An Ode To My Friend, Vitamin D

As I've shared, I grew up in New England. From the time I was 12, each Fall, around Thanksgiving...I became depressed. I suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). My memories include sleeping 18-20 hours a day, being home-schooled for 1/2 the year, and staring into huge full spectrum light boxes, to no avail. Moving to the Inferno, sounded like the best idea I had heard in my in life. My first Winter here, my Mom died. Though I did deal with the situation depression that a major death normally brings...I wasn't SAD.

Why on earth am I thinking about the Winter Blues in July?

Fast forward a few years, from that first Winter here. We are still living in the Inferno (also known as southern AZ), and it's July. July means 110 and humid. July means avoid the sun at all costs. I found myself pale and...SAD, all over again. I'm now sick, in the middle of my mystery illness. I've put 2 and 2 together and I ask my primary DR for a Vitamin D test. She laughs and tells me we live in the Inferno, there's no way I'm D deficient. By December, I am using a walker, I am erratic, and in constant deep pain. I am then sent to a Rhematologist. He runs the requested D level. Low normal is a 40. I was a 4. Yes, FOUR. He asked me if I had killed my husband yet, tried to hurt myself, and HOW I was functioning with virtually no D in my system. 8 weeks of 50,000 IU's a week later...a layer of ouch is gone, as is my depression.

The Summer seems to be a mix of overexposure or not enough sun. Most of us live inside, work inside, drive in cars, we cover ourselves from head to toe with SPF80 to avoid skin cancer. We need at least 20 minutes a day of full on sun exposure for it to trigger D production. If you really think about it, those 15 seconds from house to car and from car to office...aren't enough. A weekly sunburn (or a dozen eggs yolks), is not a good idea nor enough exposure to effect regular daily production, or moods. A little bit of daily sun and high quality supplementing if needed, is the only way.

I see an awareness in northern climates. More and more people take their D all Winter. It never dawned on anyone (but me) that a pre-menopausal desert dweller, could also be D deficient (in July). I live an hour from Mexico and I had virtually no Vitamin D in me. Now, between eating gluten free, tank top-no sunscreen gardening every day, and continuing a year round daily maintenance dose of 2000 IU...I am maintaining normal levels and have remained SAD free. I look back and can't help but to think that perhaps some vitamin D, along with those lights in New England...may have changed the outcome of my entire life.

Don't wait until the Winter Blues come a ' knocking. Get your D level checked!

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamind.asp