Vitamin D has been reported to be low in patients with migraines as well as a host of other medical conditions. The big question is whether this is just a coincidence or a cause-and-effect relationship. In some conditions, such as multiple sclerosis, people with higher vitamin D levels have fewer relapses than those with lower levels, indicating a direct benefit of vitamin D. In other diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, strokes, and migraine this relationship is not clear.
A new study by Iranian doctors published in BioMed Research International shows that vitamin D deficiency is found in about half of 105 migraine patients they tested. However, when they looked at 110 matched controls without migraines, they found that half of them were also deficient. They also found that those with more severe migraines did not have lower levels than those with milder ones. This strongly suggests that vitamin D has no effect on migraine headaches.
So if you suffer from migraines, do not expect vitamin D to improve your headaches. However, if your blood test shows a deficiency, you should definitely take a vitamin D supplement to avoid some known and possibly some yet unknown problems. Taking the daily recommended dose of 600 units may not be sufficient and you may need to recheck your level to make sure that you are absorbing it. Some of my patients have needed as much as 5,000 units daily to get their vitamin D level to normal range.
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