January 31, 2006

The mighty light of ten thousand suns

I had a couple of comments on my SAD posts. I'm not sure if they are real or not, since the commenter didn't leave a name or a valid e-mail address...if they're spam, they aren't very good spam, because they forgot to add the "serotonin serotonin serotonin tryptophan buy viagra cheap" link.

I'm actually taking the comment at face value...somebody out there thinks I oughta just go the pharmaceutical route.

I have nothing against drugs. They pay my mortgage, for one thing. And the chemistry is absolutely fascinating...some days I dream of hitting the lottery so that I can go back to school and become an organic chemist so that I can really understand it.

If it were as simple as, say, checking and adjusting the chlorine in a swimming pool, I'd be more inclined to call the doctor and ask for an antidepressant. But psych drugs are notoriously difficult to fine tune...it can take years of different meds and doses before the chemicals are adjusted where you need them. And believe me, if I couldn't get out of bed, or if I couldn't do my job, drugs are the road I'd take. But if I can whack the brain chemistry back to July levels with a lamp, that makes a lot more sense to me than drugs.

And I can say that after four days of bright lights, the difference in my mood is, well, like night and day.

Posted by Nic at January 31, 2006 07:39 PM | TrackBack
Comments

I didn't send the original comment, but I want to thank you for your sane post. I too deal with some blue moments, my doctor was very quick to "prescribe something" to combat the problem. I was hesitant and couldn't explain why, maybe it was the lack of sex drive people talk about on one medication. Anyway yours is a sane response and I totally agree. I have to look in to a light box....

Posted by: Judi at February 1, 2006 07:58 PM
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