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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by FP on May 9, 2000, at 19:49:07
Is it just me, or do others out there get more depressed in the summer, or find that the medicines that worked for them in the fall and winter now have new and unpleasant side effects? In other words, a warm weather version of the traditional Holiday misery that many of us (well, me, anyhow) go through.
Your thoughts and experience, pretty please?
Posted by tina on May 9, 2000, at 21:20:07
In reply to Summertime Blues?, posted by FP on May 9, 2000, at 19:49:07
Hey FP: Looking forward to your wife's views on hypnosis. As to the summertime thing , I usually have the opposite reaction. My depression usually lessens in the spring and summer--except this year. I don't know why but I seem to me getting worse this summer. Hot weather sometimes makes me feel very tired and unmotivated but the ever renewing force of nature usually perks me up. This is a depression relapse for me and I'm told they get worse with every episode so I guess that's what's going on. I'm still hoping the weather will help me out. I hope you feel better soon. Not much help, sorry.
> Is it just me, or do others out there get more depressed in the summer, or find that the medicines that worked for them in the fall and winter now have new and unpleasant side effects? In other words, a warm weather version of the traditional Holiday misery that many of us (well, me, anyhow) go through.
>
> Your thoughts and experience, pretty please?
Posted by Cass on May 9, 2000, at 21:59:37
In reply to Re: Summertime Blues?, posted by tina on May 9, 2000, at 21:20:07
Physically I don't do well in the heat. I get rashes and swell-up. That makes me agitated and depressed, or it exacerbates my depression, as the case may be. I start to feel like I've been sentenced to hell. Summertime feels like punishment to me. I'm always relieved just to have survived it, and I live in a moderate climate on the coast!
Posted by Kathie on May 9, 2000, at 22:38:31
In reply to Re: Summertime Blues?, posted by tina on May 9, 2000, at 21:20:07
As a rule, depression generally quiets down in the summer months...at least here in the great white North! It is because we suffer from such a lack of natural light during the winter that many many many (in fact all people to a certain point) suffer seasonal depression brought on by lack of sunshine. There is something in the sunlight that releases certain hormones in the brain that keep you happy (get Cam to explain it in "technical" terms if you want). During our northern winters daylight can last from 8:45am until 4:15pm. And during the majority of those hours you are indoors anyways, because it is too flippin cold to be hangin outside, plus we work, go to school, etc. The lucky people merely feel a little more tired than normal and kind of hibernate over the winter..coming out during the holidays...then in January retiring again until about March. Other people suffer varying degrees of depression...my husband suffers terribly from seasonal depression and I don't believe he recovers completely anymore during the summer.
I definitely feel less depressed during the summer months. I get out more, exersize more, socialize more....get more direct sunlight!! And generally just feel more energized, happy, positive and alive. Not much help, but that's my story.
Kathie
Posted by Noa on May 10, 2000, at 10:30:31
In reply to Re: Summertime Blues?, posted by Cass on May 9, 2000, at 21:59:37
I don't know about a physiological cause for summertime blues, but I imagine there could be one for some people.
I think for some of us, different seasons stir up anxiety about various issues and we get depressed. Summer seems to stir up body image issues for a lot of folks. Whether it's weight, or just general discomfort with how one looks, or how different parts of one's body look (since there is more exposed), or how comfortable one feels in heat, how one copes with sweating, etc.
I think the heat stresses people, too. Who feels like working when it is sweltering?
There have been years when I feel a definite late autumn depression, and years, when it is worse in summer. For me, the issue of vacation is always hard. I want to do something fun, but have no money, and no one to go somewhere with. Making the arrangements for a vacation are stressful to me, too.
Anyway, I think I have the all-season variety of depression.
Posted by medlib on May 10, 2000, at 13:00:53
In reply to Summertime Blues?, posted by FP on May 9, 2000, at 19:49:07
> Is it just me, or do others out there get more depressed in the summer, or find that the medicines that worked for them in the fall and winter now have new and unpleasant side effects? In other words, a warm weather version of the traditional Holiday misery that many of us (well, me, anyhow) go through.
>
> Your thoughts and experience, pretty please?
-----------------------------------FP--
In Texas, one can be more likely to get SAD in the summer than in the winter! There are many winter days when being outside is semi-tolerable; summers, however, are 4 months of unrelieved hell, IMO. Everyone who can scurries from 1 a/c place to another like rats with a cat around.
I'm a year-round depressive, like Noa; but that could be because I stay inside (and gripe about it) 98% of the year. There are 4-5 really nice days in autumn, but the rest of the year here is a dead loss.
It's oddly comforting to complain about something besides my dysfunctional brain--even though I have about the same chance of fixing one as the other--Zip.
Beat wishes for a smoother summer.--medlib
Posted by FP on May 11, 2000, at 9:37:19
In reply to Re: Summertime Blues?, posted by medlib on May 10, 2000, at 13:00:53
> > Is it just me, or do others out there get more depressed in the summer, or find that the medicines that worked for them in the fall and winter now have new and unpleasant side effects? In other words, a warm weather version of the traditional Holiday misery that many of us (well, me, anyhow) go through.
> >
> > Your thoughts and experience, pretty please?
> -----------------------------------
>
Thanks, all who've replied. It's nice to know that at least I'm not a freak.Here's hoping everyone has a good, sane, summer.
FP
Posted by allisonm on May 14, 2000, at 16:35:24
In reply to Summertime Blues?, posted by FP on May 9, 2000, at 19:49:07
Good question. Hard to say from my standpoint. I have gone into downward spirals the last two September/October time periods. Went into a bad spiral last June. Suicidal for a good part of last summer. Am wondering if I'm going to be hit again next month. I'm not sure what triggered it last summer unless it was just the impending mid-July first anniversary of my husband's leaving and my mother's death (oh, and you can throw in my 13th wedding anniversary. She died the day after my 12th.) I went into a bad spiral last month.
I'm hoping the recent and (seemingly) successful change in meds will keep me afloat through this summer.
This isn't an answer, I see now. I guess, yes, I have been in a summer slump. I hope it isn't seasonal like the fall one, or I may as well just pack it in 'cause then I'll be mostly year-round (I guess I already am) with worsening at the beginning of the seasonal change and pure hell for the duration.
This is the end of the thread.
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