Taking Vitamins

[Teresa Kramer]

I guess you have never experienced SAD, Susan. That remark is right up there with the opinions of those who give advice on clinical depression without having experienced it. I’ve heard a lot of those, the worst being when my 15-year-old shook me by the shoulders and said, “Get out there and volunteer, Mom!.” Teresa (Northern VA)

[Tanya Marquette]

I really appreciated the notes on civil communication and how the lack of it contributes to the demise of homeopathy.
Judgemental comments are really attacks and quite uncivil. They

[healthinfo6]

To get paid for, USA Medicare and health insurance coverage, you must use MD's to write scrips for blood tests. Quest Diagnostics has all their lab test info online, so you can make informed choices on any extra tests you would like an MD to request besides the standards. Today's urban GP allopath is too swamped to keep up on the latest allopathic drugs yet alone natural vitamins, herbs, etc. so I don't expect any useful info from them. I tell them what extra tests to write, and what drug scrips I need, and I get them.
Otherwise, you can pay yourself, which for me would be $1000 or slightly discounted through Life Extension.
You can take all the Vitamin D you wish, but without knowing what your blood levels are and how supplementation is affecting them, you could be in for a surprise.
Susan

[healthinfo6]

Teresa,
You don't have SAD, you have BIPOLAR. If you think your non-seasonal, cyclic, severe miasmatic condition will be cured by bright light boxes, volunteering and sunshine, you are totally mistaken.
Possibly, if you went off your lithium, you created a temporary SAD-like state, but that is not the core issue.
As I suggested to you before, if you want real help, find a non-USA homeopathic MD. The treatment involves rotating multiple high potency anti-psorics. It's an aggressive process that takes time, not a take one pillule, wait for new remedy picture, expect a cure approach aka New Age Hahnemannian.
Susan
As you wrote here in February 2010:
Thanks for the suggestion, Susan.
Normally I would answer off-list but since it is, as I realize, hard to believe and maybe someday you practitioners will encounter it: my form of “insomnia” which I have had now at numerous intervals over 11 years (when not on lithium, that is, which I have only taken part of the time) is indeed profound, i.e., total.
I can’t fall asleep, day or night, and if I should happen to doze for a moment, I am jerked awake by some sort of inner mechanism. It is a horrible feeling. Somehow, it should be a fatal problem, but I know for sure I have gone 17 days without sleeping once—and then went to the ER and was given a standard sleeping med that did nothing at all; had to find a psychiatrist.
Once a psychiatrist said, “why don’t you just nap?” I wonder what part of the above statement he did not understand. I am awake until I get some (awful!) sort of prescription psych meds (the kind you have to sign for at the pharmacy; I have suppressed the names) that should facilitate sleep for hours. For me they work only for 3 hours of light and disturbed sleep and then I am awake again.
I have been under usually excellent homeopathic care for several of the episodes—different homeopaths—and none of them ever found a remedy that would help. AFAIK, no one ever gave me Medorrhinum or any other nosode, though I was given a number of other remedies. Each time I had to fall back on the shrink and psych meds and only lithium has offered any lasting relief.
Just FWIW, as I have said before on this list, all of my father’s 7 siblings had some form of bipolar disorder, but they died long ago and I doubt if it was ever diagnosed as anything but “depression”. Of course I also have “depression” and “anxiety” and am “suicidal”, but it is the accompanying total insomnia that is the chief complaint, I think. Teresa (Northern VA)

[Tanya Marquette]

I don't know who your are Susan but your posts are disturbing. I am finding them critical to the point of verging
on hostility. Have no idea why you should be so harsh. This is a discussion.
You also seem to make a number of assumptions which you should not be doing. You have no idea who is
getting their blood tests done. Nor do you know what the totality of health conditions exist for anyone. Your
information is so stilted as to obfuscate anything that might be meaningful. For example, Quest Labs will do
your tests for you, but not in all states. NY for example will not allow people to order their own test without having
an MD on board. Have no idea what the $1000 is for that you cite. A vitamin D test is under $100.00 last time
I checked.
I have no problem with someone suggesting caution, but your postion comes across as an attack. For example,
where do get to judge what people are reading, or that all info online is wrong. As for people trying to sell products,
the last time I looked that is all that this country is about--making money!
Dana Ullman has had a couple of articles printing on Natural News. So what. His goal is to get out the word on
homeopathy. I, myself, have written Mike Adams about his exclusion of homeopathy from many of his articles.
It seems to me that Dana has done homeopathy a service. Is he to be discounted because he sells product, too?
Check you attitude and facts and stop the hostile judgementalism please. You might get heard a lot better.
tanya

[healthinfo6]

Your perceptions may be swayed by your SAD.
You're contradicting yourself. You say the USA is about making money and then Dana Ullmans goal is to get the word out about homeopathy as if the two are seperate and non-intersecting.
As for vitamin D, I've posted my blood levels for informative purposes. Why not post yours before advocating for excessive, if not dangerous, vitamin D supplementation.
Susan

[healthinfo6]

Which one?
Susan

[Liz Brynin]

I don't find Susan's posts hostile - critical, yes, but she has valid points to make.
We should be ultra careful with Vit D, and Dr. Mercola makes that very clear in all his advice.
One man's meat is another man's poison - we have no idea what corresponds to our optimal daily level of Vit D unless we test our blood. And talking about the amount we get from our daily exposure to sun is worse than useless unless we take into account how much skin is exposed, what season it is and in which hemisphere we live. In the northern hemisphere, it is pointless to expect to get any Vit D at all from sun exposure between the months of October to April. Lastly, do you wear glasses - sunglasses or otherwise? If so, it's almost impossible, apparently, to get enough Vit D from the sun. The body will not start producing it unless the eyes receive direct, unfiltered sunlight, so without glasses - clear or darkened.
Liz

[Tanya Marquette]

Liz,
There was nothing said about not being prudent in what people do. I think that goes without saying .
And who suggested not testing one's blood.
We don't get enough Vit D because we don't get enough sun and because we don't get it in our foods.
Even dairy is depleted through the processing of it and removal of the full fat. And use of sunglasses
actually weakens the eyes according the visual therapist that I have worked with.
And considering the over 2000 biochemical processes in the body that use Vit D, it is not only bone
health that is effected by insufficient amounts. The current 'science' is saying that among caucasian
people, 77% are seriously deficient. Among darker skinned people, the number is even higher due
to the slower skin processing. What a great evolutionary trait for people who genetically developed
in the tropics and sub-tropics--a biological brake to prevent excess production! But in northern
climates this becomes an added burden.
And one would have to be 'overdosing' for many months at very high levels with synthetic product
before toxic effects are noted. So first of all one should never use synthetic food products of any sort.
Getting oneself tested is a good way to develop a sound base for building health, but if not possible,
one can always use prudence in taking 2500-5000 i.u. daily, and maybe more in the winter.
In disease states our nutritional needs increase tremendously. So in cancer, for example, they are
giving 50,000-100,000 iu several times a week.
So while being prudent is one thing, being timid and falling for the anti-nutrient, anti-health propaganda
of the big pharma/fda is quite another.
I hope this does not devolve into another useless conversation.
tanya

[Liz Brynin]

Dear Tanya
I try hard not to write 'useless' posts, but if I am challenged, I have a right to defend myself - that's all.
I am at a loss, by the way, to understand why you think I need more explanations about the value of Vit D! Or why you would think I might be buying into big-pharma's message.
I am not against supplementation - far from it. However, I do not agree with you that most people could quite safely take Vit D supplements with no ill effects at certain doses. I am minded of my homeopath (who tests with AK and who firmly believes that people should NOT take supplements unless there is a specific deficiency) When tested for the basic vitamins and minerals a month ago, I was not deficient in any. Yet I had originally asked about taking Vit D!! Now, had I not enquired further, I could have started myself on an unnecessary supplement - who knows if it would have harmed me, but it can certainly cause low-grade undesirable side-effects. The liver has to process VIt D and you need to look after your liver! After all, vitamins and minerals, divorced from our everyday food, are actually drugs! Taking drugs long-term is not good for you. And particularly so if they are off-the-shelf vitamins, synthetically produced.
So I'm not buying into big-pharma's message - and I think that is clear from my previous post. I'm just asking for people to be more circumspect in their use of supplements.
Liz