Multiple Sclerosis Depression
There are
different types of multiple sclerosis depression or depression that
is connected with Multiple Sclerosis.
One of
the forms of depression, which is more common for those of us with MS
is called
seasonal affective disorder or SAD for short. Symptoms of SAD include
depression, insomnia, irritability, fatigue or even problems
with thinking clearly or with figuring things out.
SAD
is a seasonal depression that is more common than you think and it is
based on how a person's body reacts to the shortened periods of day
light hours during the winter months. SAD can present a much worse
dilemma for people that live in countries where they receive less day
light hours per day than the average day light hours that a person
receives that lives in a country closer to the equator. It
has
been found that there is a link between how often people have seasonal
depression and how low their vitamin D levels are in their bodies.
Vitamin
D Multiple Sclerosis:
Our skin produces vitamin D as a response to sunlight shining on the
skin. But for the body to produce vitamin D, this also involves the
liver and the kidneys for this to work as it should.
If there is a
problem with the liver or the kidneys not doing their job in the
process, the generation of vitamin D in the body may not take place as
it should. In this type of case, vitamin D should be taken as
a supplement. I take DRY vitamin D, as opposed to taking
finsh oil supplements to get enough vitamin D, because the fish also
also contains viamin A, which our bodies can only tolerate a limited
amount of each day, without us reaching a toxic level of vitamin A.
Our
bodies need the increased levels of vitamin D to boost our immune
system and
make it easier for our bodies to be able to fight off infections.
Adequate
levels of Vitamin D also help to reduce or even possibly eliminate
depression.
It is so much more vital to those of us that have been
diagnosed with Multiple
Sclerosis diagnosis to find ways to boost our vitamin D
levels,
since Multiple Sclerosis sets us up for our immune systems to become
much
weaker to start with. Multiple
Sclerosis can also contribute to depression, and the
depression that results from a larger
vitamin
D deficiency just makes things so much worse.
For those of us that have been given the diagnosis of Multiple
Sclerosis, it is
so much more important for us to find a way to boost our vitamin D
levels because MS research is also showing that vitamin D has a
protective quality for those of us with Multiple Sclerosis, since
vitamin D can help to reduce MS relapses and exacerbations.
For me, I
have found that for my own case of Multiple Sclerosis, that if I do
find a way to
increase my
vitamin D levels, this reduces the number of infections that I end up
having
each month, as well as reducing how frequent and how severe
the
infections can
become when they do occur.
Those of us that have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis have a
tougher
time getting enough vitamin D from exposure to sunlight, since there is
typcially a very real problem with those of us with Multiple Sclerosis
being intolerant to heat. Because of the problem we have
with our bodies over reacting to heat, sitting in the sunshine to boost
our vitamin D levels is often out of the question. This
forces those of us diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis to
take vitamin supplements to boost our vitamin D levels.
Our bodies need vitamin D for
several vitally important functions of our body on a daily basis.
Only so much of the vitamin D can be obtained from food
sources.
Besides our body producing
vitamin D, as a response to being exposed to sunlight, our brains also
produce
serotonin in response to the daylight hours, but
being out in
the sun works much better at boosting serotonin levels than being
indoors.
As the sunlight enters our eyes, this stimulates a gland in
the brain
called the pineal gland, which regulates our levels of serotonin, as
well as
our wake-sleep cycle. When we are not exposed to sunlight
often enough, this can reduce our vitamin D levels and increase our
chances of MS insomnia.
Serotonin is
one of the hormones that helps to regulate our wake-sleep cycles and
helps us
to maintain a regular sleep pattern. When our bodies do not
produce enough
serotonin this disrupts our bodies natural rhythm of our wake-sleep
cycle and
this can greatly reduce how much restful sleep that we actually end up
with. Ending up
with enough restful sleep is so important for those of us that have
been
diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis for several reasons.
The majority
of those us that are battling with Multiple Sclerosis have more
problems
already with decreased levels of serotonin and the problems of the
reaction of
our bodies to the shortened day light hours just adds to the problems
that we
already are experiencing because of the effects
of MS on
our bodies
with reducing our serotonin levels. This can contribute to more extreme
MS
insomnia.
Serotonin also helps to regulate mood. If the levels of
serotonin in our
brains drop too low, depression, anxiety and total unrest can result,
which
just adds to the ms fatigue that we that those of us with MS may
already be
experiencing. If the serotonin deficiency is severe enough, the
depression can
become more severe to the point that it heads towards becoming more of
suicidal
tendencies.
What can be done about low levels of serotonin and with SAD?
There are 2 options that I found that can help to
reduce problems with SAD and low serotonin levels in MS.
One option is to take vitamin D tablets or soft gels, as either dry
vitamin D
or as fish oil vitamin D. I tend to take the dry vitamin D in tablet
form, so
that I can take it in larger doses, as needed (this is recommended by
my
doctor, since vitamin D is NOT considered as toxic like some other
vitamins are
if taken at higher doses for longer periods of time).
Typically, from what I have found, often those of us with MS
need to take 6,000 iu to 8,000 iu of DRY vitamin D to reduce
depression, increase how well calcium and magnesium are absorbed by our
bodies and for boosting our immune systems to reduce the frequency of
things like how often we can get the flu each yar.
The Second option is to purchase a device that uses what is called
light
therapy, which uses light that mimics natural sunlight fairly closely
that
allows you to be able to use it to shine this light on your skin each
day to
boost vitamin D and serotonin levels in the body and to rid the body of
SAD.
The benefits of
using this type of light is that it eliminates the
effects of
being exposed to ultra violet radiation that we also are exposed to
when we sun
bathe, as well as mimizing the problem that those of us with Multiple
Sclerosis tend to have with heat. Light therapy can actual
help to reduce or maybe even eliminate some of the problems
with multiple
sclerosis depression by
increasing vitamin D levels and with
elevating the
amounts of serotonin in the brain, which helps to regulate mood.
Ultraviolet radiation from the sun is known for accelerating the aging
process
and causing skin cancer. Although this often is not a concern for those
of us
with Multiple Sclerosis, since our reactions to ms heat can keep us
often from
getting enough sun exposure, it is still something to keep in mind when
sunning
yourself.
Using
the light therapy device allows you to eliminate the exposure to
ultraviolet
radiation from the sun, while allowing you to receive the benefits that
would
be generated in your body from your skin being exposed to sun light on
a daily
basis. It would be better if you can find a way to sit out in the sun
without
covering up all of your skin to allow your skin to be able to produce
the
serotonin and vitamin D that your body needs, but if finding the time
and a way
for you to get out in the sunlight enough during the day is a problem
for you, the light therapy is a good
alternative.
Other
reasons for depression are also present for those of us that have been
given the diagnosis of Multiple Sclerosis. Because of the way
that Multiple Sclerosis scrambles or confuses the nerve signals
throughout the body, this often results in our central nervous systems
short-circuiting when they are over stimulated.
MS Stress or Multiple Sclerosis Stress
Those
with MS have a much bigger problems when it comes to how we react to
stress. Multiple Sclerosis is already known to
cause to short
circuit our nervous systems on its own, but on top of this, how we
react to any type of stimulation, which includes all of our reactions
to stress, can actually cause more relapses, exacerbations or attacks
and actually cause our ms symptoms to become even worse than they were
before the stress occurred.
Multiple Sclerosis depression
is so much worse as we have more ms symptoms appear because this can
actually make us function less and restrict how often we can be around
other people. Isolation doesn't help those of us that have
been
diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. This just contributes to how
discouraged and even how depressed we can become.
Finding social
connections is very important for those of us with MS. Also
finding ms support groups
can make a huge difference in helping to reduce depression in ms
because this gives us an outlet where we can talk about all of the
things that we have been experiencing because of the effects of
Multiple Sclerosis on our bodies.
Things that can
add to multiple sclerosis depression are:
* lack of sleep
or ms insomnia
- when we don't get enough sleep, this has been prove through clinical
sleep deprivation to studies to affect our moods and our mental well
being.
When
we do not have adequate sleep on a daily basis (at least 8 to 9.5 hours
each day), this also reduces the amount of serotonin, dopamine and
other neurotransmitters in the brain, which help to regulate our moods
and also help to regulate our wake-sleep cycle.
Finding
ways to reduce MS insomnia can help in a large way in reducing how over
reactive our emotions can become and with reducing ms depression by a
large amount.
Volunteering
to help our where we can help, regardless of our physical limitations
because of MS can also help to reduce multiple sclerosis depression.
Helping other people can help pick up our spirits too.
Focusing
on helping others, where we can also helps to take our minds off of our
own problems for a while and helps us to realize that our lives are
still worth living and this gives us back a feeling of self worth again.
Yoga
breathing, deep breathing, meditation and finding ways to
relax
can also help with reducing depression. When we take large
breaths and exhale slowly and do this several times, this has been
found to help to calm down the nervous system and relax the mind.
* Worrying and
anxiety can also contribute to multiple
sclerosis depression.
Finding meaning
in our lives and finding something that we can do can help to reduce
how much we sit and worry about things can help reduce this to a large
degree. When we find a purpose for our lives or find a goal
that helps us to focus our mind on something other than worrying about
things, this can also help with reducing the multiple
sclerosis depression problem.
Look
on the positive side of things. If we let ourselves we can
just
sit and cry about everything all of the time, but this isn't going to
help you function better or feel better physically, mentally or
emotionally. Finding meaning in our lives and finding ways to connect
with other people and de-stress can help to calm down how much we worry
also.
There are also
alternative and natural ways that we have found that can help with
reducing ms depression, including:
* ms meditation
* ms hypnosis
* tone therapy
* ms acupuncture
* ms vitamin supplements
* certain ms herbs
and other
methods that do help with reducing depression in multiple sclerosis.
We
do not recommend attempting to deal with ms depression on your own, but
find and work with medical practitioners, doctors or other medical
professionals that are trained and experienced in working
with other patients that have also battled with multiple sclerosis depression
that can
supervised, with whatever method is being used for you..
To find out more information about Multiple Sclerosis
and about ways to help reduce your symptoms of
MS, complete the form below to
subscribe to our FREE Multiple Sclerosis Report.
