Vitamins and health supplements

Hello all. I'm trying to really work on myself at the moment but it's one thing at a time. I've been going through everything that triggers depressive episodes and what everything seems to stem from is exhaustion. Even after a good night's sleep I'm tired, I tend to dose off after meals, when watching TV and other ridiculous times.

My husband has been super concerned to he went to the local health shop. They told him I should try a vitamin B supplement that won't affect my antidepressants. I could also try magnesium along with it if I really wanted.

So I have ordered the vitamin B from their website as it had a great online offer on it. So really what I'm asking is has anyone tried this? Do they work or is it a mind over matter?

It might be worth getting your iron and vitamin D levels checked as those can make you tired when low, vitamin can also help with mood. I'm supposed to take both but am not good at keeping my prescription filled, on Monday I got up at half nine after plenty of sleep and by 11.30 I was struggling not to dose off on the sofa, not good.

Thanks Amy. As awful as it is I'm glad I'm not the only one. I can wake up and be exhausted after an hour of nothing.

I take a multi vitamin, but no other supliments. VitaminD can help with energy levels.

I know this sounds stupid but have you tried excersize? It might actually give you more energy. It sounds contradictory, but if your tired after a meal go for a little walk. If it's sunny your natural vitamin D levels will be boosted by the sun too.

I’m constantly exhausted and it’s been put down to a combination of low vitamin d and depression. I would consider getting your vitamin d checked, if it’s low they can give you a two week course of vitamin tablets to get the levels back up again :)

Hi RosyCheek, your body needs a lot of nutrients to keep itself in tip top form, and if you have been having a rough time lately - then certain vitamins and minerals can be more easily depleted, especially if you haven’t been eating regularly etc.

Mr Scorpius and I both take a variety of supplements, and Vitamin B complex is one of them. As we are vegetarian, we also take an iron supplement – however even if you’re not vegetarian, you can suffer from fatigue if your iron levels are too low (depending on your diet) – so worth having this checked. Omega oils can be very beneficial too.

As NatandTom said, it would be worth getting your Vitamin D levels checked, and they could also check your other levels at the same time. A low level of Vitamin D is linked with depression and anxiety, so a supplement could be useful. A good all round Multivitamin & Mineral is a good choice too, as it covers essential vits/minerals that you may be missing out on in your diet.

Just be careful that the dose you buy isn’t too strong, as some supplements can cause issues in high doses such as vitamin A – if you stick to 100% you should be fine. B Vitamins are fine as they are water soluble and don’t stay in the body long. It is best to take any supplement with a meal, and vitamin D works best when taken with a meal containing some fat as it is a fat soluble vitamin. I hope this is useful, and I really hope you start to feel much better very soon xx

Hi Rosy,

I'm another sufferer of fatigue, I think it's the most debilitating of my depression symptoms.

After many persistent trips to doctors (who mainly prescribed iron tablets) I got diagnosed with pre diabetes / insulin resistance and told not to eat any high sugar foods. This did help with my fatigue somewhat. I think the problem is I have fatigue for two different reasons, the change in diet helped with the diabetes related fatigue, but the depression related one is still going strong.

In terms of vitamins, I take vitamin D, folic acid, zinc and vitamin C. I also take iron towards the end and a few days following my period to top up my levels.

I'm not sure how much taking these things help, but I can say my energy levels have been better since changing my diet to combat blood sugar spikes. What I would say is it's worth being persistent with your doctor, don't let then just dismiss it as depression. I got frustrated with all the iron tablets, when I saw a second doctor she told me my bloods showed no iron deficiency at all, I'd just been prescribed them because it's standard for fatigue.

Hope you're feeling better soon. I really emphasize, I know how frustrating and limiting fatigue can be. Take care of yourself xx

If you take vitamin D you need to consider taking k2 and magnesium as these help your body absorb vitamin D, as well as make sure your body doesn't deposit calcium into soft tissue such as muscles (so makes sure it goes into the bone). It's recommended to take Magnesium Glycinate at first, as apparently it's the easiest one for your body to use / less side effects, although some people find they get an upset belly / sickness when starting it, so start on the lower dose. Magnesium can make people relaxed too so many take it at night.

With vitamin D I take the Btteryou 300 spray, I was taking tablets before but they didn't up my levels. I also tried a SAD lamp but this apparently doesn't give the right type of light to up vitamin D. I also found out that you can wash off vitamin D absorbed from the sun, countries with the right level of sun light are showing low levels in people you wouldn't expect such as surfers as apparently going in and out of the water so often is just washing it off. Interesting stuff really.

With B vitamins I know some medications you can't certain types with, also many of the cheaper ones are more nasty chemicals which can actually make you more sluggish.

I'd really recommend getting levelschecked, many GPs now test your B, D, iron, calcium, and magnesium levels. Although many will only offer a serum magnesium test which some feel isn't enough. I say this because you may have high some, low others, ok others. For example I have high iron but just in range, if I took extra iron I'd have too much and then feel really groggy, too high of a vitamin / mineral can make you feel just as bad as too low. I also have high calcium but healthy high, but if I took a tablet for it too as I'm taking a really high vitamin D dose as my vitmain D is low, I would get calcium deposits in parts of my body where they shouldn't be. More studies are actually saying that multi vitamins are causing more harm than good, as generally not all our levels are low. Hope that makes sense.

I had very low vitamin D, which was causing me a lot of issues with increased pain, tiredness, tachycardia, and more. Since I have gotten my levels up to 150 I've been feeling a bit better, although not 100% as I have a few autoimmune things possibly going on. Due to this some of the time when I take vitamin C or zince I can feel very unwell for a day or two. I'm under investigation but they seem to be getting more and more of a clearer picture of what's wrong.

I take milk thistle and to be fair since taking this I've been feel a lot better, and I also take a high strength pro biotic.

So I'd really recommend getting some tests done to see, the UK is only just realising how serious low Vitamin D is. My doctors actually think it may be why my back broke in multiple places. Oh thyroid test may be a good one to ask for too, as I've met many people who went to their GP regarding depression and had theirs tested and found that theirs wasn't functioning as normal, but once they started with the right medication they started to feel a lot happier.

@Scorpius I'm veggie too but my iron is really good, it's always surprised doctors, but when speaking to many other veggies who eat very healthy diets most of them who've had their levels tested have good levels too. I've been reading more and mnore studies whilst doing more nutrition courses and it seems it really varies on the persons body not so much the diet, but also more are showing that our bodies find it easier to absorb iron from certain veg than meat. I do eat a hell-a-lot of green st00f though so that may be why mine is good, and kidney beans =).

Also it's worth noting that there may be another reason to have low vitamins, such as issues with the pancreas (such as diabetes), liver, other organs. Hence why it's always worth going to see a GP. Malabsorbtion isn't always a diet issue but something else going on. Also if you have other conditions some can be affected by certain vitamins in a negative way, not just medication.

Just on vitamin D, about 18 months ago i was diagnosed as being vit D deficient, and given a 3 months course of prescription only tablets. Althouhg much has changed since then, I generally feel more energised, when my everyday anxiety lets me. Since then, I've taken multivitamins every day and generally managed to keep my D levels up. I'm monitored reasonably regularly, and had to have another 1 months course over this winter but yeah i do think it really helps energy .

Also, if you are that exhausted, might there be something else at play, such as a sleep disorder?  Get your partner to watch you sleep for an hour, and see if you are truely rested, or whether you sleep with your body in flight mode, or whether you're having apnoea or stuff...!

Another one here. My let's call cronical tiredness started after the birth of my 14 years old and I remember the doctor dismissing and saying "welcome to the joys of kotherhood". I used to be a bllod donor, but shortly after that visit to the GP, in one of these cquick heck-ups the NHS does just before a donation, I was told my iron levels were extremely low and they send me back to the GP ho in turn prescribed me iron tablets. I hated them (tried 12 different ones) as they gabe serioys gut and bowels pain and that nasty bloated feeling. So I've decides to stop with the suckers.

Now I'm healtheir than I've ever been, sleep really well, have a balanced ad varied diet, lift hard and workout religiously five times a week. Still the tiredness doesn't go away. Every single day I feel if I stop doing something or sit dows I can easily fall asleep. It's just so overpowering that I dread being caught up in traffic and fall asleep. Often I do 4, five trips walking to the shops so that stops from being stick in traffic jam at rush hours when I know the urge to fall asleep is too much to bear.

I shall keep an eye on this thread and see how it goes. Lots of good advice here as all this thing with supplements and vitamins is so complex and it's quite hard to find what really can benefit your body. Maybe some women multivamins would be the right way for me, but then I'm quite dubious of all these comercial stuff. I don't know...