Lightboxes for phototherapy

Faith

What's the best way to get a lightbox for treatment of SAD? Do you just buy them from the internet? Are they covered by health insurance or anything?

Jessibelle

I don't know if you can claim back on the health insurance for them I'm afraid, but I've seen them for sale in various larger chemists such as Boots, Sam McCauleys etc. The internet may have more competitive prices though, as I know someone who bought a portable one for about 50 euro on Amazon. It is smaller than those I've seen in the chemists though. If you are buying one, ones with Blu-light are seemingly the most effective. HTH.

_Whimsical_

Try your local health food store. The one near me used to rent one out at €10 for a week at a time with no obligation to buy so people could get some idea if it would be of use to them or not.

I would doubt that they are covered by health insurance unless they were prescribed by a doctor,and even then I'd say you'd be lucky if insurance would help you.

nesf

It's not a bad idea to have a chat with your GP/psychiatrist before trying it out as there are some counterindications like propensity for mania, some medications etc.

Faith

Thanks for the replies. I've been looking on Amazon and the prices really vary. Is it worth shelling out £100 for onem or would cheaper ones be just as good?

Jessibelle

From what I've been told, really small ones (say 20cm by 20 cm) are only good for 'top ups', i.e they really wouldn't help initially, but there's little difference between the medium (30 by 30 upwards) and large other than size, they're equally as effective. A good guide, I've been told is to get one that's larger than your face, if that makes sense, but hugely bigger than that is of negligible benefit.
This is all information I've been told by a user of the lightboxes though, it's not whats necessarily reccommended.

ETA: Blu light bulbs are supposed to be the most effective form of light therapy, but there's little difference in the actual quality of bulb from company to company although price may vary wildly (this I know from working in an area that required blu-lights). So a reasonably cheap machine with Blu-light may be as effective as a high price one, depending on the level of use you need it for?

BehindTheScenes

Not sure if this is any help. Trinity have a room dedicated to this. From what I hear it's a giant light box. You just make an appointment and walk in to a giant light box room.