Does anyone get SAD in reverse?

[AchillesLastStand]

This sounds strange but I think every spring I have SAD rather than in the winter. It’s like my brain can’t cope with the longer days, I can’t sleep and feel anxious all the time. The past week has been awful, and I keep waking at 1.10 in the morning like clockwork and then can’t get back to sleep. I have constant brain fog.

I read that your brain may produce less melatonin in the spring which causes the sleep problems. I really like the winter months and feel cocooned by the dark evenings. Is anyone else like this?

For record, I’m currently taking amtriptyline for anxiety but it’s not helping with the insomnia.

I hate the spring. I hate the feeling of it looking like it should be warm but it's not. It's always windy. I feel and look better in winter clothes. I don't suit summer clothes (also pasty) so it's always a struggle trying to find the right clothes to wear that also flatter a little. I have memories of my dad always painting the external door and window frames around this time of the year. They had to be kept open for the paint to dry and the house was always cold so I associate spring with that feeling. And horrible daffodils blowing in the wind.

Like very sad and anxious and even sort of scared and lonely (for no reason).

I often feel like this around spring, have done since I was a teenager.

I enjoy the weather being sunnier and warmer but get awful hayfever and hate when it's really hot and humid.

I always look forward to autumn, it's definitely my favourite time of year.

Dreading this summer in one respect be lovely for arthritis in day time but night time is murder it’s too hot I cook he keeps wanting to hold or touch me no go away please.

Yes, I do for sure. I feel a totally rational hatred of hot weather. I hate that I either burn or am uncomfortable wearing sunblock. I hate the sweaty, clammy suffocating heat. The sun triggers migraines and I feel lethargic as I am always tired in the hot weather because I just can’t sleep in the bright evenings and horrible heat.

Mainly I feel that the sunlight & heat is oppressive and I can’t escape. I feel claustrophobic and trapped. I spend the summer chasing the shade, and draping myself with cold wet towels. It’s not great for the love life either as I can’t stand touching when He and I are clammy (shudder).

I panic that it will stay hot forever, and wish the days away until autumn.

Yes! I've had this since I was in my early teens and it's difficult to talk about because it seems so counterintuitive to most people. Like a pp, I associate warm days and light nights with a sort of FOMO. As if I'm the only one who's not outside having a relaxed boozy barbecue with a huge crowd of friends. I live alone and don't have a garden so I'm used to entertaining myself at home, but it somehow feels less acceptable when it's "nice" outside! It's far easier to sit quietly indoors and do some crafting when it gets dark at 4pm.

I do feel like this too. I dread the clocks changing because that’s when it starts for me. I hadn’t thought about the melatonin side of it.

As an aside, how much amtriptyline? It might help more with your sleep at a higher dose.

Ah, my people, hear hear!

The heat, the brightness, the social expectations to be thrilled with those two things making me physically ill and questioning if I can seriously carry on my plastic-wrapped job each summer. Roll on the cooler weather and darker evenings (says I, before the heat has really started to hit this year).

Yes me, I'm already dreaming of Autumn.

Everyone I know thinks I'm weird for hating the Spring/Summer part of the year. I've been called a misery guts by a few arseholes people too.

By the time I reach August I'm good for nothing. My anxiety is shot to pieces and I feel like I'm being slowly tortured. I literally mark off the days to Autumn and delight in seeing the leaves start to turn. I'm normally OK then until late March.

Since I've started running I'm now really struggling with the loss of my dark 6am runs. I felt safe just me and my thoughts plodding around the local area, but in the light I feel more exposed and definitely more vulnerable.

I'm relieved that I'm not the only one who feels this way. If I was wealthy enough I'd permanently follow the Autumn/Winter seasons as they migrate across the globe.

I feel like this too. I have hypohidrosis, which is an inability to sweat adequately. So I overheat really fast and stay inside as much as possible from 10am onwards. Add in mild photophobia and a tendency to burn easily, and I dread the endless light here in Scotland. For a few days it never gets properly dark. Without the shade from the trees in my garden I'd probably never go out. I'd settle for GMT and ten hours of daylight max.

Aha the melatonin thing explains what I feel.

Yes I have something like this OP, I've noticed it getting worse over the last few years. It's not about heat as I quite like the warm weather and wearing shorts every day.

I wonder if it's because I find life tiring and in the winter it's acceptable to come home, make supper and curl up at the fire for the evening but in the summer that's seen as lazy?

Whatever the cause I find i have zero motivation from June until September and it happens every year.

Me too. Hate the sun and summer.

I’m the same. Good to know it’s not just me. Feels like there is more pressure to be out having fun. Also hate the heat especially in the city.

Yes! Hate the sun, or any bright lights. I'm lucky that I have an excuse to keep my curtains shut because my rescue chihuahua will otherwise bark all day. When it's dark and raining it's like a huge relief.

I know of two people who hate the longer days in spring and long for the darker nights in autumn.

They can't really explain why. I'm just posting so you know you aren't alone in this.

Yes I am happier in the Autumn and Winter and more likely to be depressed in Summer. My mum was ill and died at the end of a very hot summer when I was younger so this may have something to do with it.

@inmyslippers

I get depression during the summer for some reason… i think it goes back to my younger days when I had very little social life and there was the expectation that you should be out all the time having the time of your life in the sun, it just seems to have stuck with me.

^^ same never known anyone else to feel the same

I read that depression is quite common in the summer for that very reason. People feel more isolated and lonely as everyone else is supposedly out having a great time with family and friends in the good weather. Being inside with nothing to do makes the depression worse.

I have just stumbled across this thread and so glad I did. For as long as I can remember I have felt like this and it’s actually a relief to read people who think the same.

Don’t get me wrong I do try to enjoy the summer when I can but I do long for the dark nights coming in as feel much happier. I’ve always jokingly said I have the opposite or SAD but it’s been so true and hearing it described as reverse makes sense to me.

I also relate to hot days and being inside, it brings back memories to long hot summers when I was younger and we couldn’t afford to go abroad like other families.

Yes I feel very low and anxious and like a failure during late spring/ summer. I think like PPs have said it's because I feel isolated and the 'odd one out' for not having loads of friends and 'summer' things like bbq's, beer gardens, holidays etc. I feel like I'm wasting my life or it's all just passing me by. I don't feel this nearly as much in winter. I'm overweight and feel much worse about that during warm weather too

@IAlsoHateSpring

I also hate spring! I love autumn and winter and like summer but I feel the same every spring. Like very sad and anxious and even sort of scared and lonely (for no reason).

It's worse at a certain time of night, like 5/6pm when the sun is starting to set but it's still bright and cold and I can hear the birds. It's hard to explain but it sort of makes my skin crawl.

I've NC'd to reply to this thread as I've mentioned it to a few people in real life (who all think I'm mad!).

I know just what you mean! This is exactly how the light evenings make me feel, sort of on edge. I’m glad I found this thread as I didn’t know other people felt this way and just assumed I was nuts.

I’ve found my people on this thread. I always look forward to September 1st as it seems like summer is over. I love cool dark evenings, long hot summer days have me cowering indoors.

I used to when l was with my ex...everyone else seemed to love summer but l knew it would mean him spending even more time in the out while l was at home alone.

Yes yes! I thought it was just me!

It would appear that this is more common than any of us thought - might even help a bit to remember that next time the anxiety/depression/fomo comes on