# GET YOUR VITAMINS/HORMONES CHECKED. This is important stuff for recovery...hands down.



## miabella (Jun 19, 2013)

Hi guys - I'm pretty much never on here anymore... I took the advice to stay off of the forum which has worked quite well.

I urge all of you to get to the doctor and get some blood work done. If you, ladies especially, are seeing ups and downs with your recovery, it could DEFINITELY be hormonal. Look into estrogen dominance especially.. it's very common (low, normal, or high estrogen... but VERY low progesterone). It turns out my hormones are just generally low across the board. Stress causes this and hinders recovery from DP/DR!

Hormone and ESPECIALLY thyroid issues are known to cause brain fog and DP/DR. A THS test doesn't always show thyroid issues... get your T3 and T4 checked as well.

Also, get your vitamins checked. Low vitamin D is very common. I LOVE being outdoors and tanning, and any time I use milk its the kind fortified with vitamin D... and I STILL don't get enough vitamin D (being outside with sun exposure to your arms/legs for 30 minutes is usually more than enough... but it has to be daily!) My level was at 29 ng/ml... I am now taking 5,000 IU of vitamin D a day and feeling better and better.

MAGNESIUM (chelated, not oxide or any other kind) is amazing for depression and feelings of derealization. If you do start to take vitamin D in large amounts, it uses up magnesium and will cause exacerbation of your symptoms if you do not supplement with magnesium as well!! People are generally low in magnesium because calcium (very heavy in our diets as practically everything is fortified with it) depletes it as well.... so does stress, loud noise, illness.... I take magnesium whenever I'm feeling down... it completely erases feelings of severe depression and hopelessness.

Get your iron, copper, and zinc levels checked. Take one and not the others, and the others will go down. Get your calcium levels checked as well.. if your vitamin D is low, your ability to absorb calcium is hindered. Check all letter vitamins. Low levels of ANY vitamin can cause depression, anxiety, fatigue, brain fog...

A multivitamin will help slowly (remember these changes take months, just like the deficiencies take months)... but if you are deficient in anything, higher levels WILL be needed at first to bring blood levels up and feel a difference. Discuss with your doctor.

I'm telling you... this could be your way out. ESPECIALLY those who have had this for long periods of time that cannot figure out a solution. get it done.

Another thing I noticed... a lot of blood test reference ranges are off. If you want, bring your results here (or maybe just even your symptoms) and I can try to help you out.


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## NEEDMOREBLAZE (Apr 8, 2013)

This is good stuff Mia...do you mind me asking what type of doctor you went to?? I had blood work and a thyroid test done recently and everything seemed to be in order...with that said, i did have very low Vitamin D and that has been a consistent theme for me for the past 5 or 6 years.

In the months leading up to my depersonalization, i began to have short term memory and concentration issues, i was also working out at a very high intensity level and eating less with the hopes of lowering my cholesterol..i remember telling my workout partner that i just felt like i was lacking something in my diet. I FELT THIS WAY BEFORE DP!!! At that time, I truly felt that if i could just get a month off where i had nothing to do but rest my mind from stress, i would have been OK.

If you could share the type of doctor you used, that would be great!!! Thanks for sharing this!!!


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## miabella (Jun 19, 2013)

Hey there!!! I just went to a regular GP for the tests... I went to a holistic doctor, but he was an arrogant jerk and really just confirmed some of the issues I knew I already had... he wouldn't listen to any of my questions or take them seriously at all.

I walked into my regular doc's office, asked for a hormone blood test (this one tested estrodial e2 and progesterone.... saliva for hormones is MUCH more accurate) and a vitamin blood test (which I ASSUMED would come back with a full range, but he just gave me vita. D and B12 results). He also recommended a thyroid blood test (my dad had severe thyroid issues so they always check me for this) and just a regular blood count.

I had the same thing... memory/concentrations issues for SURE. I kind of figured it was mostly hormonal, until I saw my vitamin D level... B12 was very normal though. Thyroid was on the low end of normal... .77, .30 (i think) being the lowest at normal. Blood count was fine. My vitamin D level was 29... 25-80 was the reference range... but I later read on the internet that anything below 32 is considered deficient, and then that levels of about 65 or a little higher are optimal. I've also read MANY forums where people say that just at 29, 28, 27 etc... they felt severe symptoms like those who had levels of 16, 12, 10.. etc. Needless to say, I took it all with a grain of salt, until I took my first 5,000 IU vitamin D and suddenly had a ton of my optimism and energy back.

Also - good to know: vitamin D is actually a hormone. If your vitamin D is low, your thyroid and sex hormones may be WAY off, too... which can cause things like brain fog and anxiety. And, mix heavy brain fog with anxiety/depression and you've got DP/DR as far as I'm concerned.


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## NEEDMOREBLAZE (Apr 8, 2013)

My thyroid tests always come back normal, but there is something more than meets the eye with those vitamin D levels, i have just never gotten to the bottom of it. One of the trends I have noticed with myself, is that around lunch time i tend to get very anxious and panic driven...that has been a consistent theme for me over the last year. Breathing gets shallow, panic sets in and then once i start eating it all goes away and i'm fine.

I try my best to get out in the sun, but when you're working an office job it's easier said than done. I'm a big believer that exercise and sunlight burns right through depression issues. I would agree with your calculation, brain fog + anxiety + depression is a great recipe for depersonalization, i will also add lack of sleep and proper nutrition to that formula. I kind of feel as if i should see an endocrinologists to truly see what's out of whack. I do believe at the core that DP/DR is a personality disorder that stems from unresolved trauma and how we react to stress....but i also believe that once DP/DR is in place that there is a chemical imbalance that must be corrected in order to move forward properly.


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