Please do not take 5000mg/day of Vitamin D. The author confuses IU and mg which is very dangerous.
I also noticed that.
Opened issue: https://github.com/ncase/blog/issues/4
Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
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Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#42With depression it is important to find the cause of it.
You might be depressed because you life objectively sucks. Then you symptoms are good and healthy and a signal to make changes in your circumstances.
You might actually have a good life but still feel depressed because there is a chemical imbalance in your brain. (Very simplified). That is when drugs come in.
It might be just a seasonal thing and you need to go outside more and take some supplements.
You might have some other undiagnosed issue. You might have ADHD, autism and other things that cause you to struggle and develop depression as a side effect.
So find out what works and what doesn't work for you.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#43Because it's common to hate on antidepressants, I've always personally had a bias against them.
For the past 15-20 years, november thru february are basically a writeoff due for me due to seasonal affective disorder. Cold showers, exercise, no alcohol, strict sleeping rituals. Vitamin d. I can still sleep 11 hours and feel like reheated cat shit.
Enter citalopram. "It will take up to six weeks to dial in" they said. Within four days I felt like the inside of my head was designed by Apple in their glory days. My mind became an orderly, well lit, tastefully designed space... instead of a dimly lit crack den. I'm more emotionally available, no longer tired, less cranky. I felt cozy. I could cry with joy because I could finally understand emotionally why people like the Christmas season.
I won the SSRI lottery I guess, the side effect are sweaty feet, vivid dreams and a dry mouth. That's all.
This just goes to show that for me, they're extremely effective.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#44I found this to be the case. Tried Sertraline for a while, gave me headaches and made me feel sick. Then as part of a new gym plan, started taking Omega 3+VitD daily, and I just felt a sense of calm and peace after a few weeks. The massive uptick in exercise probably also helped. I also felt quite an extreme uptick because I was a vegan for 10 years, and found out I had basically zero Omega 3 in my blood. I suspect o…
> I was a vegan for 10 years, and found out I had basically zero Omega 3 in my blood I see your disclaimer, but just for more context, vegans can get Omega 3 without taking pills per se. Flax seeds are an excellent source. I often add a spoonful to a bowl of oatmeal or as a pancake topping along with fruit sauce and granola.
Flaxseeds are probably the most flavorless things I've ever tasted.
Chia seeds taste ok but you need to prep them by soaking which is a pain (or experience bloating).
All other seeds have more omega 6 than omega 3.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#45Be careful - many studies in the Vitamin D meta-analysis *enrolled patients already taking antidepressants.* [1] Reporting effect sizes without specifying "on which population?" is misleading. (As an aside, Cohen would be the person not to tell you to assign qualitative values to effect sizes. They are as arbitrary as any other threshold used by working statisticians.) [1] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/psyc…
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Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
So 5000 IU is the recommended amount?
5000 IU is very high, might be beneficial during the winter for folks with very fair skin. but most probably shouldn't take that much every day
That's equivalent to about 10 minutes of sun exposure. Not very much when you look at it that way.
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Misinformation. Do more research.
While (I think) I agree with you on the facts here, I don't think this type of dismissive comments are that useful either. Can you give the replyee some pointers, for example? Link to articles or studies that show a different view?
Just Google it. There's tons of research on this so I don't know why I need to provide a specific link when this is common knowledge.
But also here is something to think about: your body will produce more D3 than that by being in the sun for just several minutes. So if you consider such a low dose of D3 an overdose then you better steer clear of the sun!
Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#48Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Misinformation. Do more research.
If you have useful information to share, please do so. Telling people "Do more research" adds nothing to the conversation.
Examine.com's page on Vitamin D has a table on tolerable upper levels segmented by age ranges.