Circadin

Thank you for your kind words. I'm so pleased you are already converted in regards to B12. Although I am sorry to hear that some real damage was done before you found out.

I was first alerted to the subject of B12 by a user on a self help depression website. She kindly told me her story.

I initially had my B12 tested in February 2014. I managed to get 200 pg/ml. Whilst this was in the "normal" range my GP accepted that I should be given a course of 5 injections. This should have been followed up by another B12 test about 8 weeks after the last injection. For reasons I won't bore you with that never happened.

I had my B12 tested about 6 weeks ago and it was 300pg/ml. Again this was in the "normal" range. But again my GP agreed I should hae injections. And about 4hrs after the first I began to feel ever so slightly better.

I believe it's normal practice to have a maintenance injection about every twelve weeks. However, this varies with individuals and I have read of some people who have injections more often.

If I were to make a calculated guess I would suggest that having a level of B12 that exceeds 500pg/ml is a bare minimum to start with.

Vitamin D3 is a great subject. Much of what I am about to recant is from memory. However, I'm sure it will leave you with the overall picture of this subject.

Let's start with the simple fact. D3 is made by your skin from sunlight. Which sort of gives you a huge clue as to what I am going to say next. Researchers in Norway and Canada found that people with depression had low levels of D3. The obvious question they asked was is the depression caused by low D3 or does it cause us to have low D3.

They came up with a great way to test this question. They asked researchers in Florida (the Sunshine State) to do some tests. They fully expected to get results which showed people in Florida who suferred with depression would have high levels of D3.

They didn't. And this opened Pandora's Box. No one could explain this. If I recall the story correctly an insignificant member of a Canadian research team suggested it could be that the people in Florida weren't going out during a certain time of the day. This person was laughed at.

However, it turns out they were correct. We only make D3 from around 10am in the morning to 3pm in the afternoon. And the Floridians are told to get their daily sunshine before 9am and after 4pm to reduce cancer risks. Of course if they do go out later they apply huge amounts of sub block.

It makes great sense that we do make Vitamin D3 during these times as we evolved out of Africa and mother nature obviously used the sun there to best advantage.

And the Great British winter brings a period when we are simply unable to make Vitamin D3. We can't get it from our diet.

Caitlin I should stress that I am not qualified medically. I can tell you that my neurologist prescribed 400 iu's of Vitamin D3 per day. I took one tablet every two weeks. I noticed it seemed to make me feel a little more energetic. So I started the usual stuff where I read the internet and form some of my own opinions.

The opinion I arrived at, which has proved good for me, was that in the US and Japan they have higher thresholds for Vitamin D3 which attracted my attention.

Eventually I decided to lift my intake to 5,000 iu's per day. This does sound rather dramatic, but our bodies deal with this vitamin in a logarithmic way. So the huge increase only amounts to a slight increasein the amount of D3 in your bloods.

I noticed within two days that I felt a little more energetic.

There's some caution to talk about. High levels of D3 in your blood can be counter productive. It tends to increase the amount of calcium in your blood and there's a potential for your bones to soften. However, you won't wake up one morning and have turned to jelly overnight. If you tell your GP you have started taking D3 supplements at this level they (should) arrange for blood tests once a year in order to ensure you don't get to much calcium in your blood.

One thing to point out to you is that when you do your own research the way that D3 is meausred in your bllod is different in the UK than in the US and Japan. So you will have to look up a conversion table.

I purchase a years worth of D3 supplements (5,000 iu's per day) off Amazon. I think I paid about £14.00.

On balance I owuld suggest you try D3 at 5,000 iu's for a short period and see if it brings any relief from any of your symptoms.

Of course I am always happy to offer what little help I can and if you need to ask any questions you know where I am.

It's no fun being constantly poorly. Been there, done it. I hope you try the D3 and I hope it helps.

Nuttymut :-)

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