Comments | monster_grrrl: as posted previously by Social D!!

monster_grrrl

as posted previously by Social D!!

Jun 22, 2009 14:25

Allergic patients exhibited a change in mood in their ragweed seasons. They showed a decline in positive affect (PA), a change away from a state of high energy and pleasurable engagement in winter toward a state of lethargy and sadness in ragweed seasons. This shift is contrary to studies in the general population that indicate that PA tends to be ( Read more... )

allergies, depression

Comments 6

gloriapatch June 22 2009, 19:41:50 UTC

Ha! I live with a ragweed allergy sufferer. Worst time of the year for Mr. Grump to come out.

monster_grrrl June 22 2009, 19:59:01 UTC

I wonder if they've looked into stuff around other kinds of allergies, because it could explain things like how happy I am since I stopped living with cats, etc. (And it's not that I don't like cats.)

snarkout_rat June 22 2009, 20:48:14 UTC

Oh, this is definitely true...in April I posted a someecard to my Facebook wall that said something like, "Hope your winter blues have given way to your debilitating spring allergies." I found it to be so true to my experience. Since I found Zyrtec, my springs have been so much happier. Not to mention late August, which is usually even worse for me than the spring, allergy-wise.

monster_grrrl June 23 2009, 16:32:58 UTC

Interesting - do you feel like you've felt happier in the spring thanks to Zyrtec, or just less allergic?

I'm allergic to every seasonal thing, so it's almost like I have no non-allergy season. Ragweed? Yes. Pollen? Yes. Leaf mold? Yes. Grass, trees, dust, cats, dogs, mold, bees...well, I could go on but it's just so much easier to say "everything" and then hide in my sterile bubble.

snarkout_rat June 23 2009, 16:42:21 UTC

I think that feeling less allergic is directly linked to my feeling happier, all the time. The physical feelings of allergies directly mirror the emotional feelings of depression. My head and sinuses get all filled up with fluid, making my head feel heavy and unclear and overwhelmed, making it arduous to complete any task in much the same way as it feels arduous when you're unmotivated and emotionally dragged down. It makes everything seem more difficult and less fun, much like depression does. The two are very similar in that they're just this constant, dull hum of non-acute pain that occasionally turns acute but most of the time is just there, dragging on you.

monster_grrrl June 23 2009, 18:41:32 UTC

Yes. This makes sense to me. I think there are a lot of links between chronic pain and depression - and doesn't it make intuitive sense? When you have an ache that's with you most of the time that you've mostly gotten used to, doesn't that stop you from enjoying life as fully? When your head is full of goo, doesn't that bring your mood down?

Sometimes it blows my mind that I couldn't make myself link "eating enough" and "feeling good", but then I look at society at large and I remember why.

I mostly just use the generic brand of whatever non-drowsy 24-hour allergy stuff there is, and that seems to mostly work for me. It wasn't clear to me from the study if using allergy medication made a significant difference around depression, although I would think that it would.