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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 3 of 3. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Adam on June 25, 2001, at 20:15:19
I've really hesitated to post this question, given the potential for someone to get the Wrong Idea (TM) about taking multivitamins, etc. Let me state up front: This theory seems rather crackpot even to myself. However, I've been led somewhat inexorably to it, given some strange coincidences...
My girlfriend's on a health kick (which is good, because she's got clear signs of SSRI-induced weight gain, and I don't want her to suffer as a result), and started insisting I take my vitamins. So I did. Actually, her vitamins, at first, being packaged in some-or-other "women's multivitamin", which we joked would probably lead to my "growing boobs" (benign gynocomastia, I informed her). Fortunately, that hasn't happened.
Anyway, it turned out I had a bottle of my own multivitamins lying around, from a now-defunct local market chain, called Wild Harvest. They probably just bought them from somebody else, and slapped on their own "Wild Harvest" label. (I mean, picking multivitamins from the fields would be a "wild harvest" indeed.) So I took them faithfully for two weeks, and experienced a rather dramatic deterioration in my mood. It was alarming. I even woke up one morning with that awful tightness in my chest that I used to have, which was my daily sensation while depressed, and something that became, over time, almost unbearably opressive.
In short, I was freaked. Relapse? Good heavens, please, not that. I sat there, wracked my brains about what was going on, and examined what in my life changed recently and might be contributing to the problem. The only thing out-of-the-ordinary that I was ingesting was this multivitamin. So I resolved to get more sleep and stop taking the Wild Harvest.
I felt better in a couple days. I only told my g/f after the fact, though she knew something was up. I spent a good long time under her intense scrutiny, and, when I thought the coast was clear, I took the multivitamin again, every day for a week or so, to see what would happen.
Sure enough, I felt worse. I stopped, and again I felt better in a few days or less. This time I maintained the responsible sleep throughout (as responsible as I get, anyway).
I know this is weird. I fully accept that I could have just gotten some hair-brained idea about the vitamins in my head, and the powers of self-deception did the rest. But the issue has nagged me for the past month or so (during which I've been just fine). I can't possibly hope to do an "unbiased study" now that my suspicions have been raised. I just wondered if anyone had had a similar experience, or had some plausible theory as to what might have been going on.
Thanks!
Posted by yo-wazzzup on June 25, 2001, at 22:34:00
In reply to Vitamins??, posted by Adam on June 25, 2001, at 20:15:19
>HMMMMMMMMMMM, why do u think they have gone outta business? You may have an answer with in your question?!? Then again, I could be wrong.
I've really hesitated to post this question, given the potential for someone to get the Wrong Idea (TM) about taking multivitamins, etc. Let me state up front: This theory seems rather crackpot even to myself. However, I've been led somewhat inexorably to it, given some strange coincidences...
>
> My girlfriend's on a health kick (which is good, because she's got clear signs of SSRI-induced weight gain, and I don't want her to suffer as a result), and started insisting I take my vitamins. So I did. Actually, her vitamins, at first, being packaged in some-or-other "women's multivitamin", which we joked would probably lead to my "growing boobs" (benign gynocomastia, I informed her). Fortunately, that hasn't happened.
>
> Anyway, it turned out I had a bottle of my own multivitamins lying around, from a now-defunct local market chain, called Wild Harvest. They probably just bought them from somebody else, and slapped on their own "Wild Harvest" label. (I mean, picking multivitamins from the fields would be a "wild harvest" indeed.) So I took them faithfully for two weeks, and experienced a rather dramatic deterioration in my mood. It was alarming. I even woke up one morning with that awful tightness in my chest that I used to have, which was my daily sensation while depressed, and something that became, over time, almost unbearably opressive.
>
> In short, I was freaked. Relapse? Good heavens, please, not that. I sat there, wracked my brains about what was going on, and examined what in my life changed recently and might be contributing to the problem. The only thing out-of-the-ordinary that I was ingesting was this multivitamin. So I resolved to get more sleep and stop taking the Wild Harvest.
>
> I felt better in a couple days. I only told my g/f after the fact, though she knew something was up. I spent a good long time under her intense scrutiny, and, when I thought the coast was clear, I took the multivitamin again, every day for a week or so, to see what would happen.
>
> Sure enough, I felt worse. I stopped, and again I felt better in a few days or less. This time I maintained the responsible sleep throughout (as responsible as I get, anyway).
>
> I know this is weird. I fully accept that I could have just gotten some hair-brained idea about the vitamins in my head, and the powers of self-deception did the rest. But the issue has nagged me for the past month or so (during which I've been just fine). I can't possibly hope to do an "unbiased study" now that my suspicions have been raised. I just wondered if anyone had had a similar experience, or had some plausible theory as to what might have been going on.
>
> Thanks!
Posted by susan C on June 25, 2001, at 23:13:23
In reply to Vitamins??, posted by Adam on June 25, 2001, at 20:15:19
> Hi, here are my two cents worth: I am of the opinion that taking vitamins need to be as carefully considered as any prescription. Maybe there was something in it you are allergic to. You had a lot more courage (to try it a second time) than I would. I had a similar experience with allegra, the "new" antihistamine. I can not take antihistamines, it causes depression. When allergist recommended I take it, I said, I cant take anti...oh, he says, it is new and doesnt cross the blood brain barrier, you wont have that problem. I was suicidal within 48 hours. Now I try to track anything I take. Food Is Good.
This is the end of the thread.
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