I'm Sick With S.A.D.

“Gray days are the worst...makes me sleepy. This last few days have been gray and rainy. In the winter when it's bright and shiny, even though the daylight hours are shorter...I still feel better.”

“I had tornadoes going by the house last weekend. How does the pucker factor affect SAD?

Slimmer, I thought you were a gym rat. The winter is the best time of year to work out in the gym. Florida in the Fall does not sound too depressing. Are you sure you got the correct diagnosis?”

“You'awl need to lighten up.

New diagnosis for you ==> self-centered disease

Prescription ==> outdoors, Jesus, exercise, no junk food and sodas, b-complex”

“He'll probably feel better after going to the gym and kicking someone in the face.

I had a nice long hike in the sun Saturday that made me feel great. My computer at work has a picture of the toughest mountain I've climbed for wallpaper and I've noticed it boosts my self confidence every time I see it.”

“One of my co workers goes to a tanning booth every other week for 8 minutes. She suffers from depression anyway, but says she finds herself "slumping" if she misses a tanning session.”

“Gray days are the worst...makes me sleepy.

Me too Stanlee. The sun came out on Saturday and even tho I was sick with a cold, I felt more motivated and energized. I took a nice neighborhood walk and cleaned the house, despite being sick. I attributed it to the sunny day.

I have a light box. It does seem to help. I would have to kill myself if I lived in Alaska.

Lipstick half the time we can't see the pretty views cause of the clouds! Like today. Where is Mt. Rainier? Or the Olys?
Can't see em....

It's so grey today that some folks have their headlights on down on the street below me and it's 11:30 am!”

“pixie, I definitely know what you mean. You look and say, "is that a cloud or a snow capped mountain", and most likely, it's a cloud covering the mountain top.

I don't know if you always lived in WA, but WA at times has very low clouds unlike NY.

stanlee, I can see the cloudy gray days making you sleepy, because when I ride in the car with my sunglasses on in the summer, it makes me drowsy, so dim light will make you tired which is why I keep the light off in the room at night when I watch tv before I go to sleep, to help me relax.”

“I'm a mole anyway, so short days don't bother me. I rarely turn more than one light on in the house, and I always wear my sunglasses.

I remember during the ice storm when we were without power for weeks, people became depressed. A friend of mine sat in the dark doing nothing. I told him to put on a headlamp and read a book.”

“Lots of good advice here. Thanks.

I'm not really sick with S.A.D. I just thought that it made a good subject. Depressed a little, yes. For almost three weeks I've been on crutches. My knees are a little better today, but just a little. I don't like the situation. It does have advantages, though. As I stumble along, people open doors for me and offer to carry anything with which I might be struggling. But I would rather have my knees functional. I've missed my martial arts training, although I have attended several classes and watched. Sometimes one can learn more by watching. I even went to a special clinic held in Orlando, but I only watched from the sidelines.

The knees went out at the same time that I came down with a bad cold. I'm hoping that there is a connection tied in with a change in body fluids and that things will return to their previous status. If not, I may have to let the surgeon insert some knee replacements. I hope that it does not come to that.

I did plan a camping trip, but had to cancel it. However, I will get out in hte woods soon, somehow. Need a few more bag nights, at least. Thanks, again, all you wonderful people. You're the greatest.”

“nowslimmer, that's too funny about people helping you.

I tried to help a really old lady bag her groceries in a store where you have to pack your own stuff since she had a ton of groceries and I was on the other side waiting for my groceries to come down the beltway.

Well, the lady looked at me like....I don't know what....like I was going to steal her groceries, so she said she had a gal with her in the store, but I knew that was a lie. I only had a few things, so I packed up my stuff and left. Why would she still have someone in the store walking around shopping while she was already almost checked out?

Well, you try to help and if people don't want it, what can you do? I always hope someone would help my older mom in NY if she looked like she needed it.
last edited: 11/29/05 2:37:08 PM”

“Its sad how some people react when you try to help them... I've had weird experiences, too, LH.

NS - I use St. John's Wort, starting mid-October. Can be found at Wal-Mart. Give it a try.”

“I think I've seen St. John's Wort growing in gardens in WA. It's this yellow flower. I think it may be used for people with mild depression, but I don't know how it works since depression is a chemical imbalance which may need to be treated with prescribed medicine coupled with therapy so hopefully a person can get to the point where they don't need the medicine anymore.

There is a type of depression that is very mild where it isn't totally debilitating, but it's not good either. I forget what you call it.”

“techntrek - Thanks for your suggestion. Sounds like you've found something good.

lipstick hiker - Perhaps it was one of these, which are discussed in the article.

major depression
minor depression
dysthymia
bipolar disorder, also called manic depression

St. John's Wort and the Treatment of Depression

"Other studies conducted recently have found no benefit from the use of St. John's wort for certain types of depression. For example, the results of a study funded by Pfizer Inc., a pharmaceutical company, found that St. John's wort, when compared with placebo, was not effective for treating major depression (Shelton et al. JAMA, 2001)."

Please note that this is only one quotation from the article. There is much more information available in the article as well as in other sources.
last edited: 11/29/05 7:12:44 PM”

“Dysthymia is a mild, but chronic depression. Minor Depression is also less debilitating - although its less established and less widely embraced as a diagnosis than Major Depression or Dysthymia.

Also, Manic Depression is less acurate than Manic Depressive disorder as an equivalent to Bipolar disorder. Bipolar means that there are manic phases, and implies the presence of Depressive phases as well (most Bipolar patients do experience both poles - Depressed and Manic).
last edited: 11/29/05 8:01:05 PM”

“I think humans are supposed to hibernate between late fall and early spring. Just crawl out of our caves to look for twigs to chew on in winter....and then go back to sleep. :o)”

“My wife suffers from depression also. She tried St. John's Wort once and it seemed to help but not too much. I just take her outdoors on a road trip and that helps her a lot more. When you come down to it, adventure (new/different) surroundings seem to do the trick, sprinkled with a bit of uncertainty (no planning) and a sense of getting a bit lost too. Familiarity seems to breed more than contempt.”

“nowslimmer and Ped, yes, that's the one, dysthemia.

Activity is supposed to be good if your depressed, but of course you have to fight the depression to get going. Also having a sense of accomplishment is always good, hiking a trail or anything that a person gets a good feeling from.

Ped, I met a bipolar gal in a chat forum that was discussing Scott Peterson a while back and boy, I was sorry she had my e-mail address. I guess during her manic moments, she went on an e-mailing frenzy. I got tons of stupid e-mails from her. I tried to talk to her, ask her if she was on meds and she said yes, maybe she lied or they were not effective ones for her and I suggested she get reavaluated and she said she would, but I know she didn't, so I finally had to put her on the ignore list. I hated to do it, but she was out of control with her e-mails.”