Winter depression

 I tan for 20 minutes 2x a week. Excessive? I think not. I am Irish and Norwegian, so I was not blessed with olive skin. I feel 10x better about myself when I have color vs. pasty white. I also wear safety goggles and spend very good money on tanning lotions, one for my face and one for the body. Also, you don't turn orange from tanning. If it makes me feel good and I take the necessary precautions,who cares? Also, I've been tanning off and on for the past 10 years and its never affected my BC.

I have to agree with tiffy, I was tanning all summer(yes, in the summer) and on BC - of course I never tried out the effectiveness.... It doesn't make you orange unless you go with spray tanning or tan in a bottle. It's actually VERY refreshing, and if you need a mid-day pick-me-up - go tanning, I promise you will feel 100X better! I miss tanning....but I don't have the time anymore.

I didn't state that vitamin D is used to treat S.A.D.......just stated that I had a vitamin D deficiency.

Not making light of S.A.D. at all. I don't consider it insensitive speaking against tanning beds, when they are being suggested for someone with S.A.D. Quite the opposite. I'm concerned that someone will be doing something that isn't going to help them and may in the long run be causing problems. Only reason I got into this discussion.....I think someone with S.A.D. should be visiting their Doctor, to find out what truly will help them. Anything that I am reading, from various medical websites (MAYO clinic being one of them), with regard to light therapy, specifically mentions that tanning beds do not use the same type of light that is necessary for this type of therapy.

nymaureen

I didn't state that vitamin D is used to treat S.A.D.......just stated that I had a vitamin D deficiency.

I realize this is off-topic, but how did you find out you had a Vit D deficiency?

nymaureen no worries I was responding in a general sense, not even so much based on posts here but in the attitude I've seen from people in general (in person, other boards...).

I think the reason many people use tanning is b/c light therapy is expensive if you can't get insurance to pay for it.  I believe it uses a full spectrum of light which is best, but again, expensive.  Tanning is not always the *best* option but if it's between doing nothing b/c you can't afford light therapy and/or drugs, or tanning 10 minutes once or twice a week (sunscreen, googles), many people go with the latter and it just works.  I was so against tanning for so long, I wouldn't even want to speak to people that did it.  But then I grew up, got stressed, got a job where I work ALL day in a basement and I go to work in the dark, go home in the dark (whereas in high school I was coming home from school around 1pm and delivered newspapers so I had some outdoor time in the sun every day).  Tanning is one of the best, simplest, and cheapest things it's almost too good to be true.  If it was as simple as choosing not to do it b/c it's bad, obviously I would not do it and people who have SAD would chose not to have it.

I have a long history of depression.  My psych strongly recommends vitamin D--in levels more than the RDA.  It does seem to help me.

Agnes

My particular dealings with Vitamin D may be off topic, but in further researching Vitamin D, it does say that a Vitamin D deficiency can be a possible cause of depression. So, like I said, best for anyone to go to a Doctor.

As for me, I'm not sure now, I don't think I had a test for vitamin D levels....not originally anyway. When I had bone density level checked (twas done due to my age) it was low, so I was put on high doses of Vitamin D (2000 IU/day).  Had Vitamin D levels checked several months later (while still on the high doses) and was normal. Doctor suggested I stay on the vitamin D. Have not yet had a recheck on bone density.
 

My DH died last year from melanoma and it was so fast ... he started declining healthwise in January and was gone in April.  The scariest thing about skin cancer (I learned from his Dr.) is that there doesn't have to be a visible mole.  It can be the size of a pinprick and someplace that you would never even notice it ... your retina, the top of your head, a part of your body that you'd never be able to see. It turns inward instead of being visible, hits the blood stream and it's all over in a heartbeat. Mel grew up in a migrant farmworker family in southern rural NM and  spent many hours out in the fields picking crops, so I'm sure he had more than his share of sun.  I think if I suffered from SAD, I'd be more inclined to light up the fireplace or wood/pellet stove, put on some music I liked and make a cup of tea ... and I'm sure a couple  of those lights wouldn't hurt either. Maybe invite a friend over to enjoy the tea and the fire.  There are a lot of things I'd try before even considering jumping into a tanning bed.

Joyce

BlackLabbie

Liesje

I'm going to try tanning this year.

Don't do it!!!!

Ok, you're going to do what you want but....there are SO many health risks associated with tanning beds. They also weaken BC pills.

1 of my closest friends in highschool was addicted to tanning....she looked terrible, who's orange in January???? Anyway, she ended up with a couple weird moles and had to have them removed, but she kept tanning. I talked to her last year and she ended up having more skin patches removed and that ended being skin cancer- she's 22 years old.

I would definitely agree with this, and this is coming from someone who really did enjoy tanning before I stopped.

First of all, the damage that it does to your skin is incredible.  Ever hung around a tanning place and checked out the middle aged women who come in?  It's creepy.

Also, my mom had skin cancer.  She had to have a spot removed from her arm--it took 18 stitches and left a dent in her arm for years.  I have to be checked yearly for iffy spots and have already had 6 removed (thankfully none were cancer).  However, I have nasty scars where they were taken off.  Melanoma is hitting more and more people in their 20's every year and it is a very deadly cancer.

FWIW, I don't feel like I'm being insensitive in my stance at all.  I'm diagnosed bi-polar type 2 and totally get how much depression of any kind sucks (heck I'd be thrilled if I only had to worry about it at certain times of the year).  It's just that in my life I have experienced a major cancer scare once this past summer and have had multiple, extreme, horrible-dark-hole-with-no-end-in sight incidents of depression including one failed suicide attempt, and I'd take the depression over the cancer any day. 

Sunshinegirl

I've been tanning for years (most people think my dayghters and I are sisters - look at my profile pics)...

Honestly, your chest and top of forehead look very sun damaged.

If people think that regular tanning (in the sun or tanning bed) doesn't have a major effect on their skin, they are just kidding themselves.

Either way, if tanning helps lift some of the feelings of depression or S.A.D., to me, it's worth it. Just my opinion.

 I don't mean to offend anyone at all but I do not get the whole tanning bed thing. Why would someone want to burn their skin and set themselves up for wrinkles and age spots *much* earlier in life? I think people are most beautiful in their natural skin tone.

I come from 100% Irish ancestry, and so I'm obviously fair-skinned. That said, I've never gone tanning and I don't want to. I like having my natural skin tone, not a fake cover up. I don't want to purposefully BURN my skin, and I'm looking forward to not having wrinkles when I'm in my 30s and 40s. My mom is in her mid 50s and has never gone to a tanning bed, and she has beautiful skin, no wrinkles or age spots or anything.

I know that nowadays it seems as if tan is in and fair skin is out - but I'm most comfortable in the skin I was born with and I don't want to follow the herd.

And most of you who complain of feeling "pasty white" - you probably aren't as fair as you think you are....you're just normal looking, lol. : )

I don't think anyone is condoning "burning".  Responsible tanning beds will not let you start at more than a few minutes, and they won't let you start in the stronger beds.  This ticks people off, but the bottom line is, they are protecting us from our own instincts to do it fast.

I personally do not suffer from SAD, but that's probably because I'm already on SSRI's year round.  My Mom and my BIL DO and man, they are tough to be around.  I'm sorry to say that for MOST folks with SAD, a fire in the fireplace, music and a cup of tea won't do a darned thing.

My original suggestion was to get up and get movng.  That does help with all sorts of depression, but it can be darned hard to do when you feel like you've been plowed over by a truck mentally.  Many docs are reluctant to start someone on meds for a short term condition...the withdrawal can be pretty tough for some.

As I understand skin cancer, and I may be wrong, it's the burns that cause the later problems?  Yes, you are going to eventually pay for the sun in older looking skin, sun spots or age spots, but for some of us, myself including, tanning is the only way to avoid a burn.  I can use the strongest possible sun block when I'm outside and still burn if I don't have some sort of base.  I use the self tanners on my legs in the summer.  I've got some pretty ugly scares.....mostly from dogs, and honestly, they are embarrassing, and look less ugly with some tan.  The stuff in the can isn't as good as a real tan, but, I can't get a real tan without a tanning bed, so I use that stuff.

Whatever your personal perference on your skin tone or color, gosh, lets not make SAD about that.

glenmar

As I understand skin cancer, and I may be wrong, it's the burns that cause the later problems? 

Not according to this: http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/cancer/risk/159.html 

fuzzy_dogs_mom

 I think if I suffered from SAD, I'd be more inclined to light up the fireplace or wood/pellet stove, put on some music I liked and make a cup of tea ... and I'm sure a couple  of those lights wouldn't hurt either. Maybe invite a friend over to enjoy the tea and the fire.  There are a lot of things I'd try before even considering jumping into a tanning bed.

Doesn't work, honestly.  If only it were that easy... I know you don't mean anything by it but posts like these seriously have me in tears.