Vitamin deficiency is more common than most of us think. Did you know some common medications can prevent absorption or even worse even deplete your vitamins/minerals such as; some anti-acid (H2 blockers), steroids, and painkillers...just to name a few. Our body will let us know when it is deficient in vitamins. It's essential for us to recognize the symptoms so we can help our bodies run optimally. Often, our mental health is affected and we chalk it up to depression, anxiety, or something else that makes us feel so out of tune with our bodies.
We want to help put you in the driver's seat of your health and help you work with your provider as a patient-provider team. Being more in tune with your body can help you and your provider better understand how to help you toward your health goals (and an overall feeling better in life).
Vitamin B Deficiency
B12 is the most known but did you know that there are 8 B vitamins? All of these play a role in the function of your body from hair health, depression, infertility, fatigue, autoimmune, mood disorders, and learning disorders. This is commonly tested with bloodwork when fatigue is a symptom.
Vitamin C Deficiency
This is one that no one ever thinks they could have. Many relate this to 3rd world countries and scurvy. This isn't a vitamin that many providers even check. Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, has several important functions. These include: helping to protect cells and keep them healthy; maintaining healthy skin, blood vessels, bones, and cartilage; and helping with wound healing. Medical journals have revealed that a deficiency of vitamin C may lead to motor skill deficit, cognitive impairment, and atypical behaviors, whereas a supplement of vitamin C has a potential preventive and therapeutic effect on mental illness, such as major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Vitamin D Deficiency
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that helps with the absorption of other vital minerals like zinc and magnesium. It's important to have this checked through your bloodwork and not just guess. When your provider review test results, most are looking at it with a low to high range. If you fall anywhere in there, they consider you "normal". While that may be "normal", your personal optimal range may be different. Working with many functional providers, 50 (OH)D has been found to be a range that people feel their best. Again, this is individually determined and just an observation, not medical advice. Symptoms of low vitamin D can include; hair loss, depression, anxiousness, slow wound healing, muscle weakness, bone pain, teeth pain, frequent illness, cardiovascular issues, and fatigue.
Iron Deficiency
Iron is a mineral rather than a vitamin but plays a huge role in our health. Some of the symptoms to look for could be; depression, hair loss, fatigue, tingling or restlessness in the legs, weakness, brittle hair and nails, and brain fog. This is also one that needs to be checked through your bloodwork. Women tend to have a higher chance of being deficient due to blood loss during menstruation especially women that don't replenish their bodies with iron-rich foods.
These are just a few deficiencies and a recommended starting point. As you can see, there are so many vitamins, and minerals, that link to depression and fatigue. It is so important that we look for the root cause and heal from there. Looking at vitamins and minerals is a great starting point. It can take 2+ weeks to start noticing a difference once you do start supplementing. Be patient with yourself while healing.
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