25-hydroxy D3

Hi all,

Just sharing that as advised by Andy, I gave my 16 year old daughter 6 doses of 50,000 iu vitamin D3. Her serum level is 75 nmol (ref range 20-100). The psychiatrist is taking her off antidepressant (SSRI).

Melissa,

That is wonderful to hear. I really hate to see people on antidepressants. The founder of this group was on Paxil and to this day, I feel it caused her death, as she no longer cared about anything, including taking care of herself. Yes, she wasn't as bothered by anxiety, but for God's sake, who wouldn't have anxiety when their health is so bad. All the antidepressant did was make her not care about anything.
When there is no clear reason why one is depressed, vitamin D deficiency should always be considered and treated before trying addictive drugs.

Hi Andy,

Thank you for sharing that information about Lisa, that was very useful information. When I first started searching about thalassemia and mood disorders, this forum did not pop up on my search results for the longest time. By then, she was already on a mood stabiliser. I was giving her methylfolate and methycobalamin along with the antipsychotic and anticonvulsant. Later it was changed to antipsychotic and antidepressant combination. Then the antipsychotic was removed and now we are tapering off the Sertraline. I have managed to keep the meds dosing low all these while.

My daughter’s moods were so bad that we had to ward her in a psychiatric hospital. It was there that I learnt that they had many thals who do not respond to psychiatric medication. My daughter’s primary psychiatrist is a very kind man, he listens and runs blood tests when I request for it. But what was surprising for me as well as him was that he could not order the 25-hydroxy vitamin D serum test, it could only be done by the haematologist.

I will update you again and post other test results for reference.

I take some vitamin D supps, definitely worth doing, but natural is the best way to go.
Can your daughter get sunlight daily? Direct sunlight for 20-60 mins a day would be great, and sunlight for even 5 mins in the morning regulates the circadian rhythm in the body. Going for a walk every morning in sunlight or doing other exercise would be ideal, exercise and sun are natural anti depressants, but youd want to do this for a few weeks to see the real benefits.
Fatty fish like salmon, sardines, makeral and eggs also have natural vitamin D.
All that said im not a doctor, depression is likely caused by multiple factors.

Hi TonyF,

Thank you for sharing your view. We live 85miles from the equator and sunshine is plentiful all year around. We also have 50% skin exposed most times. Her depression is also caused by iron issues. Her ferritin is ridiculously low and not responding to oral treatment. My son and MIL also have ferritin issues . The haematologist has requested for TMPR336 gene testing. She eats plenty of fatty fish too.

Hi Andy, this is an update.

Three years ago, when my teenage daughter was first tested, her hb was 9.4g/dL, MCV 60.7fL and ferritin 4.6ug/L. She has double heterozygous Haemoglobin E/Alpha II trait. She inherited heterozygous HbE trait from me and heterozygous 3.7kb single deletion alpha thalassemia from her father (-a/aa).

We tried various ways via diet and ferrous supplements but her ferritin was in the range of 8.2-11.1ug/L after two years.

Finally I requested for an iron infusion. Six weeks after intravenous Ferinject 1000mg, her hb was 13.1g/dL, MCV 78fL and ferritin 247ug/L. Hb started falling again to 12.4g/dL.

My daughter had a haematology appointment yesterday and the haematologist wanted to know what I did. Her hb is 13.5g/dL 🎉 I was so surprised, it has never been this high before.

So I told her the only thing that I added to her current supplement regime is 10,000iu vitamin A. For comparison, 100mg of liver has about 18,000iu of vitamin A. I am only intending to supplement with vitamin A for two months.

Her supplement schedule is as follows:

In the morning, 5000mcg methylfolate, 1000mg methylcobalamin, B-100 Complex and 1000mg vitamin C.

In the evening,
10,000iu vitamin A, 5000iu vitamin D, 400iu vitamin E, 1g fish oil, 1g krill oil and 1 capsule cod liver oil.

I did not think of supplementing with vitamin A because deficiency is not common in developed countries. It took me three years to figure that out. Who would have thought? 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thank you so much once again for the supplements guide ❤️ Wouldn’t have known what to do without you and which direction to proceed.

My daughter needed wisdom teeth surgery so I wasn’t giving her the usual supplements that she is was taking during that period as she had a lot of medication to take. On the eight day after the surgery, she went in to have the stitches removed. She had a low grade fever at night, her white blood count was not at her base line and liver panel had some indicators that the doctors were concerned about. They thought she had Covid and ran tests for it. She tested negative.  I did explain to them that it was likely the surgery and medication that was causing the issues.

So from the time she had her test done at the haematologist on 19th August where she showed improvement, her hb was 13.2g/dL when she was admitted to the hospital. The next day, her hb was 11.3g/dL. When I was discussing with the doctor if it was due hemodilution due to being placed on the drip, the doctor was saying that it shouldn’t drop this fast. So she needs a blood draw in two months time.

Hi Melissa,

There will be some dilution of Hb with an IV and the extent will depend on how much fluid is administered. This seems extreme though, and the drop in Hb was probably also affected by a med. This should rebound once the meds are no longer being used. The meds would also affect the liver function tests.

Thank you for replying Andy.

I went to check the time at which the complete blood count was done, it was five hours apart.

As you said, a 1.9g/dL drop seems extreme.

I was also discussing this with Laurice.

The dear daughter doesn’t want to take her supplements now. (Gotta love teenagers 😉) She was recently telling us how sick and tired she is of being poked by needles and being on IVs 😅