Tuesday 18 February 2014

ME/CFS and SAD

Yesterday I took part in a HuffPost Live segment about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  I suffer from the Summer Blues, rather than Winter SAD and I wrote an article about this last year (Melting to Death in the Sun – Life as a Reverse SAD Sufferer).  My ME/CFS symptoms have been really bad lately, thanks to a recent cold and with lots happening in my personal life (I will be moving house this year – HELP!) so I have to admit that when I received the invitation from the HuffPost Live segment producer, I really did not want to do it.

On any given day, I feel much more comfortable with the written word rather than the spoken.  But my recent brain fog had me worried that I would not be able to keep up with the conversation let alone reply in a coherent manner.  Also, I look and feel so ill, that I didn’t want to be seen on a video.  So I was all set to say “Thanks, but no thanks” but I thought about the reasons I wrote about SAD and it was for the same reasons I write about ME/CFS; to raise awareness and help sufferers know they are not alone.  So I agreed to do it.

The segment had not been on for long before I realised that I was probably the worst example they could have picked as a Summer SAD sufferer, because I also suffer from ME.  The two complicate each other and I would not have the same options available to me as a standard SAD sufferer.  The doctor who took part in the segment also made some suggestions about what Summer SAD sufferers could do, but the painkillers and meds that I take to help my ME symptoms prevent me from trying these out.

So, in hindsight, I fear I came across as this weird freak that abhors the sun and doesn’t really try to get any help, when honestly the complications come about because of my ME.  You can watch the HuffPost Live segment here 

Do you have ME/CFS and also suffer from SAD?  Do you find that one makes the other worse or that some of the treatment options are not available to you because of other meds and symptoms?