Time changes really suck!

I love the early morning light, but darkness at 6pm? Really? Ugh. I've fought staying awake about all I can for today, almost until 8. Yep. Going to bed this early. I must just be getting old. My 5-htp should be here in the mail tomorrow. That helps me with the lows sometimes. Darkness is making me depressed

I hope you feel better tomorrow. This early darkness is a bummer.

I hate the cold

Yeah. That too. Sub freezing and with 17 F wind-chill in the morning. Going to the gym anyway. I'm still on the floor here too, so I know the cold well.

I can totally relate to the problems the time change brings. One remedy I used this year is leaving the big kitchen clock on old time to ease into the new time gradually. To the greatest extent possible, I tried to keep my old schedule intact & ease into the new time. It seemed to help a bit. The rest of the clocks, my watch, etc. were set to the new time, however, so I could keep appointments & such. The kitchen clock helped me realize that what my body was telling me. YMMV...

17 F wind-chills? Try actual 13 degree temps with snow on the ground! You Kentuckians must be real lightweights!

Agreed. Daylight savings needs to go. It affects my mood every shift in time.

SorryShaped... How much 5-htp do you take?

I was in the psych unit 3 years ago this month and the doctor told me the hospital is always full right after the time change. It's no joke.

Sounds like you're in Chi-town

Why can't the entire world just use GMT to keep it clear?

"serving size" is usually 200mg. I take 100mg if I need it during the day and up to 300mg when it's dark. I've never taken more than 500mg in 24 hours.
I think it's probably not a good idea to use if you are bipolar, because it can temporarily imbalance things. I am bipolar. But, when I know I'm at a rough low because of whatever, I'll take some. I have mood swings at times but they aren't as severe as last year and years before. I'm not married any more and I'm on better meds, so the swings aren't anywhere nearl as bad. I think the former helped that more than the latter. It can help those patches. It's a common misconception that 5-htp causes drowsiness. It causes a small release of seratonin, one of the happy brain chemicals. It let's loose more of it than chocolate but it acts longer, whereas chocolate is a quick on and gone thing. It also seems to help with relaxing the large muscles in the body, probably because I'm not as tense from the depression. That helps with yoga, because I'm usually kind of wired to be going to yoga class! Wired to go relax. Being on two mood stabilizers probably causes it to not be as short-acting with me, because they cause all sorts of things I shouldn't do to last much longer, so I mostly quit doing those things.

Both times I've been to the same hospital, the bipolar people outnumbered the monopolars about 3 to 1. I'm going to be ok this year. I walked through the Xmas decorations at the different stores already and didn't flip out internally. I went to the tree lighting in a nearby city and didn't freak out. I think I'll be fine.

I just tapered off Zoloft due to severe side effects. Now I’m just taking Lithium and Risperdal.....nothing for SAD. I’m going to look into a light box.

I'm craving antidepressants right now. I miss that constant lift at night especially. They send me full manic

Me too. And I hate dark and cold even more!

My doc had me start taking a therapeutic dose of vitamin d3 and it has stemmed my time change downswing. Just a thought.

Can't you even take a small dose? That's what I do. My pdoc says it's better to be a little hypo than to be morbidly depressed. I also take Vitamin D, use a light box & take Abilify as my AP (it's supposed to complement ADs without sending you through the roof). Seasonal depression (which often coincides with the time change) is serious business in my 'hood.

Vitamin D helps tremendously, but some people can't absorb the supplement. They can only get it from the sun or a light box.

Gonna get some vitamin D on my way home later. I'll give it a go. I take a multivitamin twice daily with my other meds. Dunno if d is in there or not

I use lighting for circadian rhythm control, otherwise I have delayed sleep phase and de-sync from the clock completely every couple months. So, BRIGHT "daylight" blue-white indoor lighting from 7am to 5pm, every day of the year. It helps a LOT. Of course with bipolar we have to be careful, but using the light box and/or sufficiently powerful lighting during the entire day is really underrated, IMO, especially in winter.

I'm a huge lighting nerd, PM me with any lighting questions, I welcome it.

I'm sure Vit D is in your multivitamin but you need at least 5,000 IU a day to have a positive effect on mood, especially in the fall/winter. My favorite brand for D is Solgar.

Me too! I follow the LED technology somewhat regularly. Cree has another crazy one out now XM-L2. 10W/3A/3.33V/8300K has gotta wreck a battery quickly.

How much are they and how long do you have to stare at them every day?

Hahahaha. I don't know the cost, but staring at that could burn your retinas a bit, depending on distance from it.

So what do you do exactly? Clearly I'm clueless.