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Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#81

Post by wholien »

TameAntelope wrote: post #68
carabiner wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Seattle and have been depressed for a while. I had my Vitamin D3 levels checked via blood test, and they were really low. Started taking 5,000 IU per day, and I feel exactly the same as before.

5k IUs is well beyond anything your body has a use for, and in fact is above what your body can tolerate! [0] > RDA: The Recommended Dietary Allowance for adults 19 years and older is 600 IU daily for men and women, and for adults >70 years it is 800 IU daily. > UL: The Tolerable Upper Intake Level is the maximum daily intake unlikely to cause harmful effects on health. The UL for vitamin D for adults and children ag…

Highly doubt 5k IUs is the issue. Some select quotes from "Vitamin D Is Not as Toxic as Was Once Thought: A Historical and an Up-to-Date Perspective" by Michael Holick in Mayo Clinic Proceedings [0]:

> Ekwaru et al recently reported on more than 17,000 healthy adult volunteers participating in a preventative health program and taking varying doses of vitamin D up to 20,000 IU/d. These patients did not demonstrate any toxicity, and the blood level of 25(OH)D in those taking even 20,000 IU/d was less than 100 ng/mL.

> The evidence is clear that vitamin D toxicity is one of the rarest medical conditions and is typically due to intentional or inadvertent intake of extremely high doses of vitamin D (usually in the range of >50,000-100,000 IU/d for months to years).

[0]: Holick, https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(15)...

[1]: Ekwaru et al, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25372709/

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#82

Post by nicoburns »

TameAntelope wrote: post #68
carabiner wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in Seattle and have been depressed for a while. I had my Vitamin D3 levels checked via blood test, and they were really low. Started taking 5,000 IU per day, and I feel exactly the same as before.

5k IUs is well beyond anything your body has a use for, and in fact is above what your body can tolerate! [0] > RDA: The Recommended Dietary Allowance for adults 19 years and older is 600 IU daily for men and women, and for adults >70 years it is 800 IU daily. > UL: The Tolerable Upper Intake Level is the maximum daily intake unlikely to cause harmful effects on health. The UL for vitamin D for adults and children ag…

That assumes your body is absorbing all of it. I suspect a lot of people's aren't, hence the high doses. I have found for example that 1000iu in the form of drops under the tongue has dramatically more effect than 1000iu in the form of a chewable tablet.

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#83

Post by donthellbanme »

treeman79 wrote: post #30
juve1996 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotally agree with this. I have vitamin D deficiency, was given 50,000 IU a week vitamin D to get it up. Never worked. Went to the beach one week and got blood tested again and my vitamin D levels climbed significantly. Now I make it a point to get outside and sunlight

Had super low Vit D. Was stuck in bed for a year. A few months of Vit D and a few other diet and supplements changes and I was out kayaking every weekend. My experience anyway

The heaviest man in Mexico was bedridden for years. He was depressed, but besides being humongous, and trapped in a bed; one of his biggest complains was muscle aches.

A doctor gave him vitamin D supplements and he said the pain went away.

It made a bit of sence to me, but the amount of food this guy consumed daily was staggering. I just wouldn't think a person would be deficient in D with the amount of animal products this man consumed. I just assumed even though he never saw the light of day for 15 years.

My point is it just suprised me.

Antidotially, I have been depressed (dysthymia--low level) for a good 30 years, and found sunlight didn't help me. I don't eat a lot, but i'm not a vegetarian either.

I actually feel better during the winter. I do have allergies though.

According to my doctor, all he ever said about depression is "All my patients are different. Oh, my fee will be $----. Your depression is situational.". I know he is partially right. (He doesn't overcharge me compared to the horror stories I have heard here. I just believe most psychotropic drugs should not require more one office visit, especially if you are on a low dose, and not abusing them.)

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#84

Post by blep_ »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #78
herodoturtle wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything in moderation. EDIT: Except lava.

At first I read "except Java"

Lowercase L looks like capital i in some fonts.

Clearly it's Iava, the Latin word for Java. Quidquid Iava quondam scribum, omni currum, sed delenda est.

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#85

Post by adfjalkfja »

lordentropy wrote: post #12

Daily morning and afternoon exposure to bright light might actually be more important to reducing depression than direct vitamin D supplementation. Low vitamin D might just be an indicator that you are not getting enough sunlight. Sunlight also affects melatonin and serotonin levels, and synchronizes your Circadian rhythm. Not sure why that article doesn't talk about Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), and how bright…

Had a consult with a sleep doctor, he stressed the importance of getting out for morning light for at least 30 minutes with no sunglasses.

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#87

Post by jokoon »

I recently wondered if bad dental hygiene can increase or cause more depression.

Since oral hygiene can cause bad stuff in the stomach, maybe it can also lead to bad stuff in the digestive system...

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#88

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #65
AnthonBerg wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sunlight’s effects on body chemistry also have a damping effect on inflammation. It’s a funny thing. Sunlight has an impact on many chemical processes in and on the body. One example: Our skin is coated with a bunch of chemicals. There’s a number of different acidic chemicals. These are known as the “acid mantle”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid_mantle One of these substances is urocanic acid . The body manufactur…

And yet lots of dermatologists will tell you to avoid sunlight. The medical community is full of contradictions.

Until recently not going out much wasn’t a big factor.

I’ve been feeling sicker than usual lately. Stupid amount of rain in NSW. Went out yesterday morning on a bright sunny day and suddenly I felt much better.

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#89

Post by docmechanic »

Off topic, but perhaps of interest to anyone dealing with depression. Twenty five years or so ago, someone recommended that I try St. John's Wort. I had a negative reaction - bad skin rash - but the Mayo Clinic mentions that some studies show it "can be effective for treating mild to moderate depression."

https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-st-johns-wort/a...

Re: Vitamin D and Depression (2020)

#90

Post by TameAntelope »

mikenew wrote: post #77
TameAntelope wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

5k IUs is well beyond anything your body has a use for, and in fact is above what your body can tolerate! [0] > RDA: The Recommended Dietary Allowance for adults 19 years and older is 600 IU daily for men and women, and for adults >70 years it is 800 IU daily. > UL: The Tolerable Upper Intake Level is the maximum daily intake unlikely to cause harmful effects on health. The UL for vitamin D for adults and children ag…

Those numbers are wrong by an order of magnitude, because the original estimation was based on faulty math. The actual dose needed to bring serum levels up for most people would be far higher. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4210929/

I'm going to go ahead and trust Harvard Medicine over a single study that has since gone largely uncited, and was published in "Nutrients" which carries an h-index of 115 (Nature, for example, carries an h-index of 1226) [0][1].

[0] https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=19700188323&ti...

[1] https://www.scimagojr.com/journalsearch.php?q=21206&tip=sid&...

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