Posted by Mistermindmasta on January 19, 2005, at 11:51:30
In reply to Re: What do you think of this? » KaraS, posted by jujube on January 16, 2005, at 19:35:25
> A few things come to my mind. First, I think that hypothyroidism can make it difficult to get out of bed and cause early morning depression. It could also be a blood sugar problem.
This is true, in my opinion. Keeping blood sugar level as you're going to bed could be important for her. I feel very drained when I wake up and haven't eaten in a very long time.
>A sleep disorder resulting in non-restorative sleep could also be the culprit.
I agree with this, as well. The depression she experiences could just be fatigue from improper sleep. And then once she gets moving, she gets over the fatigue...
> Finally, SAD (seasonal afffective disorder) can make the mornings harder to bear.
I believe extra vitamin D (through cod liver oil) can help this.
Serotonin levels going down during sleep is really normal. In fact, serotonin and norepinephrine circuits COMPLETELY shut off in some areas of the brain during sleep. The only time you could say it wasn't normal is if you were taking an SSRI, which tends to keep these serotonin circuits active during sleep, disrupting certain stages of sleep. The problem might be lower than optimal serotonin levels when she wakes up, not when she sleeps, in which case a 100 - 200 mg 5-HTP or 1000mg tryptophan pill before bed with a light carbohydrate snack could theoretically fix her. The effects should last into the morning hours.
poster:Mistermindmasta
thread:442872
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050101/msgs/444208.html