Retail therapy (literally)

[geekchick]

Those of you who are tired of listening to me whine about my SAD-related brokenness will be pleased to hear that I found a decently-priced lightbox and it will be on my doorstep tomorrow, thanks to the magic of Amazon Prime. Now I just hope that it actually works.

Comments

[quasigeostrophy.livejournal.com]

What? Like everyone who's tired of reading me post about nothing but school? ;-)

*hugs*

[geekchick]

Believe me, I'd rather be reading about school than my moping. ;)
*hugs*

[kellfire.livejournal.com]

It worked wonders for my son last year. I need to drag it out and buy new bulbs and get it going for this year. I need it too!

Hope it works as well for you as it did him!

[geekchick]

Thanks! (Great icon, btw.)

How long did you use it before you needed to replace the bulbs, if you don't mind my asking?

[kellfire.livejournal.com]

That was my big beef, we went thru 2 bulbs between November and March or so.

I love the icons too, and so know I would feel better if I would do sun salutations before work!

[geekchick]

Really? That seems...excessive. I thought the bulbs were generally rated for some thousands of hours.

[lizs18.livejournal.com]

I've heard good things about them from friends who have used them. Good luck!

[geekchick]

Thanks! I know they've really helped some of my friends who used them in the past.

[chadu.livejournal.com]

Yayz!

May full spectrum light heps chu!

CU

[geekchick]

And you. ;)

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

What'd you get?

[geekchick]

I got the Uplift Technologies DL930 Day-Light 10,000 Lux lamp. I read glowing (no pun intended) reviews of some of the blue light therapy lamps, but that was balanced out a bit by the "it's quite possibly REALLY bad for your eyes" stuff I read about them elsewhere.

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's a damn good price on that. *is tempted*

I really believe more people either suffer from SAD, or suffer from seasonal worsening of existing mood disorders (my friend phinnia linked me to this sad, but ultimately good, article re: the latter case), than are willing to admit it -- simply because of this cultural meme where the sufferer herself often sees a mood disorder as some sort of glaring personal failure. Well, no. If you take a look at US winners of Nobel and Pulitzer prizes for literature, just for example, during the 20th century, you get astounding rates of bipolar disorder, suicide, alcoholism, etc. -- in the cases of Anne Sexton and John Berryman, the trifecta.

Go look in the mirror. See that person? She deserves her RDA of light. Repeat, deserves. Light on, apply directly to retina... and enjoy.

[geekchick]

laurel posted today about a really good price ($76 and free shipping) on a handheld unit too; I think I saw it and thought it was one of the blue lights, so I skipped over it. (The product description I didn't read specifically says it's white LEDs.) It seems like it would be good for hauling back and forth between home and the office though.

Heh. I read phinnia's post and my first thought was "Oooh, I could make more cookies! Good idea!" Which, yeah, I don't think was what I was meant to take away from the article. XD

[just-the-ash.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe not 106 varieties in six weeks, no. (Now my OCD side wants to email the writer of that article, demanding to know which of the recipes she got through and which subset of those were just too much damn trouble, like the fudge-y ones she mentioned.)

I can't remember whether phinnia is using a lightbox for herself, or for her autistic son, or whether it's a completely different friend, kibbles, who is using one for her autism-spectrum son -- but that's apparently the new wave in using such boxen, and from what I hear, results are weirdly good.

Trivia: At one point, when I was still living in DC, my then-shrink, who tried to get me to buy a $300 model from some gang in Gaithersburg (from whom I'm fairly sure she got kickbacks), was Dr. Susan J. Fiester -- the same one whose testimony won the acquittal of Lorena Bobbitt. For some reason, when I tell men this, it makes them slightly nervous. :D

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad! I hope it works!!

[geekchick]

Thanks! I figure it's really unlikely to hurt, even if it doesn't help. Replacing the burned out full-spectrum bulb in my office lamp is unlikely to do anything but good as well.

[asetwoman.livejournal.com]

Have you also thought about vitamin D supplements? I'm trying them and liking them.

[geekchick]

Haven't tried Vitamin D yet (and I've been very lax on taking my multis as well). I find B12 tends to help perk me up too, when I take it on a regular basis.

[qe2.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Mine's in storage, and this year I could really use it. I'll be interested to hear how yours works for you.

[geekchick]

This year is sounding like it's been pretty bad for a lot of people; I figured I'm getting payback for only having a mild case of SAD last year, but that doesn't explain why it seems to be hitting a lot of other folks hard this winter too.

[qe2.livejournal.com]

Yeah, 2007 sucked for a lot of people, it seems - me, certainly, but I am FAR from the only one I know (and then there are all those people I don't know...*eyerolls at self*).

What I notice about my SAD this year is that it's making it extremely difficult for me to pry myself out of bed. Not in a deep-depression sense, but in a "SLEEEEEEEP MOOOOOOORE" sense. I quite literally don't get upright until at least a little light's spread outside. 's weird.

[redknight.livejournal.com]

So clue us in, WHAT light box did you purchase?

[geekchick]

I got the Uplift Technologies DL930 Day-Light 10,000 Lux lamp. I'm pleased so far, but I need to give it a few weeks to see how well it really works I think.