Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!noao!terak!doug
From: doug@terak.UUCP (Doug Pardee)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Depression and (oh, no!) vitamins
Message-ID: <1049@terak.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 20-Feb-86 19:21:05 EST
Article-I.D.: terak.1049
Posted: Thu Feb 20 19:21:05 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 24-Feb-86 04:57:58 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Calcomp Display Products Division, Scottsdale, AZ, USA
Lines: 46

[I have no desire to rekindle the vitamin debate, but...]

I'm looking for some plausible explanation for a personal experience.
The situation has happened twice, and I'm fairly confident that there is
a cause and effect.  But I don't understand the mechanism.

Summary:  A depressed mood which has lasted for weeks is "cured" in less
than two hours after taking a "stress formula" vitamin supplement.

Boring details:  On two occasions (a couple of years apart), I have been
depressed for weeks at a time.  This is very uncharacteristic of me;
seldom do I carry one day's emotions forward into the next day.  In both
cases I was in a situation which was depressing but not at all hopeless.
It shouldn't really have caused the kind of relentless depression that I
was experiencing.

The first time, the depression had lasted for nearly 3 months when it
occurred to me that the depressing situation could also be labelled as
"stressful".  Since I'm not a health nut and I "don't always eat right"
as the TV commercials say, I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to start
taking a vitamin supplement on general principles.  Within a couple of
hours after I took the first tablet, my mood had improved remarkably.
I continued using the supplement until the depressing/stressful
situation abated.

The second time, it only took one month of depression before I
recognized the similarity (hey, when you're depressed you don't always
think straight :-).  About an hour and a half after taking the first
tablet, the cloud had lifted.  The change was so quick and so dramatic
that I find it hard to believe it could be the vitamins.  But I don't
have any other theory.

Okay, folks, I'm asking for help understanding what's going on.  Is it
one of the vitamins in the supplement (basically B complex, C and folic
acid, and E), or is it probably placebo effect, or something else?  And
more important, should I be doing anything more than continuing to take
the supplements?

Possible red herring:  my father was an alcoholic ("was" on account of
it finally killed him).  I don't drink, never have.  One person I know
suggested that this might be a clue.

Extra Credit:  what am I excreting that causes my urine to become a
fluorescent green-yellow color when I'm using those supplements?
-- 
Doug Pardee -- CalComp -- {hardy,savax,seismo,decvax,ihnp4}!terak!doug