Best SAD advice you will ever read!

Hello... There are many variety’s of SAD, for those that suffer from it very badly here’s the advice I have for you.

Temperatures plays a major part in SAD, research shows temperature to be more significant in lifting your mood then Light therapy, recommended is going swimming regularly during the winter months.. An other tip is to wear warm clothing and a big warm coat whilst doing light therapy with central heating or fire on :)

10'000 lux is absolute pants at lifting your mood, yes it does have beneficial effects on your mood but remember I'm talking about very bad SAD.. Something which has recently come out, new blue light technology which is an effective bandwidth of light, if you have a Credit card order it from usa now that the pound is almost as twice as much as the dollar here http://www.apollolight.com I will never go back to 10'000 lux, this is basically a cure for me..


NOTE from the management - there is ONE study on this - by Brainard, using, as he says, pure blue leds.
There are NO SAD studies on "bluewave" (which is kind of like Daz, white with added blue.) Actually we know that at least two studies have been undertaken, but the results are still not published. (..You may think this is suggestive of failure.... I couldn't possibly comment). Further we feel that every unit we have seen is very uncomfortable to look at.
There is substance to this research, but it's not panning out the way people thought, more work needed...

This sounds like an advert to me. You've also got to remember about paying import tax/VAT/royal mail handling fees which can mount up to 40 - 50 quid. What do you do if it breaks? Anyway somebody must know how to link up a load of LEDs to make a lamp.

this is no advert, its experience from first hand....

Take my advice, if you want to relieve your symptoms, just trying to help people.

pete stop making statements such as this is the best thing ever and if you don't take my advice you will never be cured type of thing it's irritating........

Who is Pete? anyway, when you buy something from them they send you the right converter along with it... lol, who is this Pete guy? My names John btw :)

http://www.apollolight.com/Effective%20bandwidth378.jpg

made a mistake with the quote thingy, should have shown as above

Don't know anything about blue light therapy, but I agree, from personal experience, temperature seems to have an affect on SAD. I also always like being warm. More telling, however, is that I don't feel SAD when it is cloudy for several days during the summer, though of course, under the same conditions during the colder winter, I feel SAD symptoms.

but what about the voltage difference between the states and the uk?

first of all, when you order this product you will put your address as from the United Kingdom and I have not told them I’m from the UK I simply filled in my address and the sorted out the wires for me.. Once they rewired my first light box... Second I’m not working on any commission lol I actually find that amusing for some reason sorry :P But really, I’m simply a customers of there’s and because I suffer from SAD all I want to do is help others.. I can offer you simply my advice and first had experience, this product has changed myself (god I do sound like an advert lol) No but really it works, there has been alot of research on the Blue light wave length, basically, this type of light gets picked up better through the back of the eyes and is more effective in stopping the production of meletonin, (sleep chemical). The site says that its actually the same effectiveness as normal sunlight however I disagree.. I feel its more effective, because when I used it during the summer I become sleepy from pushing my body clock too far back, I feel that the temperature plays a role in my SAD.. But in the Winter 40 minutes and I'm cured, when I first started it I found I needed 10 minutes but then I needed more and more of it and 40 minutes does the job perfect :) Proper scientific information on research about Blue light can by found by simple google search on the site of www.apollolight.com

I would like to apologise to outsidein for my previous comment on not being an apollo reseller, as it goes outsidein does sell apollo products... But flippin get them blue light portable and battery supplied light therapy devices in.. people need them!!!

couldn't be bothered to read everything you put, however I must state that never said 10'000 lux is not an effective treatment for SAD.. However it is "Pants" compared to this new blue light therapy and also ineffective for me on a personal level..

No need to be hostile against me.. I really couldn't be bothered to read it all because I feel negativity against what I say.. At the end of the day who careeeees....

People are ignorant, the don't give a toss what I have to say.. But your willing to criticize doctors which turn the other cheek against you!

All I'm trying to do is help people.. Take the advice or not I'm not bothered but its your ignorance that will be your own downfall I leave all my love.

I suffer from extremely bad SAD my symptoms have been recurring every Autumn from as long as I remember. One winter I went and told my doctor, then next winter I did the same so he recommended me light therapy and also prescribed me homeopathic treatments.. I bought an apollolight box one spring and used to for over half a year, it was working during dark summers day and autumn but for some reason during the winter I could spend 4 hours in front of it with no major effects.. This is what caused me to believe my SAD was more then just light.. I did some research on the net to discover a group of scientist found that temperature played a major part in SAD and was actually more significant then light. Anyway still keeping a close eye on apollolights website, the released a new product the "golite" which is a small portable device and that’s the main reason I bought it for, I highly didn't think it would be effective in my SAD.. But the first day I used it, I realised this thing was something different I was using throughout the winter months and was feeling like I did during summer :)

Now I'm on my crusade to spread the word but I suppose people just don't want to know.. Its not my loss

Pete,
I apologise if I sounded hostile.
That was not my intention.

You keep putting in your posts that bluewave is best and I'm simply interested in your experience of bluewave compared to 10,000 lux.

Clearly it is a natural development in light therapy research to find out if particular types/intensities/bandwidths of light are more effective than others (I'm glad that that UV isn't necessary so we don't have to fry our eyeballs to have a good winter).
I have a 10,000lux lightbox which seems to serve me well and whilst the budget won't allow it at the moment I'm always interested in reducing treatment time and convenience.

Thank you for your last 2 posts.

I guess it's easy to assume that people are being 'funny' (in the non-humourous way!) especially when you can't see them.

Reading a website is a bit bland and research notes are all very well but when you read about 'subjects' it's so depersonalised I find it hard to take on board. Statistics are useful to a degree but it's helpful to know what an actual person thinks/how they react.

I recently changed my lightbox and I'm finding that it feels more effective. I seem to know when to switch my box off and I find that I can turn it off sooner. 4 'new' bulbs would appear to be the way forward for me at the moment.

Hi
I was just dropping by and noticed this discussion on blue light devices versus white light. I have tried both. I do not suffer from SAD but I do use a lightbox for the circadian rhythm disorder, non-24 hour sleep pattern.

I found this box to be effective, Diamond 4 from SAD Lightbox Company.
http://www.sad.uk.com/products/d104.php

But, having read about the superiority of blue light for shifting circadian rhythms, I ordered GoLite hoping I could use it for less time. (my model is slightly older than the one in the link, but it's the same technology as far as I know)
http://www.apollolight.com/golite.html

Unfortunately it is quite ineffective for me. My theory is that although this has blue light, the lit area is tiny and the light is not very intense.
The Diamond 4 screen is massive by comparison and much more light reaches my eyes.

White light may well be 10 times less effective than an equivalent amount of blue light, but the total amount of light from the Diamond 4 could well be more than 10 times what I'd get from the GoLite, because it is so much bigger, so it is not necessarily more effective. Besides, full spectrum light does contain some blue light also.

Of course that is just my experience, and I'm sure blue light does work for some people.

tinted

I have been using the golite for 2 weeks and felt no better, i have
gone back to using my 10000 lux box, but this does not seem to help much either

thanks Julie
what dose do i have to take

Hi Sian and Robbo ~ This is what I have found out:

http://www.psychiatrysource.com/psychsource/Congress_Reports/article905.htm
"Treatment with omega-3 fatty acid may alleviate depression
Dr. Basant K. Puri, Imperial College, Imperial College School of Medicine, Hammersmith Hospital, London, UK
Dr. Puri began by noting that the increased prevalence of depression throughout the 20th century correlated negatively with the consumption of oily fish that are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, particularly EPA. Therefore, investigators are considering whether depressed patients will find relief in dietary supplements of this omega-3 fatty acid. After one dramatic case in which a young male patient's depression was resolved with EPA treatment after several failed courses of antidepressants, Dr. Puri and other investigators became interested in clinical trials to see whether EPA was effective in managing depression.
One study involved 70 patients with unresponsive depression. The patients were randomized to receive either EPA or placebo for 12 weeks; the patients in the investigative arm were to receive 1, 2, or 4 g of the omega-3 fatty acid daily.
"The group receiving 1 g showed a significantly better outcome than the placebo group on three rating scales," Dr. Puri said. Those scales were the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), the Montgomery and Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and the Beck Depression Inventory. Those patients receiving 2 g of EPA showed little response, he noted, and those in the 4 g EPA group showed a trend toward improvement that was not significant.
"All the individual items on all three scales improved with the 1 g dosage, with strong beneficial effects on items rating depression, anxiety, sleep, lassitude, libido, and suicidality," said Dr. Puri.
In another trial, 20 patients with major depressive disorder participated in a 4-week double-blind trial in which they received either EPA or placebo. As in the other trial, highly significant benefits were associated with EPA in comparison to placebo."

http://www.biovita.fi/english/terveyssivut/e-epa_brain.html
E-EPA is a fatty acid manufactured from fish oil. It is 100 % safe and it may be beneficial for persons with the following conditions:
Stress (Song et al 2003)
ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dysphagia, aphasia and other learning and behavioural problems in children and in adults
Epilepsy
Depression
Schizophrenia
Bordeline personality disorder
Dementia (including Alzheimer´s and Huntington´s diseases)
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or myalgic encephalitis (ME)
Fibromyalgia
Macular degeneration of the retina
Stroke and its sequelae
Anorexia nervosa
Panic attacks

http://www.mind1st.co.uk/
More information and stockists of Omega3 Pure EPA. However, this does work out at about £5 a week for the first 3 months, £2.50 a week thereafter … so it might just be a good plan to ask your gp or psychotherapist if you could trial Omega3. Whoever you approach they need to appreciate that it is Omega 3 Pure EPA Oil, 1g a day for the first 3 months, 500mg a day thereafter. The above site explains it very well. Maybe print it off and take it with you.
It is hard not to be fobbed off, and to stick with what you want to try, when feeling as desperately low as you do Sian, and as does your daughter Robbo. It's hard enough I find just suffering from SAD, if someone says "no" to me, quite frankly I could give up immediately.
But like both of you, I will go down any avenue to secure some self help with the hope of getting better. So I wish you well if you decide to take Omega3 EPA further. Do note that the part of the Omega 3 oil you need is EPA, not DHA.

http://www.vegepa.com/products.htm : another website offering information on depression etc. and a vegetarian version of Omega3 EPA.

I do hope that it is all ok with the Forum that I post up so many other websites, but it is not competition, and I hope that it will be seen as factual and constructive input as the majority of SAD people have an underlying depressive trait which this might alleviate.

Before I seriously ramble I will log off and go to bed! Kindest things, Julie

Note from the management. Lots of info about this in a book by David Servan-Schreiber a psychiatrist. title Healing without drugs aka Guerir, a huge best seller in France. It's now somewhat compromised by his going into business selling Omega 3 capsules, but hey he's French. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1405067187/qid=1102013480/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-5921132-9971801
I attended some talks, he rather favours fish over veggy.
There was a study around 5? years ago (for non seasonal depression) where the results were so obviously good that the ethics people made them stop it early and break the placebo (the ethic being you cannot deprive subjects of a known effective treatment)
(Julie of course it's ok to put links up)

thanks for all your comments and advice Jules! Must have taken you a while to type all that info up. Much appreciated. x x
robbo. x

i sent for the mind1st one.
i hope it makes a difference

Just thought I would put my 2 cents in and I agree with pete. The warmth and blue light do work I have tried it and know quite a few people that have tried it here in Canada.