The attached blog has been edited, Reed Wilson, director of Health and Communications from this original: delayed-association-between-insufficient-vitamin-d-and-cognitive-impairment-among-exceptionally-long-lived-individuals? 

January 17 2014. A report published on January 17, 2014 in the journal Pain describes the outcome of a trial involving vitamin D supplementation by adults with fibromyalgia which found a benefit for the vitamin in relieving the chronic pain that characterizes the syndrome.

The trial included 30 subjects diagnosed with fibromyalgia syndrome who had low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels of less than 32 nanograms per milliliter. Half of the participants received 1200 IU or 2400 IU vitamin D3, and the remaining half received a placebo for 24 weeks. Serum vitamin D levels were measured before treatment and at 5 and 13 weeks. Pain, health-related quality of life, anxiety and depression, disease-related impairment and physical sensations were evaluated at the beginning of the study and at various time points during examinations at weeks 1, 5, 13, 25 and 49.

Vitamin D was discontinued by those whose serum levels measured over 48 nanograms per milliliter after 13 weeks. A significant reduction in pain occurred over time in those who received the vitamin, while remaining essentially unchanged in the placebo group. Physical role functioning also improved among those given vitamin D, while remaining constant in the control subjects.

"We believe that the data presented in the present study are promising," stated lead author Florian Wepner of the Center of Excellence for Orthopaedic Pain Management in Speising, Austria. "Fibromyalgia syndrome is a very extensive symptom complex that cannot be explained by a vitamin D deficiency alone. However, vitamin D supplementation may be regarded as a relatively safe and economical treatment for fibromyalgia syndrome patients and an extremely cost-effective alternative or adjunct to expensive pharmacological treatment as well as physical, behavioral, and multimodal therapies. Vitamin D levels should be monitored regularly in fibromyalgia syndrome patients, especially in the winter season, and raised appropriately."

Reed Wilson