Posted by Anna laura on November 21, 2001, at 2:24:50
In reply to Re: What meds for SAD? » Anna laura, posted by Mitch on November 20, 2001, at 9:25:45
> > SAD not only occurs with the onset of winter, but can affect some people in the hot months of summer, according to Shield. "It's called Summer Seasonal Affective Disorder. Heat makes some people instantly depressed. They respond better to cold. For them, cold showers, air-conditioning and even anti-depressants seem to work."
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> Hi Anna,
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> I also have a 2nd major depressive episode during the peak heating of the summer as you quoted. The wintertime one starts in mid-November intensifies rapidly in December and begins to lift slightly in mid-January with complete remission by late March. The summertime episode begins in early June and intensifies rapidly by early July and begins to fade in late August and is finally gone by mid-late September. In April/May and October I experience pronounced hypomanias.
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> My suspicion about the "heat" depression involves two different ideas: 1) The heat *drives you inside* and out of the sunlight in the midday, 2) The increased sweating may produce some endocrinological/hormonal changes that aggravate it. Also, I notice that I always prefer "2nd shift" evening work. My parents with few exceptions had all of their jobs in the evenings as well. I wonder what implication this might have in terms of circadian rhythym, etc.?
> I have access to a light box, but since WB helped me before during an episode I am going to see if it will work the same way this time (w/o the light rituals). I also wonder if wearing heavy tinted sunglasses would make this worse. I read something here months ago about different chromatic lenses or something being helpful for mood-bizarre.
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> MitchHi Mitch
A friend of mine who's manic depressive has a similar season related response. Cyrcadians rythms might play a role even though it's still unclear how they work. Pineal gland which is believed to be involved in this light/darkness reaction mechanism, it's still a mistery for most scientists.
Yesterday afternoon i made some further research on Melatonin cause i was thinking about taking it myself and i bumped in to a couple of articles that were warning against its usage for depressed people: some studies show it can affect your mood for worse. Research it's been quite contradictory on this topic though. I decided not to run any risk and not to take melatonin.
poster:Anna laura
thread:84677
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20011113/msgs/84828.html