In late 2014, I started to get sick. I was increasingly exhausted and run down all the time. I'd sweat in virtually any situation involving movement of any kind. My head hurt; I had brain fog; I started forgetting random things; I couldn't think clearly. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/uk-ministers-order-urgent-vitamin-d-coronavirus-review

So I organised comprehensive - or so I thought - blood tests... which found nothing. The one good thing was the doctor I saw afterwards didn't say "there's nothing wrong with you - off you go", but was baffled and concerned. He sat with me trying and failing to figure it out.

Doctors kept trying, kept failing... while I was finding my work harder and harder and decided to return to the UK. On my arrival, I knew I didn't want to be there - Britain wasn't my home any more, and was an even worse Tory infested cesspit than when I'd left in 2012.

But all I could do was rest. I registered at the local GP practice, took more blood tests... and again, nothing. By this point, I'd started wondering if I'd ever get better.

Then, suddenly, my old boss in Uruguay suggested depression.

This didn't *fit* as far as I was concerned. I'd had depression in the past - and the symptoms I had were very different. But I was certainly anxious; very anxious. So I went to the doctor, asked for anti-anxiety meds... and she had a sudden brainwave.

Vitamin D tests.

For some completely unfathomable reason, the blood tests I'd taken in Uruguay hadn't tested for Vitamin D; nor had those I'd taken in the UK. The results showed an ENORMOUS deficiency: incredibly low levels. So I was given powerful supplements and Citalopram.

From which point, I started to get better... and returned here, full of energy at last, to resume my life a couple of months later.

Talking to people since, I've come across others who thought they had depression when in fact, it was Vitamin D deficiency.

I cannot understand why the public and doctors alike are so oblivious regarding the benefits of Vitamin D - and how, in a world of more and more people working long into the night, lack of it can do horrible harm.

I treat it as an essential now. It keeps me well.