Laurie's Blogs.

This is often a tough time of the year for many folks.  1) Christmas can be stressful and sometimes lonely, and 2) for those of us in the northern hemisphere, it’s also closely related to the winter solstice, aka the shortest day of the year!

I decided to write on this topic because I’ve recently have 3 or 4 conversations with folks about anxiety and depression.  And if 3 or 4 people are brave enough to bring up the topic then there are others of you out there hiding in the woodwork, just not talking about it!  So here goes!

I suffer from seasonal affected disorder (this time of year is not good… and by January/February I feel like running away forever).  What has worked for me:  The LED SAD light (when I remember to use it), taking 6000 IU of Vitamin D (6000 is widely reported, it’s not just MY suggestion), tanning every week also seems to help, even if just 10 - 15 minutes / session (I did this often back about 10 years ago when it was worse), I would also suggest Magnesium-citrate supplements (500mg) & Calcium supplements (1000mg) (taken at night, they're good for chronic pain and sleeping).  Then for me, lifestyle-wise, I find I feel better if I can get outside for a bit each day during daylight, and I also feel better if I sleep in until the sun is up (so I tend to not wake up until 8am this time of year!!!)  When things are really bad, I find that St. John’s Wort seems to help take the edge off.   (P.S.  As a side note, did you know that depression is hereditary and is carried on the same ‘gene’ as alcoholism?  My Grandmother suffered from SAD, & I have oodles of alcoholics in my family.  Oddly enough, I have always felt that if I didn’t reign in my drinking to things like the STAAR conference, holidays, or a couple of glasses of wine on occasional weekends, that I could easily go down that path.  Mostly, I don’t drink much at all anymore.)

One person asked me about the Alpha-Stim.  Alpha-Stim is the brand name.  When used via the earclips it is called Transcranial Electrical Stimulation, and is essentially Microcurrent to the brain.   MUCH of the research done with the transcranial application was done on / for vetrans.  Vetrans with chronic pain, addictions, anxiety, depression…  And it was useful.  That’s why I started using it with the dogs with anxiety in the clinic!  Helped a lot!!!  If you were to google search Alpha-Stim you could find units that were earclips only (vs the kits with the probes and self-adhesive pads).  It’s worth a shot for those of you wanting to try something natural (and deductible as a business expense!)

A friend of mine is really feeling affected right now.  She said what usually works for her is LOTS of sleep, HEAVY exercise, down time, & being away from people for a while.  She also finds the Vit D helps.  She passed along a book that was recommended to her to help with ‘destructive/distorted thinking’ when things get bad.  "I went to a counsellor who recommended a book called 'the Feel Good Handbook' (or workbook?). Anyways, it is all cognitive behavioural therapy and how to recognize (and change) distorted thinking. I found it to be really awesome - and if I'm having a particularly low time I refer back to it. It really helped me."

The other day at yoga, I was saying that my neck hurt and so I requested that we do a lot of head down poses so the weight of my head could traction my neck.  The instructor piped up that head down positions allowed the blood to rush to the head, which turns out to also be a good anti-depressant!  So, time to touch your toes and just hang out there for a while!  In addition to having blood run to my head, I also find yoga to be one of the few places and times where my mind doesn’t race with thoughts of “what’s next on my ‘to do’ list?”  

Doing a quick google search on natural remedies for depression, I also found:  Fish Oil supplements, and eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids (i.e. sardines, wild salmon, herring, mackerel…), coconut oil, and increasing your protein intake.  And I guess caffeine is not so good!  (That one hurts me to say!)  Some additional supplements I found recommended:  5-HTP (can help with anxiety, but in some folks, can cause it… so you’d have to test it… and don’t take it if you’re on an anti-depressant), SAMe (which could decrease the effectiveness of birth control pills!), L-Theanine (it’s found in green tea), and L-Tyrosine (if you need an energy boost).  Everything I read had a disclaimer to check with your physician if you are already taking other medications.

Beyond that, my oldest son has had Anxiety since he was in elementary school.  (At 5 years old, the poor kid was worried about where he’d live when he was an adult!)  We finally got referred to a Psychiatrist who diagnosed him with “ADD Inattentive Type”.  The anxiety part wasn’t really recognized at the time of diagnosis, but it’s there.  (He was always bad in the fall when things were new, then would get better by later in the year…and his diagnosis was in June of his Grade 4 year.)  I tried all sorts of natural stuff with him beforehand. We tested / tried 2 different medications before landing on ‘Concerta’.  Throughout this Jr. High years, we would have him take it during the weekdays but not on weekends.  Then we would take him off during the summers.  We would get him to see if he could do days without it - because I had a negative view of permanent medications!  What was interesting was when he got old enough to actually be able to describe what he was feeling.  He could say what he was noticing and at what points in the day he would lose his concentration (i.e. when he would come home and wasn’t able to concentrate well enough to do homework).  That’s when we upped the dose (since he was also getting bigger).  The last Dr. visit I attended with him, I thought it was cool because when the Dr. asked if he felt he needed a higher dose, he said "No, this works.  I feel like I can concentrate well all day on this.”  And the dose is about 1/2 of what it could / should be for his weight.  Along the way he’s been able to tell us that he needed it for weekends when he was trying to do his homework, and that it would help him focus at work too during the summer.  My whole point for this last story is that I had to get over my view of drugs for mental health conditions.  I watched how not being on Concerta really affected my son, his ability to work, his ability to be successful, use his time wisely, and most importantly to feel good about himself.  I realized that MY thoughts (that he should be able to ‘get over this’ and not need drugs) was only hurting him and damaging his self-esteem more… because he NEEDS it!  (Admittedly, when I got to realizing this, I felt pretty bad!) I don’t want this to sound like I’m pushing drugs… I just think it’s important to not stigmatize the need for them sometimes!

Okay… so have a great Christmas & Happy Hanukkah! (Cool that they’re similar dates this year!)

And “Don’t worry… Be happy!”

Laurie