Live data from Hacker News

Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

blog.ncase.me

221–230 of 669 posts

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you cite that claim from the paper?

Not OP, but the paper says on page 8 > An adult in a bathing suit exposed to 1 minimal erythemal dose of ultraviolet radiation (a slight pinkness to the skin 24 h after exposure) was found to be equivalent to ingesting between 10,000 and 25,000 IU of vitamin D (Fig. 6). Doesn't say 30 minutes, but it may be 30 minutes depending on your skin colour and the local strength of the sun.

I think the OP's interpretation of this is wrong. Just because someone was found to have an equivalent of ingesting so and so much, after UV radiation, doesn't automatically imply that it a good idea to ingest any amount of vitamin D. Ingestion is different from exposing skin to UV/sun. The paper probably doesn't state, that ingesting that much will make a person absorb that much from that ingestion, nor does it state, that ingesting some equivalent amount will be safe and without side-effects.

So the paper may be well researched or whatever, but the interpretation of it is questionable.

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#222
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hate on antidepressants is not because they're not effective, but rather that they're abused by psychiatrists. Ideally, a professional will prescribe them as a necessary helper to becoming (more) mentally healthy whilst tackling the root cause. Most of the time however, it's more of a "here, take these indefinitely". It's like if we took sleeping pills every time we had trouble sleeping. Having said that, I just…

Agree. But sometimes there is no "root cause", the brain is still a mystery. If you had been depressed even when you knew there was nothing to worry about, you would see it differently, because then you deduce that the black cloud is produced within. Chemistry trumps psychology. Good enough chemistry enables cognitive treatments. But to fix the wrong chemistry you need chemistry.

[deleted]

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#224
post #161

Because 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.…

The hate on antidepressants is not because they're not effective, but rather that they're abused by psychiatrists. Ideally, a professional will prescribe them as a necessary helper to becoming (more) mentally healthy whilst tackling the root cause. Most of the time however, it's more of a "here, take these indefinitely". It's like if we took sleeping pills every time we had trouble sleeping. Having said that, I just…

Every time I have a yearly physical, my GP will ask if I have feelings of depression.

I know this road leads to SSRIs at the very least, so I always reply in the negative.

The parent comment hints to me that this might be a mistake. I do not want to become accustomed to an antidepressant, so perhaps my course of action was correct.

I was measured low on Vitamin D, which I've hopefully corrected, and I haven't always eaten fish regularly. Perhaps I should pay more attention to that.

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> except it killed my libido Similar experience. Apparently pretty much ubiquitous with SSRIs

hm

I don't relate at all to the latter part of your question, so by process of elimination it must be the former :)

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#226

Because 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.…

I experienced this but ended up getting off of them after developing some back/hip issues but I didn’t think it was related, it wasn’t until I quit the citalopram that my shoulders were suddenly relaxed and the hip “looseness” or constant need to be adjusted back into place went away, like everything tightened back up, it is really strange, then I looked up how SSRIs can impact this and even bone healing, decided I couldn’t risk my body falling apart.

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#227
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hate on antidepressants is not because they're not effective, but rather that they're abused by psychiatrists. Ideally, a professional will prescribe them as a necessary helper to becoming (more) mentally healthy whilst tackling the root cause. Most of the time however, it's more of a "here, take these indefinitely". It's like if we took sleeping pills every time we had trouble sleeping. Having said that, I just…

Agree. But sometimes there is no "root cause", the brain is still a mystery. If you had been depressed even when you knew there was nothing to worry about, you would see it differently, because then you deduce that the black cloud is produced within. Chemistry trumps psychology. Good enough chemistry enables cognitive treatments. But to fix the wrong chemistry you need chemistry.

If you view a world at a certain angle there is always something to worry about: 1. World in not perfect, it doesn't confirm to how we want it to be (and could not even in theory given that different people want it to be different) 2. The future cannot be predicted with 100% accuracy so even if all is perfect today you can worry that it will turn bad in the future.

When looking at the same reality one persons sees the situation as OK and another as a an endless and hopeless disaster it is hard to tell who is right. A depressed person would tell that most people around him are wrong and are optimistic only because they don't understand how bad all is.

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#228
post #224
post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hate on antidepressants is not because they're not effective, but rather that they're abused by psychiatrists. Ideally, a professional will prescribe them as a necessary helper to becoming (more) mentally healthy whilst tackling the root cause. Most of the time however, it's more of a "here, take these indefinitely". It's like if we took sleeping pills every time we had trouble sleeping. Having said that, I just…

Every time I have a yearly physical, my GP will ask if I have feelings of depression. I know this road leads to SSRIs at the very least, so I always reply in the negative. The parent comment hints to me that this might be a mistake. I do not want to become accustomed to an antidepressant, so perhaps my course of action was correct. I was measured low on Vitamin D, which I've hopefully corrected, and I haven't always…

> I know this road leads to SSRIs at the very least, so I always reply in the negative.

Seems odd. Your doctor can't force you to take anything. If they say "do you want to try X?" just say "No". Not giving your doctor full medical context seems like a mistake - for example, maybe depression would be indicative of another issue, or maybe people who are depressed really shouldn't take a specific medication.

To each their own, and perhaps you have other reasons, but this seems like a less than ideal solution to a very trivial problem if the goal is just to not take an SSRI.

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“God, I see what you’re doing for others, and I want that for me.” I had a very similar experience, except it killed my libido, so I chose to endure the suffering of Winter rather than live with emotional numbness. Still, I strongly recommend it for people flirting with the abyss. It was life-changing for me while I was raising an autistic 2yo during the pandemic.

I have no experience about antidepressants myself so please excuse my stupid question. When I hear people say "it killed my libido" I always think about the fact that hyper-sexuality can be a trauma response, and if your body is healing the hyper-sexuality is most likely also reduced. It's like when you have a disease and then read the side effects of a medication and notice that a lot of the side effects are basical…

Stupid question - why do you keep suggesting that having a libido equals hypersexuality?

Is this your trauma speaking, or do you automatically associate any sexual needs with a pathology?

You've done it twice in this thread alone.

Re: Vitamin D and Omega-3 have a larger effect on depression than antidepressants

#230
post #4

Please do not take 5000mg/day of Vitamin D. The author confuses IU and mg which is very dangerous.

That would be 5g. At this point everyone should notice that something is off. :-D 5000 mg of vitamin D3 = 200,000,000 IU (200 million IU)

People don't always realize: https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/university-fined-in-caff...
Post reply on HN