The Days Are Getting Brighter

It has been very rainy this winter. It has also been snowy and freezing at times. There have been a lot of dark days. And night comes so early. I think it is the great reduction in daylight that brings on my depression more than anything else about the winter.

I have always enjoyed the outdoors, but the older I get, the less time I want to spend outside when it's cold. I have bought some warm coats to compensate, but I often stay inside a lot in the winter.

Spending time outside in the winter becomes like a fight for me and I usually give in to staying inside too much sometime in January or February. Luckily, the days get longer as the winter progresses and I usually start feeling better by the end of March.

I had an appointment with my psychiatric nurse practitioner earlier this month and she determined by the questions I answered that I was experiencing depression. She said she thought I should try adding Wellbutrin to my daily medication regimen of Seroquel, Lamictal, and Deplin. I had told her that I was putting all of my energy into work and felt little motivation for socializing, cleaning, or working out. I have also been dealing with some knee pain that has been unpleasant and annoying, but thankfully, seems to be lessening.

I have been taking the Wellbutrin every morning with Deplin for about two weeks now. I take Lamictal and Seroquel at night. I do feel better. I am sleeping less, and I have more energy to get things done. I have spent more time taking care of myself after work and I have been socializing a bit more. I feel more activated but I also feel a little bit more impatient although it hasn't caused me any problems, it is just something I have noticed about feeling differently and will self-monitor.

The Wellbutrin seems to be helping but if I feel hypomania coming on, which I am good at recognizing after being treated for bipolar disorder for the past 29 years, I will stop the Wellbutrin and call my psychiatric nurse practitioner as she advised me to do. If all goes well, I will stay on my current medication and have another appointment next month. She had talked about me switching to Vraylar from Seroquel. She said that it might have fewer side effects and she said that some of her patients have done well with Vraylar.

I have been feeling better with my current medication. However, switching medications to reduce side effects seems like a good idea. I have done that several times over the years and I have been happier living with fewer side effects than I have in the past. My current worst side effect is weight gain. Changes with my medication that could help me to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight would be welcome changes.

It is Saturday and I have social plans today and tomorrow. That is an indication that I am already feeling better because I have mostly felt like resting and getting ready for the work week for the past few weekends and not doing much else besides sleeping, eating, reading, laundry, and grocery shopping. That is kind of natural for me in the winter, but I'm hoping that having added the Wellbutrin will make it easier to be more active for the rest of the winter. I am not sure if I will be taking Wellbutrin year-round or just taking it as needed in the winter. I will find out more at my next appointment.