Dr. Julek Meissner, a naturopathic doctor, treats seasonal affective disorder.
It's 4:21 p.m. and the sun is setting over Ottawa. It won't rise again for another 15 hours – long enough to bring out the reclusive, lethargic and depressed side in many.
A small percentage of Canadians become depressed and fatigued by seasonal affective disorder (SAD) in late fall and winter. Fluorescent lights, vitamin D supplements and homeopathic medicine can help people cope with the disorder when daylight is scarce, but some still feel its effects.
Max Cossette, 22, felt his SAD grow worse than ever last January.
“It got so bad I had to drop out of life,” the musician and part-time university student recalls.
He stayed inside constantly, rarely socializing, studying, or going to work. Eventually, he dropped out of school and got fired.
“I ended up getting canned and I bawled and bawled,” he says.
To cope, Cossette worked out, avoided alcohol and ate healthy food, but the seasonal changes were still hard for him to overcome.
Emily Cloutier, a beautician, also finds January toughest to cope with. In past years, she has slept up to 11 hours a day during the darkest months.
“If I worked nine to five, I’d come home and take a nap until eight,” she says.
One winter, when she went tanning on a regular basis, Cloutier said she felt less lethargic and reclusive, even though the lights in tanning beds are not intended to have that effect.
Cossette says it wasn’t until last March that his depression faded. He recalls taking a long walk and soaking up the sunlight for hours. When he returned home, he realized that his disposition had changed along with the seasons.
Cloutier says that along with sleeping more during the winter, she takes vitamin D but hasn’t sought other forms of treatment.
Dr. Julek Meissner treats patients in an office bordered by a gaping window, bright white walls and multi-coloured lamps. Meissner, a naturopathic doctor for 25 years, prescribes tiny pellets, liquids, or even sprays for everything from burns to colds to mood disorders like SAD.
He says those with SAD are turning to homeopathy for treatment more and more.
But instead of prescribing one anti-depressant to treat every client with the disorder, Meissner prescribes medication that targets each person’s specific form of depression.
For instance, he might prescribe Pulsatilla – a windflower derivative – to someone who’s weepy and in need of human company. And he would probably recommend Aurum – a diluted form of gold – to someone who’s angry and wants to be alone.
With Ottawa’s daylight hours now down to nine, the darkness is already getting to Cossette. He says he’s open to homeopathy if it can prevent another winter like his last one.
Meissner says his clients talk with him for hours so that he can understand their backgrounds and prescribe something that takes into account their histories, not just their SAD.
“We don’t treat seasonal affective disorder. We treat the person with seasonal affective disorder,” he says.