The strangest thing...

[JosephG]

has happened to me over the past few days. Since around Friday afternoon to be exact...
I've felt normal! and yesterday and today I've felt happy. Like virtually no anxiety (social or general). Maybe even a little bit too happy. It's strange. I think i've forgotten what feeling totally happy feels like so maybe that's why it feels normal. I just feel generally.... as a person should!

Today I even spoke to a stranger and had a lengthy conversation. With every conversation I was having fun, making jokes and creating instant automatic responses. I even had a mini-interview with two of my tutors and sat there calm as anything discussing my future. I even had a laugh whilst doing it.
However I can't help but feel a tad like I'm a bit overly happy? I mean there's no real reason for me to feel like this - especially when I've felt crap for so long!

so I sat down and had a think about this. What have I done or what has changed in order to produce this change in me over the past week?

I couldn't think of anything at all. In fact I should be a lot worse than I usually am! I'm not exercising as much, I'm not eating properly, I've been out drinking on the weekend and out late so I haven't been getting much sleep. And then it hit me just a bit (although I am not completely sure at all that this is the case) - it has been sunny and it is now spring and perhaps my low moods are something to do with what time of the year it is?

the birds are singing, there is much more light, longer days, flowers etc are blossoming and I feel happy!

Could my anxiety/depression related issues be due to the changing of the seasons? I have heard of something like that before.

I kinda hope it is because then atleast during spring/summer I could get some relief from my symptoms.
Or does anyone think this is just a temporary thing? I am a bit concerned at the moment that I might just wake up tomorrow and everything will be the same again....

Anyone experienced anything like this? I'm just a little weirded out by it all...

 

[maiato]

Sun is one of the best things to depression and anxiety too. Lately the weather as been quite good where i live and i really feel the difference.

So that really might be the reason. Some day ago, Sunday morning, i was feel like a crap, literally! More one of that days that i would be just hard to wake up, take the breakfast and make some exercice. For a long that what's happened. Surprisingly in the final of the day i was feeling much better, over confident, calm and might say a litle happy.

As you i was just wondering what may have led to all that. And there was just 2 reasons. I've been made some outdoor walk during the morning (and the weather was great) and i found this forum. First i tought that was the main reason (and part it was) but then i realize that the sympthoms started earlier, during the lunch.

After lunch i just went to a coffee nearby getting some sun in the esplanade. The sun was getting me directly in the face for 15min and the sensation was just fantastic. I wasnt feel so well for days or weeks...and then something more surprise start to happen: I pick up my mobile phone and start making some calls!! I was about 1hour with 3 different friends feeling almost zero anxiety.

When i got back home my housemate (with who i dont go out a lot) invited me to go out to see a tv match soccer game. During half the game i didnt see not even a soccer move. We are just talking about all kind of stuffs and once again zero anxiety. I was even happy, making some jokes and smilling almost all the match!

Just got a litle anxious for a while when he talked about a friend that was depressed. During that time i just froze out for awhile imagine myself! But amazingly i got back home and we were still chating for sometime, so it didnt affect me as usually!

The worst thing of the history is that i got back to zero last 2days. And now that u talk yesterday the weather got worst and i remenber to get wake up till 3 am (watching the oscars) and feeling bad to wake up later on the morning. I felt tired again at 8-9am wich is the hour i'm been programming myself to wake up. So that sense of waking up late again (loose the morning) and weather was probably the cause of my mood change too!

Moral of the story. In some persons the sun my make a great contribution in the way u feel. However it will not resolve your all problems, specially when u get confronted with some old anxiety ghost! Another thing that may led to the way u feel is some medication u have taken.

Well i just wish that u can fell that for long time still. Just enjoy the moment

 

[maiato]

I find this new to when i was trying to figure out the relationship. U may want to read.

"Douglas Cootey is replacing his lightbulbs with brighter ones, but not just to see better. The new broad spectrum lights simulate sunlight, and might help enliven his mood in the gloomy winter months.

Cootey, a stay-at-home dad in Salt Lake City, Utah, has struggled with depression for 16 years and shares his story with others on his blog, The Splintered Mind.

He said he started to notice last year that his depression was harder to manage in the winter. His challenge, he told CNN, is "keeping a positive and upbeat attitude in the face of a chemical onslaught induced by winter."


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He realized that his symptoms fit those of seasonal affective disorder, a condition that typically generates depression during autumn and winter and then goes away in the sunnier months. In rarer cases, people can suffer from it only in summer.

"I set the clock back and look at this: I've been so unproductive," Cootey said. "Now that I know what's going on, I'm trying to counteract it.'

Between 4 and 6 percent of the U.S. population suffers from seasonal affective disorder, according to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, but 10 to 20 percent of the population may suffer from more mild winter doldrums. SAD is more common in women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, the Cleveland Clinic says.

Some people may be genetically predisposed to SAD, but the environment can trigger it as well, said Ignacio Provencio, a biology professor at the University of Virginia.

A recent study led by Provencio shows that a genetic mutation in the eye could play a role in seasonal affective disorder. The mutation makes a person with SAD less sensitive to light. The photopigment gene is called melanopsin, which helps detect colors.

"Being able to look at one's DNA and seeing that you're a carrier or contain two copies of this gene may be able to, in the future, allow one to predict whether or not they will be susceptible to this disease," Provencio said.

The information may also help predict which people with seasonal affective disorder will respond to light therapy, because the mutated genes involve light sensitivity, he said.

Light therapy works for some people, experts say, by mimicking outdoor light and promoting a biochemical change in the brain that improves mood.

The researchers looked at 220 people, including 90 nondepressed people and 130 people diagnosed with the disorder. In this group, seven people with seasonal affective disorder had two mutated copies of the gene."

 

[JosephG]

maiato I am really glad for your happiness! It sounds like you've had a pretty good day or two! Let's share our happiness with others

Even if this is just a temporary phase for us both we should absolutely make the most of it while we have it!
However I am beginning to think it may be a seasonal/weather thing for me as I kinda recall this happening before. I just hope it can last dude: Right now I don't have a care in the world.

Let me know how things keep going for you over the Spring/Summer months! I am intrigued by this new state of affairs!

 

[JosephG]

Wow! I had heard of something before but never really explored it more. This is very interesting. Apparently it can also cause a large range of other symptoms including anxiety and social anxiety. Maybe.. just maybe this is the answer for you and I?
hmm I'm going to keep you posted on how things go. This could be the start of something good I'll have to buy some pretty damn strong lights!

 

[maiato]

loool i'll have to find them too! i just got over the phone talking with a friend about the idea. Strange, but realizing and talking about this issue made me feel a litle better...start seeing some light in all this dark nightmare!

I'm also sharing the same wishes as u, that this last for some time, cause things cant go much worst thy are at the moment. Just got me thinking about last years spring at it was always the worst part of the year.....so SAD can be on of the causes for sure!

Tomorow i'll just make some self experience and make some sun exposure near the beach and then i post u back! Just hope this dont lead me to some facial burn in the process