I Was Having A Good Day

Yes, I was having a good day. The sun was shining when I woke up (which considering how the weather has been in August was almost a minor miracle), it was my birthday (although they are not so much fun as you get older), and I had decided that I would have a relaxing day and not do anything that in any way smacked of being a chore. That is exactly how the day went, until about half an hour ago.

It's not just that birthdays aren't much fun as you get older, they're not much fun when you are on your own either. I was thinking of having a glass of wine by way of a celebration, but I thought that I might be a bit silly and drink the whole bottle, and that really is not a sensible thing to do. I didn't have my lunch until quite late, so I don't want anything to eat now therefore it isn't even worth considering going out for a meal.

And now that my day is almost over, the thing that I didn't want to think about is at the forefront of my mind. The change that was made to my anti-depressant a few weeks back did seem to have been making a difference to how I felt. My level of anxiety had definitely subsided to something that was more reasonable, and I wasn't feeling so depressed as I normally do at this time of year. But suddenly that has changed. The tears have started to flow and life isn't as bearable as it was earlier today. Still, I shall do what I always do. I will try to keep my mind occupied, I shall try to focus on one thing at a time and not get too frustrated when it takes me forever to do even the simplest things.

And I will keep telling myself that things won't be so bad once Saturday is out of the way.

I Didn't Know That

I have just read this item about a small scale study carried out in the USA which shows that depression can impair your driving ability. I know that there have been occasions in the past where I have driven to work, but not been able to remember any of the journey, but I put that down to travelling the same route every day, at the same time. I knew what the driving conditions were likely to be like, so if it was frosty, or foggy, or raining, I always made sure that I concentrated on what I was doing.

The study said that it had been impossible to determine whether it was depression itself, or high doses of anti-depressants that led to the impairment, and that further studies would be needed to determine what was having the effect. Anyone who takes anti-depressants will be aware that the literature that accompanies them includes the information that the medication may cause drowsiness and that if you are affected you should not drive or operate machinery. That is also the partly the reason that some anti-depressants are taken in the morning and others at night.

The item went on to quote the DVLA about people with certain conditions having to inform them that they had these conditions, and that depression was one of them. I have always been aware that you had to inform the DVLA if you suffered from Type-1 diabetes, or if you had suffered a heart attack, and that your insurance was invalid if you tried to drive whilst you had an arm or leg in plaster. But I was not aware that it was necessary to inform them if you suffered from depression, nor has a doctor ever spoken to me about it.

I didn't know that; did you?