Re: Light therapy

[Guest guest]

>

> <<I usually start feeling bad in the afternoon anyway though, and

by 4

> p.m. or so I'm a wreck (that's when light therapy starts, and I

> begin to feel better). Maybe it's just my usual evening " yuck "

> kicking in.>>

>

>

> ** This is the time that most people who are insulin-resistant

feel very

> low.

I didn't know that. The 5 p.m. " yuck " has been a part of my life

ever since I can remember, long before the depression started.

>

> ** Actually, the light helps to inhibit melatonin production.

Dark days

> increase melatonin production. Too much melatonin causes

depression.

My feeling is that when I was getting overwhelmingly sleepy at 7

p.m. and waking at 3 a.m., before I started light therapy in autumn

2004, my body was producing melatonin at the wrong times. A lot of

SAD research suggests this, and also suggests the dark evenings as

the reason -- serotonin production drops and melatonin production

increases when the sun goes down.

Well this is a pretty dismal place to live, but my husband and I

have been over and over it, and we'd like to stay here if we can.

We've got family here, roots here, it's a good place for our little

girl to grow up.

I'm hoping that by changing how I'm eating, and having those

supplements, I can make a good go of it. I don't mind doing light

therapy on dark days as long as it's not the current 4 hours (grin).

[Guest guest]

I'd almost got myself convinced that maybe I need to withdraw from

light therapy like you would withdraw from a drug, but it doesn't seem

to work that way. I tried it not long after I joined this site,

persevered with a smaller dose of light for a week, and never felt any

better, only worse.

Today I've been tearful, foggy, sleepy, fatigued, and feeling

hopeless, like I'm just never going to get better -- there's hardly

anyone on my SAD forum at the moment, they're enjoying their summer,

and I'm doing 3 hours of light in the middle of May.

I'd do anything, anything, to get better, but I suppose I can't do

more than what I'm doing now, and give it time.

I'm sorry to take up room here doing all this silly talk. Must stop

experimenting with light therapy and just stick to what I'm doing

until the sun comes out.

.