Can anyone else feel the earth moving? I don’t know if it is just getting back to work after time off or getting up earlier to get my kid to school, but I am dragging this week. You don’t have to suffer from seasonal depression to appreciate how dark it is in the morning and how the quality of light is different. Autumn is clearly almost upon us.
When September rolls around, I begin to discuss seasonal patterns of mood shifts with my patients. Now is the time to consider use of a SAD-light (seasonal affective disorder light) if you typically get more melancholy and depressed over the fall and winter months. While there are many products out there, many do not have the light output necessary to provide for clinical improvement in symptoms. The florescent bulbs you get at the local do-it-yourself store are useless–they are not bright enough and they are too far away. You need a very bright light of a specific wavelength that is close to you (18-24 inches). Otherwise, you are wasting your money.
The product I direct my patients to is from a company out of Canada called Northern Light Technologies (you can reach them on the web at www.northernlighttechnologies.com). The product of theirs that I steer people to is the SATelite, a somewhat unattractive desk lamp that is just excellent for treating seasonal mood disorders. It is not too big but is bright and convenient. I direct people to sit under it for 15-20 minutes per day (usually in the morning–you can have your coffee and scan the paper while you sit there).
Sometimes, this, by itself, is enough to provide for mood support for the winter season. More often, it is used as an adjunct support for more traditional medications. It can, in my experience, improve the response to medicine, and sometimes allow me to use a lower dose. Now is the time to consider getting it because it comes with a 60 day money back guarantee that will allow you to return it if it doesn’t work for you (lets see the pharmaceutical companies match THAT!!!). By the way, I have no financial stake in this company–I just think the product is good.
–Dan Hartman, MD
I never understood how anyone could be depressed during the holidays. There’s so much going on. But alas I now understand. All of a sudden I am very alone. The silence in this house is deafening. There’s only me and my adult disabled daughter. She’s autistic /aspergers so she stays to herself. Next February, I will be a widow for 3 yrs after watching him die over a 5 yr period in long term care following a auto accident. I just had to put my mother in long term care this past February. she doesn’t know me. She doesn’t even recall my name when I tell her. My oldest girl is going through a divorce. She’s trying to find a new emotional happiness after a horribile betrayal in what she and everyone else thought was a storybook marriage. She and the kids are spending Thanksgiving with a new friend. I took off Thanksgiving thinking we’d all be together but now I realize I’m actually caught up in empty nest sysdrome. I am so tearful and I don’t know what to do.
The job I have now is not all it’s cracked up to be. I love being a nurse but the faclity is not me and I’m too old to start over yet again. It was tough enough having to start over last April when my old hospital closed. I just can’t keep up with the young nurses that are out there now. My brain is filled to capacity. I was taking clases to complete my BSN but I just can’t focus. I get good grades but I don’t feel like I’ve learned anything.
I’m 55 yrs old. I’m not feeling this 50 is the new 30 business. My body hurts. I feel I must go on so I can take care of my two girls and the kids, especially the autistic one. I’m not suicidal. I would never do that to my girls and besides I am a christian and I’d like to be with my family again in the afterlife.
The more I think about the holidays the sadder I get. I’m tearful just writing this. But at the same time I feel like my purpose has been served. I need a support group. Can you help me?
Thank you