How do you treat SAD?

[summerreading]

I'd like to hear what Dr Hive finds effective for seasonal affective disorder. I'm hoping someone will chime in and say something they found was a major game changer for them. 

 

I use bright light therapy for 30 minutes in the morning starting Labor Day. I already take an SSRI year round and would like to avoid upping the dose. I try to get outside for an hour each day in the late afternoon (which is like 2pm now) and try to go on a short walk for exercise at that time. Before getting outside for an hour every day I was falling asleep at 8:30 like a zombie. I know to take fish oil.  I love how productive I feel the other half of the year. I'd really love to move closer to the equator one day!

 

What else do you add in to your regimen?

 

 

[BooksandBoys]

I use a light box for 20-30 minutes each morning beginning in November, but that was a mistake this year (I just moved to a cloudier climate). I should have started earlier.

I go outside every day for at least 30 minutes in the morning.

I take 3000iu of D3 daily.

I eat in a way that keeps me mentally stable: gluten free, dairy free, almost zero grain. If I eat foods I'm to which I'm intolerant, it shows up first in my mood.

I exercise at least 6 days a week.

[summerreading]

I use a light box for 20-30 minutes each morning beginning in November, but that was a mistake this year (I just moved to a cloudier climate). I should have started earlier.

I go outside every day for at least 30 minutes in the morning.

I take 3000iu of D3 daily.

I eat in a way that keeps me mentally stable: gluten free, dairy free, almost zero grain. If I eat foods I'm to which I'm intolerant, it shows up first in my mood.

I exercise at least 6 days a week.

 

That's great, you sound on top of it. Do you feel this helps completely or you still feel a little off?

I should add more D3.

Thanks.

[Rosie_0801]

Food was enough to cure mine- eating beans instead of grains for breakfast and otherwise increasing the amount of serotonin foods.

[Guest]

I've never suffered from it even way up here, but it is common. Light boxes and exercise are the most reliable therapies.

[BooksandBoys]

That's great, you sound on top of it. Do you feel this helps completely or you still feel a little off?

I should add more D3.

Thanks.

This worked great for me last year. The years before, I didn't have the light box, so I still felt off, but not horribly so. This year, I started the light box too late because I didn't factor in the change in natural light due to our move, so I feel like I'm playing catch up. I'm doing well, but I could be better.

[Janeway]

Do you mind if I ask if you live in the PNW? This is another thing I am worried about. I used to have SAD. Then I moved to the sunny parts of the country. Not a problem since.

[MaryMak07]

What kind of lamps/light boxes are people using?

[Arctic Bunny]

What kind of lamps/light boxes are people using?

The Phillips Go was a life changer for us

[maize]

The Phillips Go was a life changer for us

This one?

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00M3SGD4Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1480205694&sr=8-1&keywords=Phillips+Go+light&pi=SX200_QL40

[sheryl]

I truly believe my dh has "sad".  Today DD and I were talking about how to approach/manage this with him. 

 

I noticed that when late Sept./Oct comes to maybe around March he is a different person.  

 

Listening.......

[gaillardia]

I used to have SAD in the northeast. Then we moved to TX. Now I have SAD in the summer. I'm not kidding.

St. John's Wort worked for me in the northeast. 

 

[Arctic Bunny]

This one?

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00M3SGD4Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1480205694&sr=8-1&keywords=Phillips+Go+light&pi=SX200_QL40

Yes, that looks like the newer version of ours.

When we lived in the Arctic, in the winter, we would all use it in the morning at breakfast, then the adults again around 1 or 2. If the kids used it after noon, they'd be totally not ready to sleep at bedtime. If I didn't use it at noonish, I'd be sound asleep on the couch by 3 at the latest.

[sheryl]

So the unit has the light, bulb and glasses.  Explain please! :)

[sheryl]

Yes, that looks like the newer version of ours.

When we lived in the Arctic, in the winter, we would all use it in the morning at breakfast, then the adults again around 1 or 2. If the kids used it after noon, they'd be totally not ready to sleep at bedtime. If I didn't use it at noonish, I'd be sound asleep on the couch by 3 at the latest.

 

I'm trying to understand this to help my dh. 

 

Use at noon'ish and it's difficult to sleep?  But, if you didn't use at noon you'd be asleep at 3. 

 

My dh normally doesn't get to sleep until 11'ish at night.  I'd like for him to become sleepier at an earlier time.  When would he use a device like this?

[Mrs_JWM]

I'm trying to understand this to help my dh.

 

Use at noon'ish and it's difficult to sleep? But, if you didn't use at noon you'd be asleep at 3.

 

My dh normally doesn't get to sleep until 11'ish at night. I'd like for him to become sleepier at an earlier time. When would he use a device like this?

I think she meant that she needs the boost that it provides, so she uses it in the afternoon to help wake her up so that she wouldn't nap and could go to bed at an appropriate time. If her kids used it in the afternoon, it would make them too alert to be able to fall asleep at night.

 

I am curious, though, for those of you who use this, the Phillips Go appears to sit on the table as shine up at your eyes. Research shows that you should position the light at or above eye level to simulate the light coming from the sun. The photoreceptors that respond to the sun's light are at the top of our eyeballs. Curious if anyone else sets theirs up on an angle from above. I also sit about 2 feet from mine.

 

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Edited November 27, 2016 by Mrs_JWM