SAD/ feeling low in winter support thread

[LadyCatStark]

Hi all, after reading some unhelpful comments on another thread where someone is struggling, I wondered if anyone would like to join me in a SAD support thread for anyone who is feeling low now that winter is coming, whether you have a SAD diagnosis or not.

Disclaimer: I know anyone can post anything they like on a public forum but please, out of respect for those of us who are really struggling, don’t come on this thread to tell us how much you love winter, hygge, snuggling, hot chocolate or twinkly lights or tell us that we’ll feel better if only we change our mindset.

Please feel free to share your feelings, good or bad, tell us about your day or share tips for things that help (or don’t). Hopefully we can all help each other get through this winter!

Yes I like the chatter of everyone's day too.

I am currently awaiting investigation for my knee. The pain has such an impact on my mood.

It's grey and depressing here too.

Sorry you missed out on your promotion @ShaneTheThird, hopefully it won’t be long til it’s your turn!

Here’s a pic of our sunshine to hopefully cheer up those who’ve had a grey day.

Oh wow. That is fabulous.

My knee is likely to be inflamed meniscus so rest and anti inflammatory meds should reduce pain over the next few weeks

I'm going to try and do very slow dog walks during the day so I'm out of the house. The family can walk the dogs but I think it will actually be so bad for my mental health I'd rather take longer to heal.

Hope your knee heals very soon! Is there anything like a knee strap that might help the pressure of walking on it?

@ShaneTheThird

Hope your knee heals very soon! Is there anything like a knee strap that might help the pressure of walking on it?

I have tried a few different braces/taping but none make a huge difference.

I'm now sitting with feet up watching the sopranos from the beginning.

I love it and I thought it would be good to rewatch whilst I'm immobile

How’s everyone’s Sunday been? DS’s Remembrance Day parade was lovely, it was a beautiful day for it. Our poor puppy hated the noise of the band though.

Does anyone else get randomly angry about the household jobs that need doing over and over and over again? I tidied the kitchen after tea last night but it was messy again by breakfast and I didn’t have time to tidy it again before we went out. So as soon as we got back I had to tidy it again after DS and DH had lunch and by tea time it was messy again! How?? There’s only 3 of us in the house! It’s the same with washing. How do we wear so many clothes??

Ah glad D's had a good parade!
Today was insanely busy here. I'm in Liverpool so we have had the shock of the women's hospital explosion and the terror arrests. Everyone's going to be on edge here now. Work was absolutely rammed full of people, queues everywhere all day. I'm in again early so have to try and get so much work done when I get in I'm dreading it.

How's everyone else? Oh the bloody Christmas music has started here already

@ShaneTheThird I am just catching up with the women's hospital news.

I'm in Liverpool this week with dd (hopefully) at uni open day (dd is being quite tricky and had quite a meltdown today)

@stilldumdedumming bless her that sounds hard. Which uni are you looking at? I went to ljmu and found Liverpool a pretty nice city for students so I stayed lol

LJMU! For primary teaching. Which is what she's really good at. She's done loads of voluntary work in schools. But she's lost her way with her A levels a bit this term with changes at school and her dad not having a house. She'd do well to get in there but her predicted grades are plenty enough. I'm hoping it will inspire her.

@ShaneTheThird I'm open to recommendations. We're actually there the day before as well. She's 17 and as an idea I have googled most Instagrammable places in Liverpool!! She's so different to me. We're staying at the Albert docks. She will not be into any music related stuff tho - that's her brother's thing. Anywhere to eat. Was thinking of almost famous or similar.

There seems to be so little news about it @ShaneTheThird. I wonder if there’s a bit of a media blackout due to the ongoing investigation or it’s because it’s not in London?

I hope it's not too late to join in! I came across this thread (brilliant idea) this morning & immediately felt I'd found my people! Only read the first 5 pages so far and already feel inspired to get some daylight bulbs and some YakTrax (I find walking daily very helps me but I had an eye operation last month and the thought of slipping is particularly scary this year- sounds like they could be my answer) . I have a SAD box but I've been wary of using it due to eye issue but I feel ready to give that a try again so will dig it out today.

I always find the Winter difficult - last year it was worse because of lockdown. Also 2021 has been challenging throughout as my son had a serious breakdown in the Summer and was in hospital for a month - much improved now thank goodness - and just as I was about to have a much needed week away in the sun I got a detached retina.

I've been living a "groundhog day existence" ( as someone called it earlier in the thread ) for much of this year already between coping and recovering, and I'm finding it hard to work out how I could possibly change that now we're into Winter. This thread gives me hope...

@stilldumdedumming I've heard almost famous is good but a bit loud music wise whilst your eating. There's actually loads of good restaurants around the docks and in the city centre, I like smugglers cove on the docks to eat or bold street is full of amazing places to eat all kinds from Italian, Lebanese, Greek, American and everything in between! Maggie Mays on bold street is a quaint traditional little cafe that's weirdly popular with American tourists!

@LadyCatStark yes I'm from London and have said the police are being ridiculous here, it happened at 10.59am and they didn't tell anyone to not panic or spread rumours until 10.12pm. that's shocking on their part at not causing panic. They also have made 3 arrests under the terror act and keep saying they are open minded they also linked an update from greater Manchester police instead of issuing their own update. Treating people like idiots here really.

@VeryNiceWoman welcome! Hope you are well today.

@ShaneTheThird we are literally staying right by smugglers cove. Looks great thank you. This is presuming we make it there!

I have just done a bit of potting in the garden. I have realised I get really down on myself for not making the most of the light in these months.

I had my first taste of freedom out of quarantine and managed a walk to the pharmacy to get some cocodomal for the 3 day headache I've got. It was really nice walking. I'm still very tired out from Covid and have fit note for the rest of the week although I am hoping to return to work before then.

DH is still very poorly and I am feeling anxious about how slow his progress is. He's self employed and although he has a company partner he's always been a workaholic so this is just not like him. I keep getting messages from his mum and dad wondering how we all are and I'm struggling to be upbeat at the minute with them. DH and I are tetchy with each other too. I'm still on the airbed in the office as well so I'm wondering at what point I'll be able to return to bed. It's a mixture of worrying about him and feeling sorry for myself.

I can reflect on today and say I've made a bit of progress on getting out. My vitamin routine has gone to pot.

It sounds like you’ve both had a difficult time of it @Ulysses, I bet it was nice to get out!

I went to Sainsburys after picking DS up from school and it was bloody dark by the time I got out! It feels like we only get half a day now 😡.

DH has ended up in hospital. He’s needing oxygen and his chest infection is still there so more antibiotics. He’s managed to text me so I’m taking that as a good sign. I spoke to a nurse too and he’s stable but might need to go on a CPAP machine.

I’m feeling better hearing from him directly. I’m hoping that I sleep okay. My head and limbs are aching along with the stress of all the worrying.

Oh God! Hope he recovers quickly @Ulysses 🥰.

@Ulysses hope he makes a quick recovery! Definitely make sure you look after yourself as well as hard as that is

@Ulysses I'm so sorry your dh is suffering. I wonder if they're giving antibiotics by IV that should help him pretty quickly. I hope you can rest a little too.

Thanks all. Yes sis in law thought that too about antibiotics. I will phone ward today after 10 after docs rounds. I didn’t hear any more from him but hopefully that’s cause he was sleeping.

I took me ages to get to sleep then I woke up at five. In bed with a cup of coffee. I need to get some shopping in, for lunch stuff for DD at some point today. All the mundane stuff. It’s DD16 parents night as well. They will be done by video but it’s a thought.

Hope your DH is feeling a bit better today @Ulysses.

I feel bad for complaining when people are having real problems on this thread but these dark nights are horrible. I can’t even take the bins out without it being a big palava!

Fwiw I’m enjoying hearing all the other stuff too and I feel that I’m now hijacking thread away from its proper purpose as a bit of collective therapy in enduring winter. Hopefully I can join in with the winter woes sometime soon. It’s nice to have the support and I hope to reciprocate it too.

Anyway, I saw DH today and have to say he genuinely looked awful, worse than when he went in. Fortunately though, docs seem happy with his progress and when I spoke to nurse tonight he they were hoping to wean him off oxygen over the next couple of days so it’s good to get some kind of timeframe.

Oh that will be fantastic for him. Hope all goes quickly for him and he's out in no time, it really is scary especially if you can't talk to them all the time.