I don’t know if I have said this before but I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). For those of you who don’t what SAD is, in basic terms it is a type of depression which occurs on a seasonal basis, it is associated with the lack of sunlight in winters months typically.
As Spring is definitely here, the daylight is lasting longer and it’s beginning to warm up a bit. It is time for me to come off the anti-depressants because I know that my body can find its own balance.
For a bit of history. I didn’t just decide to take drugs, I have struggled with this my whole life, I have tried counselling, meditation, mindfulness but this year I decided it was okay to ask for more help, ask for something to help boost my mood, so I didn’t feel completely dead inside. I went to the doctor, who prescribed me the lowest dose of sertraline. It helped this winter, I was able to function much better this year.
But back to the point of this post. Coming off my Sertraline was hard, really hard. I am lucky I have only been taking it for a few months. I foolishly and naively thought it would just be a case of ‘feeling down’ for a bit. It was more than that. Thankfully for me, it only lasted a week.
I don’t think it helped that I managed to coincide me coming off my meds and the whole coronavirus situation at the same time. I felt completely overwhelmed, I kept getting dizzy and feeling a prickling sensation on my face. My mood was all over the shop, I was okay but finding it hard to feel motivated or even particularly good.
The effects of coming off the anti-depressants has definitely made me think twice about taking them next year. I wonder if I should take them as these last few weeks have been really difficult. I do not know if it is worth going through it all every year. I think I will look into other ways, which does not involve any medication.
Love,
Bet x
