I'm thinking more and more on the impact of light on my mood and some of the changes my affect undergoes during certain seasons.
I can move from a dark room to a well lit room and experience an uplift in my mood. On sunny days I seem to get a little racy. I can be very depressed on darkened days and almost agitated on hot sunny days.
My family reports that I always fall into agitated states in the summer-as if I have a seasonal affective disorder. Something about light disposes my mood dramatically.
I feel I have a mood imbalance, but I'm almost always singing the blues. There my be periods of hypomania, but I can't put my finger on them-one thing is certain though, light can make me happy and sometimes a little overwhelmed.
With summer SAD, people often feel agitation, have loss of appetite,
insomnia and, in extreme cases, have increased suicidal fantasies-I experience these kinds of symptoms almost every summer. During most springs, my mood is as it should be. I am feeling more level every day we go into spring. When summer comes around I will become depressed and agitated and on three occassions became psychotically depressed. By October I feel a pleasurable melancholy that I like to nurture with Halloween and horror movies. In February, I'm feeling pretty normal.
Is it possible that my mood disorder is seasonal affective and light plays an important part?
I like how this possibility meshes with my Epilepsy. Of all the Epilepsies I studied, Occipital Lobe Epilepsy comes closest to describing mine (ictal headache, nausea, mistaken for migraine, photosensitivity). The occipital lobe is the main center of the visual system. If I have a mood disorder, a seasonal affective disorder would make a lot of sense.
Also, consider my diagnosis of psychotic major depression-Among the newer experimental treatments is the study of glucocorticoid antagonists, including mifepristone. These strategies may treat the underlying pathophysiology of PMD by correcting an overactive HPA axis. By competitively blocking certain neuro-receptors, these medications render cortisol less able to directly act on the brain. Mifepristone seems to work in PMD by reducing cortisol levels.
Information about the light/dark cycle is transmitted from the retina to the paired suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) in the hypothalamus. The SCN sends information to other hypothalamic nuclei and the pineal gland to modulate body temperature and production of hormones such as cortisol and melatonin. It may be light is triggering my body to produce too much cortisol in the summer months and not enough in the winter. But just the right amount during the spring.
Light can make me seize and disposes me to euphoria and a type of mania. Lack of light can disorder my thoughts. From the retina, how is the light being processed so that it imbalances my mood?
I can move from a dark room to a well lit room and experience an uplift in my mood. On sunny days I seem to get a little racy. I can be very depressed on darkened days and almost agitated on hot sunny days.
My family reports that I always fall into agitated states in the summer-as if I have a seasonal affective disorder. Something about light disposes my mood dramatically.
I feel I have a mood imbalance, but I'm almost always singing the blues. There my be periods of hypomania, but I can't put my finger on them-one thing is certain though, light can make me happy and sometimes a little overwhelmed.
With summer SAD, people often feel agitation, have loss of appetite,
insomnia and, in extreme cases, have increased suicidal fantasies-I experience these kinds of symptoms almost every summer. During most springs, my mood is as it should be. I am feeling more level every day we go into spring. When summer comes around I will become depressed and agitated and on three occassions became psychotically depressed. By October I feel a pleasurable melancholy that I like to nurture with Halloween and horror movies. In February, I'm feeling pretty normal.
Is it possible that my mood disorder is seasonal affective and light plays an important part?
I like how this possibility meshes with my Epilepsy. Of all the Epilepsies I studied, Occipital Lobe Epilepsy comes closest to describing mine (ictal headache, nausea, mistaken for migraine, photosensitivity). The occipital lobe is the main center of the visual system. If I have a mood disorder, a seasonal affective disorder would make a lot of sense.
Also, consider my diagnosis of psychotic major depression-Among the newer experimental treatments is the study of glucocorticoid antagonists, including mifepristone. These strategies may treat the underlying pathophysiology of PMD by correcting an overactive HPA axis. By competitively blocking certain neuro-receptors, these medications render cortisol less able to directly act on the brain. Mifepristone seems to work in PMD by reducing cortisol levels.
Information about the light/dark cycle is transmitted from the retina to the paired suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) in the hypothalamus. The SCN sends information to other hypothalamic nuclei and the pineal gland to modulate body temperature and production of hormones such as cortisol and melatonin. It may be light is triggering my body to produce too much cortisol in the summer months and not enough in the winter. But just the right amount during the spring.
Light can make me seize and disposes me to euphoria and a type of mania. Lack of light can disorder my thoughts. From the retina, how is the light being processed so that it imbalances my mood?