My faithful readers (all 2.5 of you ;-) ) know that I have issues with February. I mentioned that in a few old posts.
This year is a little different. Back in December, I started having sleeping problems. I'd have trouble falling asleep, then often I'd wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to get back to sleep. Even the sleep I was getting was not restful. It finally came to a head in early January when one night was so bad, that I called the doctor's office in the morning and made an appointment for the following day. This was big. I don't go to the doctor for stuff like this.
I had a new doctor, since my former doctor had moved across town to a different office. ( *sigh* He was hot, I'll miss having him as my doc, LOL!) The new doctor is probably around 30, but looks even younger. She listened, asked me a number of questions to rule out restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, and other potential causes. She also asked about depression and anxiety.
Now, that particular question was timely, because literally the night before, I'd had the most massive anxiety attack of my entire life and still was feeling the effects of it while sitting in her office that late afternoon. So, for the 1st time ever, I talked about my history with both depression and anxiety, something I rarely talk about even with those closest to me. The anxiety had grown more problematic over the past year or so, and in particular was impacting my efforts to re-energize my social/dating life. (An anxiety attack while waiting for a date to pick you up = not cool) However, I told her that I really wanted to avoid the psych meds if at all possible.
I also mentioned that I was pretty certain I'd had SAD (seasonal affective disorder) since at least high school. This little bit of information caught my new doctor's attention. She said that she wanted to test my vitamin D levels in my blood.
Vitamin D?
It turns out, she'd been reading a lot of research that suggests that SAD is not a mood disorder along the lines of clinical depression or generalized anxiety disorder, but is in fact a deficiency of Vitamin D. Since our own bodies produce most of the Vitamin D we need by exposure to sunlight, it makes sense that people don't get enough in the winter months. She then said that many of my other problems, including the sleep and anxiety could also be caused by low Vitamin D. Huh. Sure enough, my blood tests showed I was low. She put me on a once a week megadose of Vitamin D for 12 weeks, then I go back to be retested. I have taken 4 doses so far.
OMG
I cannot tell you how much better I feel. My mood is definitely better than it has been in months. I can deal with work stress much better. I can focus better. I feel less fatigued and I wasn't even aware I was feeling that way. Sleep problems? Pretty much gone. I can even tell when the dose is starting to wear off because I start to feel edgy mood-wise and the fatigue and problems focusing start to creep back. However, each week, I have felt better longer, and I'm hoping that in a few more weeks, I will no longer feel the effects wearing off.
Who'd have thought that a simple vitamin deficiency could cause so much trouble, and be so easy to fix? Take that February! Phhhhbbbbbt!
NOTE: I had started looking into counseling before I knew about the Vit D thing. I am still thinking about doing it, just to help make sure I have my head on straight about certain things. I can be my own worst enemy even when I don't have mood swings.
