Depressed? Could B Vitamins Help You?
While many people experience depression and other mood disorders, most people fail to realize that very often, the source of these disorders is actually medical. We tend to think that there is something wrong with our minds, not that our bodies simply are not getting what they need to function properly. Today many integrative health professionals – which are health professionals that rely on both conventional and alternative medicine to treat the patient in a holistic way – are turning towards supplementing with B vitamins as a part of the recommended treatment for those that are experiencing anxiety and depression.
Recent evidence suggests that the levels that most mainstream doctors though were acceptable for the B vitamins is actually seriously low. In fact, while B12 levels of 200 were once thought to be adequate, we now know that levels up to 400 are low enough to cause serious neurological side effects including severe depression, confusion and other serious issues. Other vitamin B12 deficiency symptoms can include cardiovascular illness, low energy and even anorexia. Now, it is recommended that for optimal health, most people need to maintain levels of 800 or higher.
According to James Gordon, MD, a psychiatrist, his clinical experience has shown that there are times when simply adding B-12 or folate to the supplementation regime of depressed patients can be enough to seriously reduce their symptoms. The reasoning behind why this is the case is that the B vitamins are so important to the metabolism of our cells, especially our bodies ability to respond to stress. Several studies have supported the idea that lower levels of B12, B6 and folate are linked to depression.
If you are experiencing depression, you may want to speak with your health care provider about whether taking supplemental b vitamins or B12 shots is right for you. Who knows, it could help reduce your symptoms!
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