Now in her mid-50’s, Charlotte Seefeldt finally feels like she’s back in a good place after a bumpy few years.
The Sandy Springs mom had her two children late in life, at 43 and 45, after several attempts at I-V-F.
Then, as Charlotte went through menopause a few years later, things kind of came apart.
She gained 20 pounds, and started feeling tired all the time. So she went to the doctor,
“I would sit there and tell them that something is not right. I don’t feel like I used to,” said Seefeldt.
She says the doctors told her blood tests were normal.
“Overwhelmingly, women often struggle with this,” Dr. Tasmeen Bhatia.
“Dr. Taz,”,as she goes by professionally, sees it all the time here at The Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine: women going through hormonal shifts, who feel depressed, but don’t know why.
“Women and their hormones are hugely connected. And their mood is very connected to that,” said Dr. Bhatia “So, women will experience everything from feeling a little blue at certain times of the month to feeling full out like they’re foggy, they can’t focus, they can’t remember words. They’re down.”
When Charlotte came in to see her last winter, Dr. Taz could tell something was wrong.
“She had trouble looking me in the eye. So, oftentimes, patients that are depressed, they’re looking down at their paper, they can’t meet you, that’s the level of their depression,” said Dr. Dr. Bhatia.
“She just spent the time listening and took in the information and started processing it in her brain and was like, ‘Okay, these are the tests we need to do. If you want to find the answers, then let’s start this,” said Seefeldt.
Charlotte’s blood work showed she was extremely low on Vitamin D, which some studies show may be connected to mood disorders like depression – seasonal affective disorder – and PMS. Dr. Taz recommended a Vitamin D supplement, to see if it could help boost Charlotte’s mood.
“I don’t, by any means, want to suggest, ‘Oh, no matter what’s happened, you take Vitamin D, you’re going to be fine.’ That’s not true. It’s just a piece of the puzzle, but it’s an important part of the puzzle.”
Dr. Taz also helped Charlotte rethink her eating, encouraged her to start exercising again – and recommended supplements to balance out her hormones.
Ten months later, Charlotte says she feels like she finally has the answers – she’d been looking for – for so long.
“You are your best judge, and if you feel something is not right, there’s probably something is not right.”
via Depression and Vitamin D – Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5.