…to think a multivitamin may have cured my crippling driving anxiety?

[ReallyAVitamin]

Okay, the backstory is (and I’ve posted about this issue a couple of times previous under different UNs because it’s honestly been so debilitating)

I am late 30s, have loved cars and been driving since I was 17. Have driven the length and breadth of the country, would just leave the house, with no destination, on my days off and see where the road took me…. Basically I loved driving and I loved cars.

About 2.5 years ago I developed totally unexpected, sudden and crippling driving anxiety. Disaster, I’m a single Mum working in sales.

Have been trying to medicate with propranolol which helps a bit, but not enough for the level of anxiety I had. Have looked into hypnotism, taken online CBT, listened to driving anxiety specific hypnotism audio going to bed. Nothing has helped, and my world has gotten smaller.

But… I started taking a cheap multivitamin from Lidl about 3 weeks ago, and for the last week, I’m actually looking forward to getting in the car because the anxiety is 90% reduced. I’m actually going out of my way a little to test the specific anxieties I’ve had.

I’ve have a pretty good diet, breakfast, lunch and dinner all homemade. I think it’s pretty balanced. But the only thing I’ve changed in the last couple of weeks is this cheap multivitamin. Could it actually be possible my anxiety was down to a vitamin deficiency? It’s probably mad 😅

Honestly, the whole thing has blown me away. I’ve spent the weekend driving from town to town where I live, and really enjoying it, for the first time in over 2 years. I genuinely hope that if someone is facing the same difficulties that they find this thread and check for any vitamin deficiency first and foremost.

Do I even want to know what this was???

No. I think it was "day drinkies" post

Totally. I got lucky with gp once who did the tests before deciding whether to give me anti depressants. Which I did not need because it was physical.
Read some articles on what deficiencies can cause. It's very eye opening!

Does it matter? You feel better.

Well yes, it matters to me. This came on so suddenly, and I’ve had such a difficult 2.5years trying to navigate it and understand why this issue was happening. It’s affected my parenting, my career and my sense of self worth…. Not being able to drive to the next town over without shaking and sweating made me feel useless and embarrassed. The contraction of my world has led to really negative mental health.

So I want to understand how it happened, and how to prevent it happening in the future.

Id also like to have this conversation here on a public board, so that if some poor soul is facing the same issues in the future, they may find this and have something they can check first and foremost to resolve the issue.

So eye opening! I mean, I’ve always valued a balanced diet, but if a vitamin deficiency has actually caused this huge manifestation of anxiety, there is obviously so much more I need to learn. I actually bought a book over the weekend, The Food Mood Connection by Dr Uma Naidoo… don’t know if it’s any good but I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it!

Maybe you had a vitamin deficiency.

It is wuite interesting how medicine really separated mind and body, yet they are properly connected.
The issue nowadays is as pp said, our food is not as nutritious as it was long time ago.
Plus anything like digestive issues can mess up absorption of vitamins and minerals.
So multivitamins are nowadays quite important.
That's not to say good diet isn't.

The mind is a powerful beast. If you believe the multi-vitamins have cured your anxiety then they have.

The reason I think it’s doubtful is if you had a vit B, D or iron deficiency (which I agree is very common) a normal multivitamin would be unlikely to have the levels you would need to rectify it.

I would think maybe it’s just gone- these things can come on suddenly and leave suddenly!

These are actually decent - it's a really broad covering of multivitamins and minerals, from memory the only ones less than 100% NRV are magnesium and calcium.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies cause all sorts.

Dh has struggled with sleep and restless legs for literally decades. A few months ago after I did a LOT of research, he started a high strength magnesium supplement, an hour before bed each night. Within two weeks his problems resolved. Just like that. No more restless legs and he's since been falling asleep faster and also sleeping more soundly than in the 21 years I've known him.

Whatever is in them, I want to be on them too!

I take Phizz electrolytes every day so I wonder would be I taking too much of anything with both?

Depends what's in them - it'll be listed.

Makes sense to me - my only symptom of a Vitamin D deficiency was crippling anxiety!

From my own experience I can say that something which really eases my driving anxiety is cold water swimming.

I'm off now to buy multivitamins. Thanks OP.

Just googled. It really does depend upon which ones you take whether it could put you at risk of too much of fat soluble vitamins. I can see one type doesn't contain vitamin D, so it wouldn't be bad to take a separate dose of that (as per health guidelines regarding vitamin D) if that's the one you drink.

This is why I think it’s so bonkers, I’ve only been taking it 2/3 weeks so didn’t think I could have built up the levels required to solve a vitamin deficiency in that time, if that’s actually been a contributor to the driving anxiety. I don’t even know if I had a vitamin deficiency! All I know, is that this crippling physical and mental anxiety seems to have ceased and it’s coincided with the multivitamin.

I will not look a gift horse in the mouth though… as @Eyesopenwideawakesaid above, I’m just going to believe it has cured the anxiety!

That’s incredible, I’m so glad your DH has solved his sleeping and restless leg issues. I’ve had restless legs and it is beyond frustrating.

That’s great news op. I hope it continues to work. This website suggests a link.

https://www.health.com/magnesium-and-vitamin-d-for-anxiety-11712542

This is an interesting article about vitamin D. I have taken a high dose for over 10 years as I read the guideline recommendations are too low.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150317122458.htm

There was a woman on here that was incredibly knowledgable about Vitamin D and I read up on it following her posts many years ago. Vitamin k2 is essential if you take D but it’s rarely mentioned.

It’s so interesting @boxofbuttons- can I ask how you managed to link the two?

Interesting! I’m such a wimp though, I can’t bear the cold water! But I know how much exercise and the outdoors are so beneficial to your mental health, but my walking/hiking hasn’t eased the anxiety I experienced. Maybe cold water is something I should brave in the New Year! 🙈🥶

Thank you so much for these articles, will add to my reading list… I am going to happily go down this rabbit hole over the Christmas period and try to educate myself!

@ReallyAVitamin I'd leave the swimming to the summer when the sea is a bit warmer - then when you get used to it you can try to push it out into the colder months. Starting in the new year would be brutal!!

I need to remember to take mine, had an awful panic attack driving the other day