How long after starting Vitamin D supplements should you notice results?
from droning_in_my_ears@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 16:02
https://lemmy.world/post/39484761
from droning_in_my_ears@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 16:02
https://lemmy.world/post/39484761
I’m almost certainly deficient and I thought maybe it could improve my mood :/
#nostupidquestions
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Afaik, people in industrialised countries are likely to be vitamin D deficient. However, any vitamin supplements should ideally only be taken if a doctor has told you you do have a deficiency. But I get that this is hard to accomplish in some places and it’s easier to just try on your own so no judgement, just saying.
What makes you think you’re deficient? Because a generally bad mood may just be the expected reaction to the Current Global Situation™.
My doctor told me to take vitamin D supplements without even bothering to test if I was deficient. 1000 IU in the summer, 4000 IU in the winter. IIRC, it varies based on your location, time spent outdoors, diet, etc. But it is generally safe to take vitamin D supplements.
Same experience, except without giving a dosing recommendation. TBF, it was getting tested as part of regularly checks, but the recommendation came before testing.
i would probably test it. im taking 5k IU on occasion but i forget too often, so it fell from last time.
Well years ago I was tested and found deficient. I don’t remember how bad it was. I didn’t really stick to the supplements.
It’s also currently winter in Europe where it gets dark really early and I have dark skin and don’t leave the house much. I guess I can get tested. I’m just thinking I’d save the money.
Guess that'd depend on how muchos needed/taken and how well it's absorbed. Far as I've ever seen the seasonal affective disorder (usually what people look at for D-ficiencies) tends to be a subtle shift rather than a solid good/bad moods.
<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.org/pictrs/image/22455479-d3a6-499d-a45c-b418d5d1224a.webp">Smoke up a cheeseboigah and all will be forgiven 🙏
A lot of the responses for this account just seem a bit… off. It has me suspicious if it’s a chatbot or something.
They don’t do anything. Go outside more.
I can’t speak for OP, but for me going outside right now means wearing enough clothing that the sun will be touching precious little of my skin.
Yea, that’s fair… I did a bad job of making my point. I tried multiple different vitamin D supplements, none of them did anything beneficial for me.
If you're taking something off the drugstore shelf, that's not surprising. So many supplements have nothing in them they say they do, and often stuff they don't instead.
Incorrect.
i have lived most of my life playing as a kid and working as an adult outside, outside right now, even. i have to take supplements. you don’t actually get much vit d from sunlight, the vast majority comes from your diet and some people like me need more from supplements no matter what you eat. and yes the supplements (10k to 15k iu a day for a few months) got my levels up.
apparently it takes a while (weeks to months) for the level in your system to build up and takes a while for it to deplete so once my blood test numbers got back to normal i stopped and now i just take that amount a day for a few weeks a couple times a year when i notice i’ve been sluggish and more moody lately. and yes this was all prescribed and explained by my doctor a few years ago. the ld50 (lethal dose for 50% of pop) is 50k iu a day for over 6 months, and you get kidney stones as warning signs long before then, so as long as you stay below like 20k to 25k a day and don’t do it for long term, it’s pretty safe to take a higher doses like that.
also regarding your lower comment saying none work for you, you might have just not been taking a high enough dose like me. at first doc prescibed 5k iu daily but 3 months later my levels were still too low so they explained all that above. also some brands do seem to be garbage. i don’t wanna say a brand but of the ones i’ve tried any dissolvable white compressed powder ones are garbage and taste awful and the gel cap style ones work and don’t taste like anything. you might also should look up specific foods with higher vit d content and eat more of those, but i tried that in those first 3 months with the supplements and it didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
Go away, Robert.
Here in the dark North I take - during winter only - 50µg daily. I never take it before going to sleep, but tbh I have no idea if it would even make a difference. Sometimes I feel a bit of an effect - like eating something rich in Vitamin C after a day without vitamins. But all in all, I don’t think this alone will improve your mood.
Same. My old doctor recommended daily vit D supplements in months that end with R. Regular store bought dosage is strong enough to actually do something if taken daily, but weak enough that it won’t harm you if you’re not deficient.
Source: 65 degrees latitude.
September October November December Januaryr Februaryr Marchr?
Yes.
Yes, but in Norwegian. -March.
It probably depends if you’re getting enough. The best way would be if your doctor tests your levels. My doctor initially prescribed me to take like a 50,000 IU dose once a week with dinner or something like that, but I found it hard to remember. I asked about switching to something daily and took an over-the-counter pill every day, which became a routine and harder to miss. After another test we doubled it so I take two pills every day and now an in a better range. But there were months in between the tests, so I think it takes time to really have an impact.
I live in the PNW where the winters are brutal for sun. I was really deficient, so I noticed in an hour. I had more energy and could think clearer. I take the drops.
You guys need UVB LEDs or fluorescent lamps.
Peak Efficiency: Studies, often using skin samples (in vitro), have shown that wavelengths in the very narrow band of approximately 293 nm to 297 nm are the most effective at triggering this conversion.
In vitro studies have shown that vitamin D3 production increases in a dose-dependent manner. Effective doses used in studies on skin samples include:
0.75 MED (approximately 11.7 mJ/cm2)
1.5 MED (approximately 23.4 mJ/cm2)
3 MED (approximately 46.8 mJ/cm2)
And the goal is 1MED.
Another device designed for supplemental use found that, at a distance of 20 cm, an exposure time of 33–40 minutes could achieve the daily recommended vitamin D synthesis (400 IU).
A different device, using a broader spectrum (UVB fluorescent lamp), found optimal production at a distance of 14 cm with 10–15 minutes of exposure.
If you have an underlying psychiatric condition like depression then bringing your vitamin D levels to normal might improve your mood and it might not. When I got put on a vitamin D supplement after the doctor caught how low I was my biggest improvement was my energy more than my mood, but being tired all the time will make you feel like shit too.
People have already mentioned you should make sure you’re actually deficient by going to the doctor, but it’s also important to determine why you’re deficient. If you know you just don’t ever get sunlight, well, mystery solved. But if you do then vitamin D deficiencies can also be caused by things like intestinal disorders.
If the issue is not getting enough sunlight, check out the Sunbeam app. I have it as a safety thing because the UV here is godawful, but it also gives you a timer based on the current UV strength for how long you need to stay outside to get your daily vitamin D. Because it’s winter it’s like 40 minutes where I am today, but in the summer it can be as low as 5-10.
@droning_in_my_ears
SAD person speaking, supplements are not a replacement for Sunlight, I think the supplents do work.
But it's missing other effects that direct & indirect sunlight has on your entire body.
Vid D is synthesized in the skin by cholecalciferol & UVB light to create usable Vit D for immune, bone & calcium metabolism health.
If possible, walking in the forest/woods, really any green spaces due to reflective properties of the color @ 9-11am sunlight for max effect 20 mins daily.
@droning_in_my_ears
MedCram has plenty of videos on the topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6hkCGb_tE8
Thanks, that was really interesting!
In NZ we’ve had a huge blast for a long time about the damage of the suns rays, particularly UBA and UVB so tend to be pretty careful about sunscreen - I wonder how that plays into it
Dermatologists are worried about cancers, buuuuuuuuuuuut the cancers have very low mortality rates, and the effects of not getting sun tend to be pretty drastic. I’ve got a lot of tattoos, so I keep them pretty well covered, but I am usually vit. D deficient as a result.
What is SAD short for?
Seasonal Affective Disorder, probably!
Seasonal affective disorder. It’s seasonal depression.
@the_q @petersr
Correct. 🥹👍
Thanks!
This is the correct answer. Oral vitamin D isn’t nearly as effective.
I don’t think it necessarily is the reflective properties etc. but it has been shown that doing stuff in nature is beneficial to mental health. And since people likely usually spend less time in nature in winter, doing so would improve mood.
It only took me 4 days to get kidney stones
Best as I can tell there's no evidence that Vitamin D and kidney stones have anything to do with each other, and in fact, there may even be scientific papers in existence that suggest the opposite is true, i.e. Vitamin D may help reduce the risk of kidney stones.
Caveat: This was based on a quick web search, not deep research, and everyone's biology is different. If you're getting kidney stones, check with an actual doctor.
lol I verified with my urologist and PCP ten years ago. Thanks for trying to invalidate my response to vitamin D and downvoting me. Very positive experience here
Yeah, you're right, the downvote was a bit harsh considering that I didn't do a deep dive on the matter.
I can't undo the bandwagon, but I can undo mine.
It's not fast, unfortunately, but I was prescribed a high weekly dose by my doctor and it did seem to help eventually. The long time it takes means I'm left wondering if I feel better because of the vitamins, or something else, but I do feel better.
https://www.drugs.com/medical-answers/long-vitamin-d-work-3555995/
Unfortunately, when your D is really low, you should up the dosage to get a noticable change, but too much vitamin D can be dangerous so I wouldn't recommend it without finding out what your levels are. When I was checked both my vitamin D and iron were low, which is why I was sleeping constantly and still feeling fatigued.
I can't say they improved my mood much, so there wasn't a great deal to notice, but I have noticed a distinct lack in extreme lows since I started taking it.
The trouble with mood-altering and mood-stabilising medications (and behaviours if you count things like exercise) is that they can affect perception not only in the present, but about past thoughts and behaviours too, so spotting any obvious change might require some effort.
Case in point, it took me a long while to notice that I haven't been having the crushing lows, and part of me still believes that it's not the Vitamin D that's responsible.
Thank you!! That a powerful description of what I’ve had going on for years - I’m a very emotional thinker and can sometimes feel adrift on things (with no perspective) as the thinking patterns and brain chemicals change replacing the lense I experience everything through
Well for whatever it's worth, you're welcome.
That "feeling adrift" sounds a little bit how depersonalisation and/or derealisation were described to me when I was trying to get diagnoses. I didn't feel like they fit my experience of mental illness at all (everything feels real enough (maybe too much), and I've never felt adrift), and I'm not a doctor so I'd be the last person to try to diagnose either in someone else, but they might be things for you to look into.
Vitamin D helps if you are dealing with S.A.D (seasonal affective disorder). Basically, our brain gets to go into a state akin to hibernation. Unfortunately, modern life isn’t compatible with this. The effect is tiredness and low mood.
SAD seems to be triggered by low vitamin D, low exposure to sunlight, and the cold. The exact trigger levels vary from person to person.
If you’ve not tried it yet, a daylight lamp could help a lot, combined with the Vitamin D, it trucks the brain into thinking it’s still warm and bright outside. You want a hot in the morning, as well as one in the mid to late afternoon.
Failing that, accept your need to hibernate, and plan it in. It’s not ideal, but not fighting it will also help your mood.
I don’t notice feeling any difference tbh.
Honestly I didn’t notice a difference in my day-to-day until I stopped taking them in March. That was a noticeable adjustment. But when I start taking them in November it’s a gradual change and I don’t notice it
About 2 weeks after starting on vitamin d for my massive deficiency, I noticed I wasn’t an unstable moody bitch nearly as much. 2 years later and I’m very normal emotionally now.
Curious why nobody has mentioned that if you take vitamin D you really need to take vitamin K along with it to help with the absorption.
only by test results. mine actually fell, so i need more. i dont think it has immediate effect as other vitamins.