I recently came across these lectures about Vit. D and sleep problems after I tested low at 24 ng/ml. I'm now taking 10,000u/day and will be retested in 30 days. We Fibroians don't need anything more wrong with our sleep since most of us have sleep disorders/apnea. I was just diagnosed as severe SA and began CPAP, and if you haven't had a sleep study I highly recommend it if you can afford it. If you're anything like me with reduced activity outdoors due to Fibro., you probably need Vit. D supplementation beyond your diet. Here's some science backing this up, so enjoy:
Dr. NL lecturing about Headache, Sleep Apnea/ Disorders and Vit D relationship
Hi i have Lupus and my rhuemy checks my vit d regularly i can never seem to get my level high enough . I had a sleep study at the start of this year and it was the best thing i could have done. I don’t have sleep apnea but my whole body jerks at night. I was started on meds and sleep better now.
That's some interesting info linking D3 to sleep, I have read that B12 will offer better sleep, but was unaware of the D, thanks for sharing that info!
My Mom has been low on D for a few years, and I usually give her a couple thousand units daily along with a multi vit/min, with cal cit, magnesium, potassium...
I was just recently made aware that even larger doses than yours are prescribed to help heal broken bones more quickly! My Mom is trying to heal from a pretty nasty break of the hip, and her Surgeon has her on 50,000 units daily! I had NEVER heard of such a high dose, so I dug around on the net and it was confirmed that it is used for healing!
I don't have sleep apnea, but I have sleep problems due to strong chronic pain, most of that is joint damage, so I'll be asking about these high doses, to see if it could be beneficial to either! I'm in the 'anything that works club'! I feel like I have had a shovel blade rammed into my lower back, so that question will be at the top of the list at my next GP and Rheum appt!
You know I was tested with low Vit D levels too. I think it's because we are never outside soaking up the suns rays like we should be. He was giving me 50,000 IU a week for that issue. I need to have that checked again.
As far as sleep goes I take Soma and that has made a huge difference in my sleep.
I know drugs drugs drugs...that part bothers me that I can't get along with out it...oh well one day at a time, one hour, one minute.
Long time, no see! It's crazy how our bodies can change so quickly! You can have a check up, everything is fine, including the blood work, then bang, it is forever changed!
It seems as though the researchers are just in the genesis of finding all of the things that Vitamin D does in our body!
I can't listen right now, as my roommate/sister is trying to sleep but that's an interesting concept. It seems like so many parts of our bodies are interconnected with other parts on a cellular level. I'm looking forward to watching this at a more reasonable hour, so thank you for posting it. And I hope you can get your vitamin D levels up. It's very odd how so many of us have major Vitamin D deficiencies. It almost seems to suggest that something is wrong with the Vitamin D receptor site, so that it can't allow Vitamin D to attach to it and process. I wonder if that's why so many of us have problems with our teeth cracking, etc. Anyway, sorry to digress. You've brought up an interesting topic, and it'll be intriguing to hear what others have to say.
I know I've mentioned radio ablation before, stating that the first three weeks were horrific but it did work very well in getting rid of my back pain. I know that yours has various causes but wondered if this might work on you? I did do it again, in fact; hasn't worked as well but it helps to get rid of the worst of the back pain.
Also, I'm really sorry to see that your mom is still struggling from the broken hip. I'm not going to even think about the possibilities of her having any of the auto--immune illnesses. Is she able to walk yet? Please let me know how she's doing...you can always drop me a note. Sorry to distract from the main topic.
Please try to not be too hard on yourself in regards to the drugs you take. I take a lot of stuff too and every now and then I get into the mindset that I'm just fine and don't need the meds, especially the Lyrica for pain, ...well, how stupid is that? Just as a diabetic NEEDS insulin, I NEED these drugs in order to function. And sleep is SUCH an important part of our life. Of course you need to get yours, and enough to make it matter so you body can repair itself. Whatever you can do so you can get that sleep, short of hiring Michael Jackson's infamous sleep doctor, is important and fair game.
I've stopped inflicting the, "Oh, drugs!" horror-reaction upon myself because I finally realized that I'm extremely fortunate enough to be able to get them and live in a time where something is available. And I NEED them. I don't want to live curled up in a ball from the horrific pain and lack of sleep, so those drugs are essential to me. I hope you can learn to feel more comfortable with using them. If you think about it, you're only providing chemicals to your body that it needs and seems to be missing. Hopefully eventually medics will find a way so we can replenish those missing chemicals without resorting to drugs...but until then...well, I guess we're stuck with the big box of medications.
Great to read all the responses. Update from me, the 10K/day has been causing constipation, so going to back down to 5K U and see if that changes. Maybe try the gummy stuff at Walmart.
Just wanted to let all know it seems it can have this side effect I wasn't aware of. Probably have to get my level up eventually to see if that improves sleep.
I hadn't realized that Vitamin D could cause constipation. I don't know about the gummy Vitamin D's but I love my gummy multi-vitamins! I just couldn't handle the nasty flavor of the vitamins in pill form, so the gummys are a great solution! They feel like a treat instead of a nasty pill.
I hope you can get your Vitamin D up. That seems to be a problem for most of us with fibro. I personally think there is something wrong at the receptor site for Vitamin D and that the Vitamin somehow does not get accepted and passed throughout our bodies.
My doctor said to also take calcium supplements with the Vit D, it makes your body absorb the vit D. Mine was low about 5 years ago and I've been on since, slowly lowering how much I take. It makes A LOT of difference in me overall.