Vitamin D3 Cured my Anxiety, Depression, and Panic Disorder

[MP270996]

Ali, I still can't answer on your private message because of my number of posts, but I will answer as soon as I get permission. Can there be problem of absorption of D vitamin, I am feeling bit worse last few days, wanting to test my level again if state continues (tested it month ago)

[silverlude]

Hello all,

I also wanted to let people know that Vitamin D3 supplements and sun exposure helped with my depression! I suffered with depression and anxiety for about a year and had been on a number of anti-depressants with little relief. I had read alot on depression and discovered Vitamin D deficiency and its relation to depression. I found out my Vitamin D levels weren't optimal as I had tested in May 2015 at 27ng/ml. I've been supplementing with 3000IU plus sun exposure daily for the last three months with almost complete resolution of my depressive symptoms. I also discovered that I had to supplement with Magnesium for my anxiety symptoms which is well under control when my magnesium levels are adequate. Its been such a relief as I've also come off my antidepressants (under medical supervision) as a result of the improvements that I made.
I'm getting my blood tests results for Vitamin D soon so it will be interesting to see if there has been any improvement in my Vitamin D levels. The GP was reluctant to test Vitamin D but did it when I insisted!

[silverlude]

Hello Ali,

As I'm a new user, I can't reply to your personal message yet but thank you for your advice. I got my blood test result today and it was 56.5ng/ml!! It has gone up significantly since I supplemented and got sun exposure for the last three months. So I'm very happy. Much better than 27ng/ml!
What would you say from your research is the recommended Vitamin D3 level at the moment?

[Nowuccas]

Hey MP270996,

My post on this thread (#214) provides the cofactors necessary for vitamin D to be utilised by the body, and some relevant references. Taking a high quality multivitamin / mineral supplement such as those at xtend-life.com or mercola.com, or even Suisse, from supermarkets or pharmacies would supply those cofactors.

Although calcium is necessary, it needs to be balanced by sufficient magnesium, or it may well be deposited in blood vessels, rather than on bones, or used to make vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) from sensible sun exposure.

If interested, my posts on OCD, anxiety or panic attacks, and depression may be found below, and I hope something in this helps:

OCD: See http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showth...lsive+disorder

ANXIETY or PANIC ATTACKS: http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showth...006#post220006

DEPRESSION: http://anxietyforum.net/forum/showth...510#post216510

[Damavandi]

Hi Silverlude:

Anywhere above 50% of the normal range of the blood test will do the job.
I am at 80 ng/ml in a range of 1 to 100 ng/ml, and I feel great.

Best of luck,
Ali

[Numchok Wiratmanee]

I'm 23 year old
I think I have depression it's start on begin of this year.Can i ask you vitamin D3 is still working well for your depression and how long you can see result
all depression is gone 100% or not yet


please reply me and sorry for my english T_T

Thanks Ali

[Damavandi]

Hi Numchok:

Vitamin D3 still works for me, and it has been more than 4 years that I have been cured.

When your vitamin D3 (25-OH) test result approaches 50% of the allowable normal range,
you hopefully will start feeling better. For more information, please read my thread again.
If you need a whole lot more information with many good references, please read NOWUCCAS's comments
on the subject at various spots at this forum.

Best wishes,
Ali

[Ricky1985]

Hello to everyone that has posted in this thread, thank you very much for offering your experience regarding Vitamin D and the affects it has had on you! I have learned a lot reading through the 24 pages of this thread.

Until about two weeks ago, I was completely ignorant to the problems that can be caused by a lack of sufficient Vitamin D in the body. I had only visited the doctors twice before in my life, the first time it was to talk about an allergic reaction that I get which causes a daily breakout of hives all over my body if I don't take an antihistamine. It started happening when I was 18 and I finally decided to go and see the doctor when I was around 22. He basically told me that half the country, England in this case, has an allergy to something and to just get on with it; "allergy testing was not something the NHS offer" and with that he basically pushed me out the door. I have lived with the hives ever since, now 30 years old, although an antihistamine a day does control it reasonably well in most normal circumstances.

Anyway, along with the hives, I have struggled with my weight since I was a child and it has always gone hand in hand with a certain level of depression. If I'm happy I'll lose weight, if I'm in a bit of a worse place, as sure as night follows day, on goes the weight. I've been back and fourth like that for as long as I can remember. Looking back it would seem I generally lost weight in the spring/summer and gained weight in the autumn/winter. So I have always been very good at dieting and exercise; I'd get the bit between my teeth and get a lot fitter and slimmer in no time at all. I would say I have a good knowledge of lots of different dieting methods and have spent a lot of time reading and researching food; how it affects the body and how it correlates with different diseases. To the point where about 4 years ago I decided to become vegan and in the 6 (sunny) months that followed I became slim, healthy and fit, generally a happier person. Circumstances altered a little in my life, and in the winter I eased from eating vegan to eating vegetarian. I was still fit and pretty happy.

For the past three years I have felt like I'm falling down the side of a cliff in slow motion. I went from studying physics, chemistry and biology at college to struggling to find the energy and application to hold down a menial, albeit physical, minimum wage job. I could list all my symptoms here but I would only be repeating the lists from previous pages. In my case, I'd add that I have also struggled quite badly at times with sciatica and have also found the hair from my head down to my legs, and everywhere in between, has started to thin pretty dramatically, as well as numerous grey hairs in my beard and chest hair. For a while I put this down to getting older and a poorer lifestyle; I have gained weight again and am much more sedentary than I previously was. However, what made this different from previous low spells was that I simply couldn't pull myself out of it. I tried very hard to diet as I did previously, to get up and push myself hard exercising, but it just wasn't there. I managed it two summers ago, but it was fleeting and I was quickly back to pain, illness and a bit of a black hole.

So about a year ago now, I finally decided to go and see a doctor, against my better judgement I might add, after my previous experience. I explained my symptoms and was duly sent for a blood test. I got the results back and everything was normal. I had slightly high cholesterol and a slightly raised white blood cell count, but nothing else was wrong with me. I fully expected to be told I had slumped into diabetes, but, no, my fasting blood sugar level was fine. I was told to eat better, lose weight and I'd feel better.

I tried, I really did. All the old motivators, all the old methods and tricks I've learned over the years, but I just slipped further into misery. Put on more weight, felt more and more like death and ended up without a job, stressed and struggling.

So two weeks ago, I went back to the doctors. I said basically what I said before; I'm struggling, I'm tired, I'm miserable, I'm weak and sick and just can't shake free of it. This time I was absolutely convinced I was diabetic; the near sleep-like state I spent the vast majority of my time in, the terrible mood swings and the fact that food was the only thing that cheered me up....I was sure I must be. If not, maybe something worse, something really serious, but I think I preferred to think diabetes. I could handle that prognosis. I sensed this doctor was a good man and made sure this time I booked the appointment to discuss my results with the same man 10 days later - with the blood test the year before it was one doctor to discuss my symptoms/sanction my blood test and another doctor, that in my opinion was completely disinterested, to discuss my results.

When the doctor told me that the results were back and I was Vitamin D deficient, I said "okay, interesting" then he said I had tested at 6 nmol/L and it should be at 80 nmol/L. I thought "that's a BIG difference". I asked about my glucose levels and they were fine, everything was pretty much fine, as before. So I asked the doctor what it meant to be deficient in Vitamin D and could he look on the system and see what my level was when I had my blood test one year before. He checked and said that my Vitamin D level had not been tested last time - so it just got even more interesting, could it have been this all along? Then he told me that he himself had problems a few months before when his Vitamin D level had dropped to 20 nmol/L and that had hit him quite hard, so my level of 6 nmol/L would really be causing me some problems.

So he prescribed me 20,000 IU of Vitamin D3; a capsule a day for 20 days. First thing I did when I got home is Google, Google, Google! And, I must admit, I genuinely felt a little emotional reading what other people had said about being Vitamin D deficient and the far reaching effect it has on their health. I have felt a lot of guilt in the last 6 months or so because my girlfriend and I have struggled badly to pay our bills and I have been useless, quite frankly. To see that there are others that have been hit in the same way makes me feel a little less guilty than I did for not standing up and sorting myself out when it was really needed.

I have now read copious amounts of information and understand reasonably well what Vitamin D does and how it can affect the body and it's processes. I am 14 capsules into the 20 I was prescribed and I would say results have been mixed. At times I have felt better than I have felt in years; singing and laughing, thinking clearly, speaking clearly, energy and enthusiasm, but it comes and go. I have also had the flu and the old familiar muscle aches and weakness have gone for short periods and then returned as if they never went away. I now know more about the role magnesium and calcium play in rebuilding your Vitamin D stores; I think my mixed results thus far are pretty well expected given I haven't supplemented the D3 with the two aforementioned cofactors.

I have very much bought into this now and genuinely believe I have suffered from the effects, to varying degrees, of low levels of Vitmain D for perhaps as long as 15 years. I really hope my recent improvements haven't been a result of me feeling more positive because I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. I don't think that's the case but then I convinced myself I had diabetes!

I am laser focussed now on learning more and trying to find the right mix of vitamins and minerals to move as far a long the road of good health as is possible. I actually feel like myself again in fleeting moments. It's truly remarkable and I so badly want more of it!

Couple of questions (for anyone that's still awake after that hehe!):

1. Chelated magnesium/calcium powder seems to be the best way forward. Does the amount you should be taking vary according to height/weight?

2. Just how important are boron, Vitamin K(1+K2) and any others I've neglected to mention in getting this all correct?

3. When I take a 20,000 IU capsule will it have an immediate effect on my mood, muscles, energy levels and so on? If I've understood what I've read so far correctly, it seems the D3 goes to your kidney and then is deposited into long term stores in order to be released into your blood stream as and when it's needed. I seem to get a temporary feeling of wellness a short time after taking it but that doesn't last through the day. Very possible that is just a placebo effect but I'm not sure it is. As a side note, I take my D3 with my breakfast; which is invariably buttered toast.

4. It seems most people give their test results in ng/ml, which would make my result of 6 nmol/L convert to around 2.3 ng/ml or am I working it out wrong (because that seems awfully low, I haven't seen anyone else state there's at that low).

I also really want to get this right and know this inside out for my girlfriend. She has suffered badly with anxiety for the last 6 years, it has really gotten bad in the past 3 or 4 years. She has always believed that smoking too much weed as a teenager is what has caused her issues, but I strongly believe she could be severely Vitmain D deficient too. She had a blood test done on Tuesday and will get the results on the 26th. She's, understandably, very wary of getting her hopes up. And the thought of her situation being made worse by taking Vitamin D without the correct cofactors only makes her anxiety about the subject worse. The more progress I can make the more faith she will have in me to help her along as well. I want her to know that things can get better for her but I've got to prove it to myself first and then really know what I'm doing to help her find her own way.

[Ricky1985]

Sorry for the longest post in the history of Internet forums but that was really cathartic!

Cheers, Ricky.

[Ricky1985]

Thanks for your PM, Damavandi.

I will take your advice into consideration and build from there. I'll report back to let anyone that is still reading this thread know how I get on.

Right now, I would say I am almost back to square one in terms of fatigue, muscle/joint pain, memory, concentration etc. But I still feel better in myself than I did because I'm confident introducing chelated magnesium will make a big difference. Going to track some down today. Cheers.