Day 1

Day 1! Woot!

Today was a good day, as I expected it would be. It's really too early in the season for me to be experiencing any real symptoms, but I am starting early because:

a) I am already seeing signs of increased appetite

b) Most of the treatments I have been reading about suggest starting in early fall

c) to get into the routine of this project before I get slammed with the start of a new school year

I got up early to do a little more SAD research, went to school and worked on setting up my classroom for a few hours, then hit the gym and did a chest/back workout and a 3 mile run.

The rest of this post gets a little technical and...dare I say...boring? So feel free to stop reading here if you like.

One of the questions that has been on my mind is whether or not I have full blown seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or its milder cousin subsyndromal seasonal disorder (S-SAD), also know as "winter blues". The difference between the two is subtle, from what I can tell, with subsnydromal SAD (S-SAD) having milder symptoms.

So...which do I have, and does it really matter?

At a Bates College Health Center website (http://www.bates.edu/health/health-information/seasonal-affective-disorder/) I found this list of symptoms associated with SAD:

1) Decreased mood and low energy level (Check. Low energy level becomes more pronounced for me than decreased mood, but they're both there.)

2) Difficulty waking up in the morning. (No. I'm a morning person year-round.)

3) Irritability (Check. More specifically, I become very impatient.)

4) Anxiety (Check. However, I have anxiety year-round and take a low dose of Lexipro to treat it, so...*shrug*.)

5) Inability to concentrate. (Depends. I can concentrate easily on tasks at hand, but it becomes extremely difficult for me to concentrate on conversations in social settings. I respond well to "sound bites" during this part of the year, and have difficulty focusing on anyone speaking for longer than a few seconds. I find myself literally scrunching up my face trying to stay focused when someone is telling me a story. Needless to say, I'm not much of a conversationalist during the winter months, and dinners out with my husband can be painful for both of us.)

6) Difficulty performing tasks that are usually easy or enjoyable. (Depends on the task. I function fine at work, but have great difficulty maintaining my exercise routine during the winter months. I lose all drive to go to the gym, and if I push myself to go, the entire experience feels torturous.)

7) Low sex drive. (No noticeable change in sex drive for me.)

8) Carbohydrate craving. (CHECK! This is one of the worst parts for me. I tend to pack on 20-30 extra pounds in the winter, diet it off in the spring/summer, then begin the cycle again in the fall. Ugggh!)

Some sights also list thoughts about death or suicide as a symptom of SAD. Fortunately, I don't experience that. In terms of depression, I don't feel down or sad, I just don't feel much like DOING anything; even things I normally really enjoy.

On a website by the American Psychological Association, a Dr. Kelly Rohan reports that the main difference between SAD and S-SAD is that those who suffer from S-SAD do not meet diagnostic criteria for depression during the winter months, while sufferers of SAD do. (http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2013/02/seasonal-disorder.aspx) I don't think I'd meet diagnostic criteria for depression, so I suspect that I experience S-SAD rather than SAD. Fortunately, the treatments for both seem to be pretty much the same, so on with the plan!