[kvinneakt]

I just brought this up elsewhere, but want to make it a new topic.

SAD - Seasonal Affective Disorder

Every year in October and March I have several weeks of gut wrenching melancholy that peaks each day just before sunset. My friend the therapist said this was probably SAD. This has been controled by meds for the past few years, but this Oct will be med free.

It is very weird, almost embarassing. When the sun is at a certain angle the bad feeling is nearly overwhelming. It is very primal. I almost feel like I could howl like a dog at the moon.

Anyone else get anything remotely like this?

Bumper sticker: Wherever you go, there you are

[heidu]

Oh heavens yes. I have a hard time in January and February. The last couple years I was enveloped by extreme depression so I didn't even feel it but prior years I have noticed depression.

One year it was so bad I was out of control. Just feeling rage and balled up on the bathroom floor crying my guts out every day for no reason. The following year I took a weekend trip to Vegas for the sun and warmth and that helped alot.

I am also wondering what this year will be like since I am depressed but not so much as I have been. Norway is tough.

In the fall/winter it's dark. It rains alot in the fall and an average December day: Sun up at 10 am but just hovers about the mountains so it's not really brite and it's dark by 3:15 pm. It's tough!!!!

You and me gotta help eachother Kv!!!!!
Heidu

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.
~ Carl Bard ~

Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.

[kvinneakt]

I live in the US Pacific NW. We have about 8 hours of "sun" in the winter, but it is normally behind heavy clouds. We can go for weeks, even months, where noon is barely more than twilight. (Sorry, LMo, this is not good for your BF.) A friend who used to live in Alaska said it is more dismal here than it was in Alaska where all the snow kept it bright even without the sun.

Strangely, I do better in the dark grey days when I can't see the sun in its evil angle at dusk.

Bumper sticker: Wherever you go, there you are

[Rapunzel]

That's me too. Clouds and fog add to it. Last winter we had six weeks of non-stop fog and never saw the sun. I was totally out of control by the time the fog ended and just kept on getting worse until I lost it (had come to the conclusion that suicide was the only thing that made sense, and I hurt myself enough that they put me in jail - they don't have a psych ward here).

This year I am trying light therapy. I hope it works. I've been feeling the effects of fall already for a couple of weeks though even so. Yes, I know what you mean.

Since I just figured out that it was SAD last spring, I don't know yet whether having an explanation for it will help me to realize that things only seem so bleak because of SAD or if I will just anticipate it and be looking for trouble. Either way, let's all keep in touch and support each other. At least it won't be so lonely in that padded room if we have each other's company!

<font color=blue>Life is filled with tragedy; if you let it overwhelm you, you cannot enjoy life's innocent pleasures. -Robert Heinlein</font color=blue>

[heidu]

I've heard the light thing is a big help. They use them alot here but they are also very expensive and not in my budget so I will get thru best I can. Wonder if I can just put the TV on a non-channel and stare at it.
We'll get thru this. And maybe it will help that you can remind yourself that there is a reason things are bad and you know they will get better. That helps me too.
Heidu

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. ~ Carl Bard ~

http://www.angelwinks.net/images/tigger/tigger3.gif

[mj14]

I have SAD. My worst months are February and March...I think because that is when I've been light-deprived for the longest time. The bad thing is, I can feel some of the SAD already kicking in this year. I think the very rainy summer has meant I didn't get the amount of sunlight I usually do.

I have a light therapy box, and it is very helpful. One thing that my p-doc told me can also help is to try to get out into the sunlight every day in the middle of the day when the sun is at it's brightest. Like take a walk at lunch time. Of course, this won't really help if it is cloudy for most of the winter.

Light therapy boxes are very expensive, but if you can manage the expense at all, they are worth every penny. Also, for those in the states, some insurance carriers will cover at least part of the expense, so you may want to call and ask before buying a light.

mj

[Rapunzel]

Look at the cost of light boxes this way: I paid $200 for mine. The same one frequently goes on sale for half or three quarters of that. That's about the same as 2 therapy sessions or meds to last ??? not the whole winter. Maybe insurance is more likely to pay for the other things, but it's actually fairly cost effective in comparison, and if you have decent insurance, why not ask if they will cover it? PM me if you want to know where I got mine (it was on-line). I found a source in the UK too that also looked good, if anyone there needs one.

This website is a starting place for general information: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.sltbr.org/>http://www.sltbr.org/</A>

<font color=blue>Life is filled with tragedy; if you let it overwhelm you, you cannot enjoy life's innocent pleasures. -Robert Heinlein</font color=blue>

[SeptemberMorn]

So that's what it is!!!! I don't feel it much any more and to tell the truth, I miss it sometimes. It's the way the sunshine looks... it used to give me an eerie feeling... in fact, I wrote my very first poem when I was having this feeling... WOW! Melancholy... yes... if I heard kids playing in the street (in fact, that is one of the lines in the poem), I felt as though some of my childhood was coming back to haunt me... things I'd missed, feelings I'd wished I'd had... "the laughter in the street." There was some kind of Indian Summer feel to it... Mercy! Yikes! I can almost feel it again! (shiver!)

Should I be glad that now I know what it is or do I want to believe (Heck! I know!) that it was some kind of de ja voux? Is... was...

<center> </center>

<font color=blue>This above all: To thine own self be true. --Shakespeare</font color=blue>