Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)

Thiamine deficiency is very common in psychiatric patients. It is associated with anxiety, depression, fearfulness, agitation, emotional instability, irritability, and night terrors. It is most common in alcoholics and patients that are malnourished. Agoraphobic patients and patients with anxiety disorders are often thiamine deficient.

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)

Riboflavin deficiencies can affect mood, behavior, sleep, memory, and concentration. Patients commonly are aggressive, depressed, anxious, and suffer from panic attacks and migraines. Reduced levels of riboflavin inhibit the body’s use of a lot of medications and oxidative stress is often a problem.

Vitamin B3 (Niacin)

Niacin deficiencies are noted in many cases of schizophrenia, chronic fatigue, insomnia and chronic headache. Memory problems are also common in patients with this deficiency.

Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)

Vitamin B5 deficiency is rare. Sufferers may experience excessively hot feet, recurring upper respiratory infections, fatigue, insomnia, depression, irritability, vomiting, or stomach pains. Vitamin B5 is sometimes referred to as the “anti-stress” vitamin because of its regulatory effect on stress hormones.

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 deficiency can cause irritability, severe PMS, fatigue, depression, anxiety and confusion. Many people have electric shock sensations, paresthesias (tingling, burning, pricking, or numbness), and extreme anxiety. About half of agoraphobic patients are usually B6 deficient.

Vitamin B7 (Biotin)

Deficiencies in biotin are most common in those taking anti-seizure medications, long-term antibiotics, or people with trouble absorbing nutrients. Symptoms include numbness, tingling, strange pain sensations (usually in extremities), weakness, fatigue, lethargy, and hallucinations.

Vitamin B9 (Folate)

Folate helps to regulate your pain response, mood, and sleep patterns. If it’s low, you may experience hostility, chronic headaches, paranoid behavior, panic, forgetfulness, irritability, and apathy. Folate deficiency is usually accompanied by low serotonin levels and depression. In contrast, high levels have been shown to sometimes induce mania in some patients with bipolar disorder, and can interfere with some mood stabilizing medications.

Vitamin B12

B12 deficiency usually starts with depression, and can be followed by psychosis, slow mental processes, mania, confusion, forgetfulness, and memory loss. Lower B12 levels are not always present in depressed patients, but are almost always present in depressed patients with psychosis.

Magnesium

Magnesium deficiency is often accompanied by low serotonin and dopamine levels. Symptoms of a deficiency can be apathy, irritability, anxiety, personality changes, and behavioral changes. Low magnesium levels are associated with an imbalance of lactate to pyruvate in the body, which is indicative of many psychiatric conditions, like schizophrenia. Studies show that most patients with chronic pain have low magnesium levels, and show that the most disturbed patients have either high or low magnesium levels.

Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate)

The first symptom of vitamin C deficiency is usually depression. Other symptoms may be fatigue, reduced arousal, apathy, and reduced motivation. Because vitamin C, or sodium ascorbate, is necessary to produce serotonin, people deficient in it may experience severe depression and extreme anxiety. Vitamin C calms the nervous system and helps to regulate the stress response of the body.

About the Author: Phil Le Breton is owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health with vitamins and supplements, with an emphasis on vitamin C powder. Wholesale Nutrition has provided the world with the best vitamin C and wholesale vitamins since 1970. Visit http://www.nutri.com to buy high-quality discount vitamins today!

Sources:

http://www.nutritional-healing.com.au/content/articles-content.php?

heading=The%20Role%20of%20Minerals%20and%20Vitamins%20in%20Mental%20Health

http://www.angelfire.com/home/bphoenix1/vitmin.html

Reprinting:

This entire article may be reprinted free of charge provided that the “About the Author” section of the article, sources, and all links in the article are included. For shorter quotations, a clear link to the blog post or Wholesale Nutrition is sufficient.

Robert P. Heaney, MD, Professor at John Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, is an expert in bone health and osteoporosis. After studying the physiology of bone health for over 50 years, he believes that “If you don’t have enough vitamin C, you don’t make bones right. Collagen is the principal protein of bones, accounting for nearly half of the volume. What the collagen does is prevent bones from coming apart. There is good biology behind it.”

Knowing what we know about vitamin C and its role in the production, repair and protection of our connective tissues it makes sense. Our bodies have to make collagen and elastin to repair and rebuild our muscles, bones, ligaments, and other tissues of the body. Humans do not make their own vitamin C, which is necessary for the production of collagen and elastin, so we must get it in our diets or through supplementation. If we don’t get enough to repair our bodies and protect them from the dangers of inflammation, then we will see them slowly break down on many levels.

James Greenwood, Clinical Professor of Neurosurgery at Baylor University’s College of Medicine, did a study on the use of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to treat his five hundred patients with spinal disc problems and back pain. He gave them each 250mg of vitamin C four times per day and the patients reported “considerable relief”. Greenwood said that “a significant percentage (of patients in the study) with early disk lesions were able to avoid surgery,” and “the number of reoperations on the same patient for recurrence at the same level or a new disk lesion at a different level was greatly reduced.”

Ascorbic acid in the form of a buffered vitamin c powder is considered to be the best vitamin C on the market today by the most highly respected experts in the medical field. This highly absorbable and potent powder is buffered so there is virtually no acidity to cause stomach upset or aggravate stomach ulcers. As always, speak with your physician or neurosurgeon about using buffered vitamin C powder to treat your back pain, osteoporosis, or spinal injury before starting a vitamins and supplements routine.
　
About the Author: Phil Le Breton is owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health with vitamins and supplements, with an emphasis on vitamin C powder. Wholesale Nutrition has provided the world with the best vitamin C and wholesale vitamins since 1970. Visit http://www.nutri.com to buy high-quality discount vitamins today!

Sources:

http://www.cforyourself.com/Conditions/Back_Health/back_health.html

http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/back-pain-osteoporosis-bone-fractures

http://www.beverageinstitute.org/webinar-beverages-and-bone-health-cpe.htm

Healing - Disc lesions and torn muscles in the back can cause a lot of pain. Aside from keeping these things from happening in the first place, vitamin C can help to repair discs and muscles after they are damaged. Injury causes inflammation and pain so that your body knows to use its immune system to heal it. This inflammation causes a cascade of oxidized molecules to form, which is often referred to as oxidative stress or toxic overload.

These free radical toxins travel around the body causing pain and attaching themselves to healthy cells, causing them to weaken as well. Vitamin C latches on to free radicals and creates a barrier around healthy cells to help them fight off these invaders. Then, the diuretic properties of the vitamin C help the body to flush out dangerous toxins and relieve inflammation.

Inflammation does more than cause pain and discomfort. It also increases the body’s demand for calcium. Therefore, inflammation pulls calcium from bones, causing them to weaken and lose mass, resulting in osteoporosis.

Osteoporosis - Spinal compression fractures can cause extreme back pain and are common in people that are in the early or advanced stages of osteoporosis. Osteoporosis literally means “porous bone”. Bones are continually restructuring themselves, taking away damaged areas and rebuilding new bone. Vitamin C is used in creating all of the connective tissues of the body, including the bones. Supplementing with calcium and magnesium is not enough. If there is not enough vitamin C present, the body cannot produce collagen, which is the fibrous protein part of the bone.

Vitamin C is a valuable weapon that can be used against developing osteoporosis. Compression fractures are very common and often go undiagnosed. They can feel like “normal back pain” to many people and they dismiss the pain as a normal part of aging. However, these spinal compressions are very dangerous. The crushing bone puts added stress on vertebral discs and can cause discs to herniate. Bones can become so brittle that a cough or sneeze can cause multiple compression fractures. These fractures cause bone fragments and discs to bulge and put pressure on the nerves of the spinal column. Many people with osteoporosis end up disabled and or living with crippling pain for the rest of their lives.

Use the best vitamin C, such as a buffered vitamin c powder, to help heal your discs, bones, and muscles. In Part 3 of this series, we will discuss how important vitamin C is in preventing and treating osteoporosis.

About the Author: Phil Le Breton is owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health with vitamins and supplements, with an emphasis on vitamin C powder. Wholesale Nutrition has provided the world with the best vitamin C and wholesale vitamins since 1970. Visit http://www.nutri.com to buy high-quality discount vitamins today!

Sources:

http://www.cforyourself.com/Conditions/Back_Health/back_health.html

http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/back-pain-osteoporosis-bone-fractures

http://www.beverageinstitute.org/webinar-beverages-and-bone-health-cpe.htm

Disc Composition – The discs in your back are made of a tough fibrous membrane that is filled with a soft, cushiony substance. Your discs are situated directly on top of nerves and between the bones of your vertebral column. Imagine that your discs are like jelly donuts. They take a lot of wear and tear because they are at pivotal points in your body. This means that they use more vitamin C than other parts of your body because the outer layers of the disc are in need of constant replacement. If there is not enough vitamin C, then the tough outer layer of the donut begins to break down and soften and cannot be repaired. Eventually the simplest movement can cause the membrane to tear, allowing the “jelly” to come oozing out and sit on top of that nearby nerve. This is how a disc becomes “herniated” and why it is so painful.

Muscle Spasm and Injury – Weak or injured muscles also contribute to possible disc herniations. Many people experience mild to severe back pain caused by chronic muscle spasms or weak back muscles that tear and become easily inflamed. The muscles of the lower back are being constantly used and, if not kept healthy, are generally the first to cause back trouble. Muscles get sore after we use them and that’s not necessarily always a bad thing. Muscles get stronger when you work them by breaking down, inflaming to signal the need for collagen and elastin for repairs, and then building back up again. Every time you do this the muscle builds mass and maintains it’s flexibility. If there is not enough vitamin C in the body, it cannot make collagen and elastin. This is when the body uses cholesterol to repair the muscles instead. Cholesterol creates hard, brittle repairs in muscles and arteries instead of strong, flexible ones, like collagen and elastin do. When your back is repaired by cholesterol, it is only a temporary fix. Making sure that you have plenty of vitamin C in your diet or supplementing with vitamin C will help you to build strong muscles around your spine, protecting your discs from taking on too much pressure.

In Part 2 of this series we will discuss how vitamin C aids in healing and controlling inflammation. The best vitamin C is an easily absorbable, buffered vitamin c powder that is non-acidic and easily tolerated by almost everyone. As always, speak with your physician before you start a vitamins and supplements routine.

About the Author: Phil Le Breton is owner at Wholesale Nutrition. He has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health with vitamins and supplements, with an emphasis on vitamin C powder. Wholesale Nutrition has provided the world with the best vitamin C and wholesale vitamins since 1970. Visit http://www.nutri.com to buy high-quality discount vitamins today!

Sources:

http://www.cforyourself.com/Conditions/Back_Health/back_health.html

http://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/back-pain-osteoporosis-bone-fractures

http://www.beverageinstitute.org/webinar-beverages-and-bone-health-cpe.htm

Vitamins are not a miracle cure for back pain, but they can drastically retard degenerative back diseases, rebuild weakened discs, and even prevent osteoporosis and osteoarthritis. With the proper balance of vitamins and supplements, you can make your spine resistant to disease, injury and avoid years of agonizing pain or disability.

Vitamin D, magnesium, vitamin C, potassium and calcium are building blocks for your bones. Vitamin D helps your bones to absorb calcium. Many Americans do not get enough vitamin D and deficiencies are widespread. We get vitamin D from the sun, but a lot of people do not absorb enough, even in direct sunlight, so supplementation is necessary for many. The same goes for potassium and magnesium, which mineralize in bones, hardening and strengthening them.

Supplementing with calcium is also recommended because we can use up our calcium stores so quickly. Load bearing activities, like walking, also help to increase bone density, so exercise is recommended for most patients that experience back problems. Make sure that you talk to your doctor and have bone density screenings if you experience back pain.

Our bones are constantly replacing and rebuilding themselves. They need collagen and elastin to do this. We cannot produce either without vitamin C. It is estimated that we replace around 10% of our bone mass every year. Just imagine what a year of insufficient nourishment can do to your bones.

Disc problems are extremely painful and can be debilitating. Supplementing with calcium and magnesium for your bones can help with your discs, but you also need vitamin C, B vitamins, zinc and essential fatty acids.

Vitamin C deficiencies account for almost all of the herniated disc cases in the United States. Discs are subjected to more mechanical stress than any other connective tissue. Without enough vitamin C, they cannot repair themselves. Furthermore, the muscles need a lot of vitamin C to function, and if they don’t get enough, they draw nutrients from bone and connective tissues, like intervertebral discs. This quickly depletes them of the nutrients that they need to remain strong.

Muscle strain and weakness add to the stress that our discs must handle. Studies have shown that vitamin C can offer significant relief of muscle and nerve pain in the lower back. It nourishes muscles, making the production of healing collagen and elastin possible.

Discs basically are a tough bubble filled with fluid. The tough exterior is constantly breaking down and has to be rebuilt. If there is not enough vitamin C to make collagen and elastin for the job, then the bubble can develop weak spots and be susceptible to bursting.

Inflammation is also a problem that is often widespread through the body. Inflammation causes the body to use up vitamin C very quickly. Therefore, inflammation is doing more than causing you pain, it is also putting your discs and other connective tissues, like bone, at risk.

Supplementing with the best vitamin C can help control inflammation that causes back pain and spasms. It can also build up discs in your back and help to repair bone. Talk with your doctor about which vitamins and supplements may be right for you before you buy vitamins and you could be on your way to a healthy spine.

About the Author: Phil Le Breton, the owner at Wholesale Nutrition, has a strong interest in helping people achieve greater brain and body health with vitamins and supplements. Wholesale Nutrition has the best vitamin C powder on the market (C-Salts). Visit http://www.nutri.com to buy vitamins or buy supplements of the highest quality.