then, my blood sugar went out of whack. It was, fasting, 115 every day. They said it was insulin resistance and slapped me on some Metformin.
Now, when I finally got to a rheumatologist, and he found the Vitamin D problem (which, when diagnosed, my Vitamin D level was 6.2) and slapped me on a 50,000 IU tablet of Vitamin D once a week with a 1,000 IU supplement of Vitamin D twice a day. My Vitamin D has gone up to 38 since November, but the rheumatologist believes I have had the Vitamin D problem perhaps forever and thinks I will always need to be on the 50,000 IU pill.
Now here's the weird thing. After two years of desperately trying to exercise when I could and eating right (and finally giving up on both a few months before the diagnosis) my cholesterol and blood sugar were worse than ever -- until I got on the Vitamin D. I can proudly say that suddenly my blood sugar has dropped to 70 and my total cholesterol is under 300 -- LDL at 56, HDL at 45, and triglycerides at 130 -- quite obviously because of the Vitamin D. It's the only thing that I was doing differently during those few months!
I just wanted everyone to know I am living proof that Vitamin D very adversely affects those things, and probably many others. I hope everyone with fibromyalgia gets their Vitamin D checked, especially if they have ever had a history of a cholesterol or blood sugar problem. It really may be out of your control, and out of any cholesterol or diabetes medications control as well! I know I wasted A LOT of money on both medicines over the years. I mean, we already have to spend so much on our medicines for fibromyalgia (I mean, I know I already take four different medications for THAT) why spend more if one little thing can take care of it..?
I just thought I would share that with everyone. Thanks for listening.