Posted by Tomatheus on September 26, 2014, at 17:55:26
In reply to Re: Cyclothymia, agitation/cycling, help (please?), posted by Beckett on September 26, 2014, at 0:30:31
Beckett,
I'm glad to hear that you seemed to be feeling a little better as of yesterday after getting some good sleep. I hope that you'll keep feeling at least as well as you were feeling yesterday, and I wish you luck with the medication adjustments.
Fatigue has certainly been a problem that I've been struggling with on an ongoing basis, and I think that to say that I've had little success in keeping it under control would probably be a bit of an understatement. In my experiences, psychiatric medications didn't seem to provide me with any long-term relief as far as boosting my energy was concerned, and trying different dietary supplements using the same trial-and-error approach that psychiatrists use wasn't very helpful either. I also wish that I could say that my experiences with talk therapy taught me some highly valuable ways of coping with my fatigue, but probably the biggest thing I came away with from the talk therapy that I received was that self-soothing and distraction mechanisms may be of some use in dealing with unpleasant states. Such strategies, I think, are helpful to an extent in dealing with fatigue in the sense that the strategies may help the fatigue seem a little less unpleasant, but I can't say that utilizing the strategies helped to actually boost my energy.
One thing that I did that may ultimately turn out to be part of a successful strategy for combating my fatigue was to start supplementing with vitamin D3 after finding out that my vitamin D level was insufficient, at 21.9 ng/mL. As far as actual symptomatic improvement from the vitamin D3 is concerned, I would say that the D3 itself hasn't probably done much to boost my energy and concentration in the long run, but I have noticed that I respond differently to some dietary supplements than I used to, now that I've been on vitamin D3 for several months. Oddly enough, taking vitamin C used to seemingly worsen my fatigue after two consecutive days of supplementation before I was taking vitamin D3, but now, the effects that I seem to get from taking vitamin C seem to be pretty much completely positive, especially as far as its effects on my concentration are concerned. So, for me, learning that I was low in vitamin D and supplementing with vitamin D3 might turn out to be part of an effective long-term strategy for combating my fatigue, even though I think that if the D3 is going to help, it's going to help by changing the way I respond to other supplements and possibly also medications.
Aside from getting a blood-test result indicating that I had a vitamin D insufficiency, I've also for some time now been getting test results indicating that my white blood cell count is elevated, which has been explained to me as being evidence for some sort of infection. I've been tested for Lyme disease, and I also had a number of other tests done on me the last time I was hospitalized, but no positive results seemed to come back. At this point, I suspect toxoplasmosis as a possibility, as it would explain not only my elevated white blood cell count, but also the fact that my psychosis emerged shortly after taking the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor aminoguanidine (aminoguanidine and other nitric oxide synthase inhibitors have been shown to exacerbate toxoplasmosis infections in animal studies). Unfortunately, I haven't been successful in convincing any doctors to test me for toxoplasmosis, so I can't say with much certainty that I'm infected. Could it be that maybe my fatigue was/is caused by a combination of insufficient vitamin D and an infection of some sort (possibly toxoplasmosis)? That's one thing that I'm suspecting right now, and the fact that I'm noticing a little bit of synergy between vitamins D3 and C would seem to support the possibility that I just speculated about, but of course, I'm just speculating.
So basically, to cut to the chase, I would say that I'm currently noticing some possible synergy between the vitamin D3 and the vitamin C I take, leading to some moderate reductions in my fatigue. I'll also say that in my case, learning that my vitamin D level was low and supplementing with the vitamin may have been a turning point in my treatment, as being on vitamin D3 in the long term has seemingly changed the way I respond to some biological treatments (supplements and possibly also medications).
I recall you mentioning in another post of yours that you underwent some tests as part of a work-up for chronic fatigue. Do you know if you were tested for vitamin D? I certainly don't that treating low vitamin D is the answer to everything or that doing so will necessarily treat every condition that's come to be associated with low vitamin D, but if you are low in vitamin D, taking steps to optimize your vitamin D level might at least be part of a strategy you can take to try to combat your fatigue. Finally, if you don't mind me asking, are there any other test results (besides that for vitamin D level) that you received that you think might be relevant as far as your fatigue is concerned? I ask this because getting the results of the tests that I underwent at an orthomolecular treatment center did seem to be a first step of sorts in possibly changing the direction of my treatment (and that's assuming that what I'm doing now will help me in the long run).
Well, I wasn't intending to write such a long message, and I apologize if I went on for too long about myself and my symptoms. Please feel free to respond to any questions you feel comfortable answering. Also, and I should probably say this in more of my messages, please take what I say with a grain of salt and understand that even though I hope that you'll find some of what I've written to be useful that what has helped me may not help everybody. Having said that, I hope that you'll find a way to get the relief that you're looking for so you can be well.
Take care,
TomatheusHas a psychotic disorder with strong chronic fatigue symptoms
Taking Abilify & vitamins B3, C, & D3
poster:Tomatheus
thread:1071475
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20140619/msgs/1071524.html