The dilemma of Vitamin D for Indians - Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D?
Bharat Bhushan - 26 April 2014
We tend to dismiss tiredness as being caused by excessive work at office or at home, and usually we assume it is because of the humid nature of our atmosphere in most parts of peninsular India. We never realise that we actually do not do much work at office or home. We are usually sitting at an office desk, looking at papers and files, or sitting in front of the TV at home. So, how do we get excessively tired? Why do we feel fatigued and why do we 'crash' out at home after returning from the office?
For more than 15 yeas, I used to credit myself for being tired. I used to think that being tired and /or fatigued, was actually an achievement to prove that I was working very hard at office. Which was not true. There was no physical effort. All my work required me to sit at my desk, look and stare at the computer, work on some complicated correspondence, drafting and translating between two languages, scold - shout - discuss - debate stuff with my colleagues and fight over what was deemed good or bad in office issues. On my return to my house, I would feel very proud and splendid that I had achieved so many a small or big victory over my colleagues and seniors or juniors at the office. And then, plonk! I would be seated in front of the TV or back to the computer at home, to feel better about all the small victories that I had won.
I was getting irritated, upset, jittery and losing control over reactions. Over the past fifteen years, my ego placed it as my rightful tribute to myself on being a senior colleague at the workplace and having nobody to argue against me at the home. Hypertension, blood pressure, and aerobic degression are more obvious after effects and these led me, fortunately, to get a blood test done. And surprise, my Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D levels were abysmally low. Very low. Knowledgeable friends and concerned medico friends asked me to get it sorted out immediately with medical intervention. I have been doing so, and I am improving.
This is not meant to be an experiential monologue but merely to indicate that most Indians have no clue that they are deficient in Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D or both. There has to be a sudden or intentional change factor, in the manner of a knowledgeable friend or a honest medico who takes the trouble to uncover facts, even if it is obvious hypertension or excessive blood pressure. There is another indicator, that I was experiencing and I remembered that my father used to recount. This was, surprise of surprises, this was the sensation of pain. I have been a weightlifter and have won awards for powerlifting, and have been a long distance cyclist. I used to think that I was above actual physical pain. This was not so. The merest bite of a mosquito would be very painful and the marks left behind by a heavy shoulder bag would be sending sparks of pain through my back. Bending down to pick up something or carrying heavy luggage would send sensations down my spine.
This onset of pain, coupled with sedentary habits, should serve to be a warning to most Indians in peninsular India. If you sense persistent feelings of pain, tiredness, fatigue and degression to anger and uncontrolled reaction - please - go and get your blood tests done and get a report card at the earliest. Nowadays, most young medicos do insist that you should meet them with complete blood reports, for the truth is always hidden within those numbers. However, there is no transition to the established or deliberate intention to try and track down the unseen illnesses. What goes on within the mind, or the uncontrolled reaction, are hardly the tenor of discussion that you would have with your medical consultant, unless he or she is terribly persistent.
There is enough material out there, on the internet, if you simply google it out. But, you should want to do so, and you should want to accept that you are looking at a problem for the future. Office spaces and office work can contribute enormously to the perception that there is no problem. Each day at the office can be a victory. Every single small achievement, every single output can trace a path of victory or happening. This can be deluding and it can prevent you from going in for the complete medical check up. My office institution recently required all employees to go in to one of the city's top medical hospitals for a complete check-up. I went for the check-up after about 4-5 months. Most of my colleagues had gone in and had had their check-ups done. The reason that I had delayed was because I had got my medicals done about 8 months earlier, and I wanted the new results to be 12 months apart.
My suspicions were correct. Nobody had asked for Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D except for 1-3 persons, and they had done so because they had previously been diagnosed for deficiency. Even the most prominent blood-check facilities do not include Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D in their primary processes. They do it, only if you want to. This is the famous Catch 22 of our personal medical situations. Since you do not know of the problem that could be, you would not want to include the check for Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D. And, you can get it done, only if you want to do so. And you will not want it to be done, because you do not know that you could be deficient. And since you have not got the check up done, you will never know that you are deficient in these two vital vitamins.
Deficiency in Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D leads to a weakened immune system. This would mean that if you were to be low in Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D for more than a decade, you are already hit by several illnesses which will camouflage you from the deficiency of the vital vitamin. This is the dilemma for Indians. To know or not to know and thereby, never have to know.
Bharat Bhushan - 26 April 2014
We tend to dismiss tiredness as being caused by excessive work at office or at home, and usually we assume it is because of the humid nature of our atmosphere in most parts of peninsular India. We never realise that we actually do not do much work at office or home. We are usually sitting at an office desk, looking at papers and files, or sitting in front of the TV at home. So, how do we get excessively tired? Why do we feel fatigued and why do we 'crash' out at home after returning from the office?
For more than 15 yeas, I used to credit myself for being tired. I used to think that being tired and /or fatigued, was actually an achievement to prove that I was working very hard at office. Which was not true. There was no physical effort. All my work required me to sit at my desk, look and stare at the computer, work on some complicated correspondence, drafting and translating between two languages, scold - shout - discuss - debate stuff with my colleagues and fight over what was deemed good or bad in office issues. On my return to my house, I would feel very proud and splendid that I had achieved so many a small or big victory over my colleagues and seniors or juniors at the office. And then, plonk! I would be seated in front of the TV or back to the computer at home, to feel better about all the small victories that I had won.
I was getting irritated, upset, jittery and losing control over reactions. Over the past fifteen years, my ego placed it as my rightful tribute to myself on being a senior colleague at the workplace and having nobody to argue against me at the home. Hypertension, blood pressure, and aerobic degression are more obvious after effects and these led me, fortunately, to get a blood test done. And surprise, my Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D levels were abysmally low. Very low. Knowledgeable friends and concerned medico friends asked me to get it sorted out immediately with medical intervention. I have been doing so, and I am improving.
This is not meant to be an experiential monologue but merely to indicate that most Indians have no clue that they are deficient in Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D or both. There has to be a sudden or intentional change factor, in the manner of a knowledgeable friend or a honest medico who takes the trouble to uncover facts, even if it is obvious hypertension or excessive blood pressure. There is another indicator, that I was experiencing and I remembered that my father used to recount. This was, surprise of surprises, this was the sensation of pain. I have been a weightlifter and have won awards for powerlifting, and have been a long distance cyclist. I used to think that I was above actual physical pain. This was not so. The merest bite of a mosquito would be very painful and the marks left behind by a heavy shoulder bag would be sending sparks of pain through my back. Bending down to pick up something or carrying heavy luggage would send sensations down my spine.
This onset of pain, coupled with sedentary habits, should serve to be a warning to most Indians in peninsular India. If you sense persistent feelings of pain, tiredness, fatigue and degression to anger and uncontrolled reaction - please - go and get your blood tests done and get a report card at the earliest. Nowadays, most young medicos do insist that you should meet them with complete blood reports, for the truth is always hidden within those numbers. However, there is no transition to the established or deliberate intention to try and track down the unseen illnesses. What goes on within the mind, or the uncontrolled reaction, are hardly the tenor of discussion that you would have with your medical consultant, unless he or she is terribly persistent.
There is enough material out there, on the internet, if you simply google it out. But, you should want to do so, and you should want to accept that you are looking at a problem for the future. Office spaces and office work can contribute enormously to the perception that there is no problem. Each day at the office can be a victory. Every single small achievement, every single output can trace a path of victory or happening. This can be deluding and it can prevent you from going in for the complete medical check up. My office institution recently required all employees to go in to one of the city's top medical hospitals for a complete check-up. I went for the check-up after about 4-5 months. Most of my colleagues had gone in and had had their check-ups done. The reason that I had delayed was because I had got my medicals done about 8 months earlier, and I wanted the new results to be 12 months apart.
My suspicions were correct. Nobody had asked for Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D except for 1-3 persons, and they had done so because they had previously been diagnosed for deficiency. Even the most prominent blood-check facilities do not include Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D in their primary processes. They do it, only if you want to. This is the famous Catch 22 of our personal medical situations. Since you do not know of the problem that could be, you would not want to include the check for Vitamin B12 or Vitamin D. And, you can get it done, only if you want to do so. And you will not want it to be done, because you do not know that you could be deficient. And since you have not got the check up done, you will never know that you are deficient in these two vital vitamins.
Deficiency in Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D leads to a weakened immune system. This would mean that if you were to be low in Vitamin B12 and Vitamin D for more than a decade, you are already hit by several illnesses which will camouflage you from the deficiency of the vital vitamin. This is the dilemma for Indians. To know or not to know and thereby, never have to know.
