I went to the mental hospital yesterday. I was going to see if I qualified for a medical study for Seasonal Affective Disorder. I don’t get enough light in the winter, and like many plants, I want to go dormant. But like many people, I must continue to work during the winter. So I just get really sleepy, sort of unfocused, and I don’t want to ever leave my house. Especially if it’s dark.
The doctor asked me a series of questions from some sort of depression test and gave me a score. He had separated the questions into emotional-type depression and seasonal depression. My emotional-depression questions all scored low. (I do live a charmed life, so how could I be sad?) My seasonal depression scores were pretty high though. He said the seasonal depression score had to be higher than 5 in order for me to qualify for the study. My score was 18. Yay! I qualify!
The study is for a drug called armodafinil, which is a reformulation of Modafinil, a drug that is already approved and used on the market. The question is whether or not it will help with the daytime sleepiness and increased carbohydrate cravings of a S.A.D. person. The drug is a stimulant, so it is sometimes used with ADD kids, but its intended use is for narcoleptics. HA! I totally fit! I hope I don’t get a placebo. It’s a double-blind test, so I’ll only know if I actually feel the drug working.
I go in today for my first official visit. I get paid $30 every time I go! Cool beans!
The campus of Sheppard Pratt Health System:
And this should have been its own post, but we got our first snow! We got out an hour early yesterday, and today school starts two hours late. Hooray for snow!
What was your score on the school-year depression section? Are there any drugs available for that type of depression?
2-hour delay, 2-hour delay, 2-hour delay…YAY!!!
There is a drug available & it’s best served cold!
And at 30 bucks a visit, the school year should fly by!
Um, ‘yay’ that you’re more than 3x depressed as needed? I guess I’m …. ‘happy’ for you?
We have that much snow right now and no delays around here. East coast rules, hrmph.
Oh, and congratulations. May you be drugged to your heart’s delight!
Were any of these questions on the S.A.D. test:
1. Do you have a sudden urge to visit the Holocaust
Museum?
2. Have you been watching movies where people saw
off their own foot?
3. Do you still have a scarecrow on your door &
a rock that says “BEWARE” on your porch?
4. Would you rather stick your head in the toilet
then do a sudoku puzzle?
Hey – watch the Sudoku puzzle comments!
I think you are depressed because we haven’t seen each other in freakin’ 4-ever! I have been swamped with Fringe and thus not keeping up with your blogs, so I am going to play catch up for the next 30 minutes.
I am seeing this photo of SNOW and MISS a real winter so much. The best I have here is the paper snowfall at the end of our X-mas show. Thrilling,eh?
Anyhoo- love&miss you Brad!
Uh, can you please be sure that white stuff is gone before we get back from the beach??