Helping Depression with Vitamin B

Can Vitamin B help with the treatment of Depression?....my story

After the birth of my beautiful daughter I spiralled down into Post-Natal Depression. I didn't actively seek help until my daughter was two years old and by this time my depression was deeply ingrained and I had reached rock bottom. A visit to my GP (and I would always suggest that your GP should be your first port of call if your are suffering from depression) diagnosed the problem and a course of antidepressants and I was put on the waiting list for counselling. In the first instant the relief to have been diagnosed was overwhelming and family life became easier but it was the counselling that opened my eyes to vitamin B. My councillor, Angela, suggested a strong vitamin B supplement to take in conjunction with the antidepressants.

Eventually my equilibrium was restored and I was able to come off the antidepressants and I stop the vitamin B.....but I slipped back into depression. A demanding job, running a home and my partners shift work took its toll. That's when the vitamin B came into its own. Rather than going back onto prescribed medication I took a high dose of vitamin B. The effects have been marvellous, I feel reinvigorated, calmer and alive. It doesn't solve everything but I can tell that when I stop taking them my mood slips back. The effect has for me personally (and remember every one is different, and what works for one may not necessarily work for every one) has been so good I wanted to share my story and investigate further. This is what I have found our about this wonderful vitamin complex.

 

Can Vitamin B help Sufferers with Depression?

Some Scientists believe so

Vitamin B supplements may help people to fight depression, research suggests. The depression website depression-guide.com has these comments.

Scientists have found that people with depression responded better to treatment if they had high levels of vitamin B12 in their blood. They suggest taking vitamin B supplements may be a way to boost the effectiveness of anti-depressants. The research, by Kuopio University in Finland, is published in the journal BMC Psychiatry. The research involved the monitoring of 115 outpatients who were undergoing treatment for depression for more than a six-month period. They measured vitamin B12 levels in the patients' blood when they first came to the clinic, and again at their six-month check up.
The patients who responded fully to treatment had higher concentrations of vitamin B12 in their blood at both the start and the end of the study than those for whom treatment was less effective. The association remained significant even after other factors such as smoking and drinking habits, type of treatment received, and family history of depression were taken into consideration. From this it can be said that taking a supplement to keep Vitamin B levels up would be beneficial.

 

The Big Freeze - it's still one of nature's wonders

With all the disruption it brings it's hard sometimes to see the natural wonder that winter can bring.

 Take time to marvel in it's beauty and power, feel the unique excitment from children building their first snowman. It will be gone as quick as it came, so enjoy it if and while you can!

Just Do it! don't just daydream - create the dream

That's a very grand title isn't it?! This is going to be a very self indulgent collection of witterings. I'm writing this as a kind of motivational tool to get myself actually writing again but really I'm telling myself off.

I haven't contributed anything to this project for weeks and then I wonder why i can't get people interested in it? If I can't muster up the energy to look at my own blog, how on earth can i expect any one else too? You see there is a direct correlation between action and effort - to put it another way, the longer you leave things the harder it gets and the more effort you put in stuff actually becomes easier. So with that in mind I am going to put in a little burst of effort into my blog.

So why the renewed energy I here you ask? well two reasons. One - Demand Media have just excepted my other blog for distribution through their network. My other blog, which can be found at blog.stocksigns.co.uk, is for my other job. When I'm not trying to be "Supermum" or an "Eco warrior" I actually have a proper job. The writing for that is going rather well, and lovely people from all round the world tune in to read my hints and tips on safety signs for the workplace. (did you see what I did there? all part of my link building campaign - a bit of self promotion never hurt any one!). My second reason is that I have a very dear friend that has been subtly telling me to get on with it. She's not being pushy at all you understand, just a gentle couple of words every now and then at the end of our general chit chat emails.Just a teeny weeny reminder to start writing again just enough to shame me into action!

Actually I have a third reason - I like doing it and I have so much to say! Not because I love hearing my own voice or that I think that what I have to say is of great importance to all that read it but because I have learnt so much from others. I like most people, well those that are honest with themselves anyway, struggle. I struggle with working full time, with trying to be a good Mum, with trying to make all my relationships work, in essence I struggle with life. Friends, family and the good old Internet have all passed on valuable information to me that have made my struggles easier to deal with or at the very least made them a bit more fun, all survival tips for the modern age which I want to share with other strugglers.

So witterings over with for now. I am going to stop daydreaming about the life I want to live and start creating it.