I feel that I should contribute to this alittle. I apologize for the long post.
I don't have SAD. However, I am bipolar. Not by me going "oh I have those symptoms I've got it." I have spent the last year and half working on what was wrong with me. I was formally declared as bipolar by my psych and am being treated for it.
A little bit of history for you on my problem. My portion was that I could not step out of a store. Yes, you read that right. I had the insane fear that my money would not be in the bank when I would be ready to check out. I couldn't be in a room or setting of more than 4 people. This included being around my own family members. I would break out into a cold sweat and my heart would pound til I felt like I was going to pass out from lack of air. This continued on a daily basis until this past July. I'd been dealing with it for almost 4 years of the whole problem.
My first pysch just continued a treatment of Lexapro that my doctor prescribed to see if it would help me make it thru the store. She did more of a observation of the current medicine treatment. After one visit, where she ignored what I said, I talked to my doctor to see if I should see a different pysch.
She did send me to a new one. A very nice gentleman. He is now treating this with Wellbutrin XL and Trileptal. I'm doing very nicely. I have very few side effects that I know of.
Regardless of what people say, some people do need the medication to function on a daily basis. But, if your SAD is not that bad, then go thru with other options before you do start. If you can't find a solution, then talk to your doctor about other options before the medicine.
Everyone is different in this area. Options of all kinds are out there. You just have to find the right one that suits you.
