Posted by Tomatheus on January 3, 2015, at 1:12:31
In reply to don't know what happened, posted by rjlockhart37 on January 2, 2015, at 23:22:33
RJ,
I have a question for you that you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but here it is: Have you ever had your vitamin D level checked?
I suffer from what's probably best described as either a chronic fatigue or a persistent clinical depression and went through a lot of problems that may be similar to what you're going through, as far as medications and other treatments not seeming to be effective, especially in the long run. More than a year ago (almost two years ago, actually), I went to an orthomolecular treatment center, and one of the blood tests that the doctor ordered was the vitamin D level test. It turned out that my vitamin D level was low, and for some time now, I've been supplementing with vitamin D3 to see if that might help with any of my symptoms. Now, about 11 months since I started supplementing with vitamin D3 most recently, I think that I can say that I'm noticing a long-term response. I wouldn't say that my chronic fatigue or persistent depression is in remission at this point, but my energy and concentration seem like they're always at least a little bit better than how they were before I started supplementing with vitamin D3. So, it seems like I'm responding to the vitamin D3, and even though it's always hard to say for sure that it's the vitamin D3 that's improving my energy and concentration, there aren't any other treatments to which I can attribute the changes that I've been noticing.
My advice to you is that if you haven't already done so, you might want to consider asking a doctor to check your vitamin D level. There's some evidence, although my understanding is that some of the evidence is conflicting, that low vitamin D levels may play a role in both depressive disorders and psychotic disorders, and so the possibility exists that if your vitamin D level is low that you might be able to treat your depression by getting more vitamin D, either through supplementation or through increased sunlight exposure. I think that asking a doctor to test your vitamin D level would be worth doing, especially since you seem to be at a point where you've tried a lot of treatments without success. I think that pretty much any doctor can order a vitamin D level test, although I'm not sure about the witchdoctors that you've been thinking of seeing. Alternatively, you might be able to order a vitamin D level test on your own via the Web, although I'm not sure how insurance coverage on such tests would work.
If, for whatever reason, you don't want to get your vitamin D level checked, you obviously don't have to go ahead and get the test done. However, considering that you're at the point of seeing witchdoctors to treat your depression, I thought that I'd mention a treatment option that currently seems to be working for me.
Good luck with whatever you end up doing.
Tomatheus
Has a chronic psychotic disorder with long-standing difficulties with energy and concentration
Taking Abilify & supplements including vitamins B3 & D3
poster:Tomatheus
thread:1074744
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20150102/msgs/1074747.html