by Sally Applin
It’s time to try to help those suffering from depression in our community to get some help.
Vitamin D3 deficiency affects mental health as well as bodily health and a deficiency can have serious consequences. D3 is not a vitamin in the traditional sense, it’s a hormone and it regulates a lot of bodily processes that have to do with way more than your bone strength. It effects mental state. Seasonal Depression in part is attributed to lack of sunlight (e.g. Vitamin D3) in humans.
If you don’t want to read any further, PLEASE read this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-frank-lipman/vitamin-d-what-you-need-t_b_308973.html
Here’s why this matters for you:
People who work with computers may be indoors more than others and that means that they aren’t getting enough sunlight. Some sunlight doesn’t correct the problem. It depends on the season and where you live.
We get D3 from the sun. BUT, if we live North of 37 degree latitude in the Northern Hemisphere (and the equivalent distance in the Southern Hemisphere in their winter), we cannot get D3 from the sun in winter. The angle of the sun is too low. Even if we went out naked, it wouldn’t work and we’d need to supplement.
Here is the checklist to ask yourself if you might be D3 deficient, do you have any one or more of these?
1) Do you work indoors?
Are you programming a lot? You work indoors.
2) Do you live North of Latitude 37 degrees in the Northern Hemisphere?
Check this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_latitude
If you live in ANY city NORTH of 37 DEGREES in the NORTHERN HEMISPHERE (the adjusted calculation for the SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE), then you CANNOT GET ENOUGH D3 from the sun IN WINTER and NEED to SUPPLEMENT.
3) Are you depressed?
4) Do your bones hurt?
5) Do you get frequent colds?
6) Do you always or very often wear sunscreen?
7) Do you AVOID DAIRY PRODUCTS? (are you Vegan? Lactose intolerant?)
You can’t get what you need if you are indoors in winter from food sources. It isn’t enough.
If you want to quantify first that you need D3 to rule it out as a source for depression, ask your doctor for the: “25 HYDROXY D3” blood test.
To correct it, you will NOT necessarily need megadoses. I corrected my deficiency with about a 2500-3000 iu of D3 from Country Life (gel caps).
My deficiency manifested more in bone pain than depression and it took a long time to detect D3 deficiency as the culprit. Here is my data to share with you.
Component Standard Range VitD,25-Hydroxy Tot 30-100 ng/mL
8/21/2009 13 L
9/15/2009 22 L
10/2/2009 26 L
11/12/2009 32 (This is the bare minimum)
1/11/2010 42
4/7/2010 46 (Midrange from here all the way to the present)
1/18/2011 52
9/13/2011 51
1/3/2012 46
The range for D3 for my test was “30-100.” My first level was 13, which is 17 points BELOW NORMAL. I’m now in the middle range, which is where I should be. I started slowly, taking 1000 ui/day and it took about 4 weeks to get to the bottom of the range. I then upped it to 2000 iu/day.
I felt better. My bones stopped hurting and I’ve managed to keep myself at around 46-50 with a daily of 2500/iu for the past year, taking it year round.
D3 is fat soluable so you SHOULD NOT take megadoses (5000 iu/+) WITHOUT SUPERVISION.
This is the best article I’ve found on D3. Remember it’s D3:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-frank-lipman/vitamin-d-what-you-need-t_b_308973.html
Please, if you are seriously depressed, reach out.
You are valuable and you deserve to be here with us.
1-800-SUICIDE
1-800-784-2433
1-800-273-TALK
1-800-273-8255
For Telephone support:
Here is a list of our hotlines in the US
(800)442-4673 …..1-800-442-HOPE
(877)838-2838 …..1-877-Vet2Vet Veterans peer support line
(800)784-2432 …..1-800-SUICIDA Spanish speaking suicide hotline
(877)968-8454 …..1-877-YOUTHLINE teen to teen peer counseling hotline
(800)472-3457 …..1-800-GRADHLP Grad student hotline
(800)773-6667 …..1-800-PPD-MOMS Post partum depression hotline
For a list of hotlines outside the US go here:
www.befrienders.org
For email support 24 x 7:
jo@samaritans.org
It may take a few hours or more to generate a response
For online chat support:
(none of these are 24 x7 but will tell you if online counselors are available)
http://www.IMALIVE.org
The first online network with 100% of its volunteers trained and certified in crisis intervention.
http://newhopeonline.org/counseling/liveperson.html
http://www.crisischat.org
http://www.kidshelp.com.au/teens/get-help/web-counselling
( only available in Australia)
©2013-2014 Sally A. Applin. All rights reserved.
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