Meet Hailey, our distressed thirty-one-year-old patient. After a long discussion with her about her current symptoms and her emotional and medical history, it became clear she was suffering from a combination of depressive symptoms and anxiety. Her anxiety was disrupting her sleep, and she was exhausted and irritable by day. It was hard to tell what had come first, but clearly both issues needed to be addressed. Through a combination of lifestyle changes (better diet, regular exercise that for her included yoga and meditation), talk therapy, and some specific vitamin suggestions, her situation improved markedly. She returned several months later to report that she was feeling like a new person, employing a combination of magnesium, vitamin D, and B vitamins seemed to help her sleep and alleviated both her anxiety symptoms and her daytime depression.
All in all there are a number of vitamins and supplements that may be helpful in aiding with symptoms of both anxiety and depression. As with any symptoms, it is important to consider a global approach to each person and how different treatments may fit into their lives. A traditional approach to treating anxiety and depression can include lifestyle optimization such as exercise and possibly meditation, prescription medication, and psychotherapy. A thoughtful vitamin regimen is an important consideration in treatment of anxiety and/or depressive symptoms. Vitamins can complement these other modalities and help act as a preventative. They may be an important addition and a useful tool to minimize these distressing symptoms.
If Hailey were a typical vitamin shopper in mass market, she would wander the vitamin aisles of her local store, probably with some degree of confusion and angst. She may not know that vitamins can be an important piece of an overall approach toward depression. In turn, she may grab something like a standard women’s multivitamin, perhaps in the unhealthy gummy format, that will do little to address her depression. These products are low-dosed and dosed according to the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) scale. Not an effective approach to address targeted symptoms like depression. As a result, Hailey might walk out of that store with the wrong vitamin solution for her needs.
Alternatively, if Hailey were to go through a personalized vitamin assessment, she would enter information about her health background, including symptoms like depression. This information would be analyzed in making her recommendation. She is likely to receive a vitamin recommendation with a better blend of nutrients and optimized dosing for her profile. She stands a much better chance to make improvements in her nutritional health with a personalized vitamin compared to the mass market experience of shopping for a vitamin solution.
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