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!

We’ve had a lovely weekend - DH went to St Andrews, stayed overnight in a hotel and went for walks along the beach and round the shops (and the weather was fab )

*DH and I - I didn’t pack him off on his own

Just thought I should point out that St John’s Wort interacts with thyroxine .

@SirChenjins I did wonder why you were so pleased with DHs lovely weekend without you

@ShaneTheThird that does sound stressful! Hope you managed to relax.

Packing DH off to St Andrew’s would sound like a lovely weekend to me 😂.

We volunteered to run the bar at our village hall on Friday night during bingo. Bingo isn’t my thing but it was nice to get involved in the community as we only moved here 18 months ago during lockdown.

Yesterday we went out for breakfast and took DS (12) to a skatepark. He’s really good on a skateboard and I’m jealous 😂.

Today the puppy gave us a lot on til 9:50 😵 then we went to test drive an electric car as DH might be getting one for his company car. We got some nice lunch bits from Booths for lunch and DS baked a cake (I just supervised) which turned out brilliantly. I took the puppy for a walk and saw our neighbours so pup had a play. Just chilling now while DS does his mountain of homework.

[quote ShaneTheThird]@SirChenjins I did wonder why you were so pleased with DHs lovely weekend without you [/quote]
At other times when he’s annoying me I might have been

@ShaneTheThird that sounds tough, I hope you get everything sorted

@LadyCatStark that sounds like a fab weekend What breed of puppy do you have?

@LadyCatStark that sounds fab! I think you should take up skateboarding now as a hobby to rival ds

@SirChenjins he’s a black Labrador and he’s turning into a fab dog 🥰.

@ShaneTheThird there’s no way o can keep up with DS’s mad hobbies!

he’s a black Labrador and he’s turning into a fab dog

A black lab puppy you say 🥰. I’ve got a yellow, a black and a chocolate. I’m a sucker for labs ☺️

@CottageOnTheHill awww awesome! One is enough for us at the moment 😂 here is a pic of him looking super smart and grown up!

I hope everyone’s well. It’s been a bit of a crazy weekend here, the hall cupboard door had suddenly started not closing properly and on further inspection the stop cock in cupboard has been leaking a tiny drip at a time. It must have been leaking for some time as the flooring under the wooden flooring has all swollen up! Needless to say the flooring in the hall is now lifted. We need to get a plumber out tomorrow and DH isn’t holding out hope that it can be fixed as the stop cock is ancient 🙄.

@SirChenjins I love St Andrews and the beach there, it’s a beautiful walk.

@ShaneTheThird I often fall down the You Tube rabbit hole. I was watching a Mortician earlier, goodness knows where that video sprung from!

The weather has to turn bad here from tonight, wonderful, here comes winter with gales and driving rain. On a brighter note, the trees on the mountains are starting to change colour and bring a bit of cheeriness with their reds and yellows. They’re beautiful at this time of year.

[quote LadyCatStark]@CottageOnTheHill awww awesome! One is enough for us at the moment 😂 here is a pic of him looking super smart and grown up![/quote]
He’s such a handsome chap. What age is he? Two of ours Skye (chocolate) and Iona (black) are working dogs. Our yellow boy (Blavin) is a pet, he’s very spoiled ha ha. All three are absolutely nuts though.

Joining ready for the darker days! I need a SAD lamp too so any recommendations welcome.

My other coping (ruinously expensive) strategy that made a real difference and I have really missed the last 2 years is a ski holiday in Jan. The fresh air, exercise and bright sun really carried me through the worst patch. Running in the morning makes a huge difference as well.

It look me years to spot the link to my winter blues, I struggled since being a teenager.

I thought I got SAD and maybe I still do it just gets me at a different time. I quite like October and November when it all starts closing in (bear with me, I promise I’m not going to start with all the things @LadyCatStark told us not too!) but come Jan, Feb and Mar I’m terrible. Maybe it’s because it Oct I feel there’s always something to look forward to - Halloween, family birthday and Christmas but in the early part of the year it’s just goes on forever and the light nights and warm weather is such a long way away.

I’m looking at getting a light box but don’t want one with an alarm clock. There’s so many to choose from, how do I know which is a proper light box and not just a scam?

@EnjoyingTheSilence

I thought I got SAD and maybe I still do it just gets me at a different time. I quite like October and November when it all starts closing in (bear with me, I promise I’m not going to start with all the things *@LadyCatStark* told us not too!) but come Jan, Feb and Mar I’m terrible. Maybe it’s because it Oct I feel there’s always something to look forward to - Halloween, family birthday and Christmas but in the early part of the year it’s just goes on forever and the light nights and warm weather is such a long way away.

I’m looking at getting a light box but don’t want one with an alarm clock. There’s so many to choose from, how do I know which is a proper light box and not just a scam?

I am exactly the same. I bought a SAD light a couple of years ago but don’t use it because the light hurts my eyes. It’s far too bright.

@EnjoyingTheSilence
Link 1. Link 2

Look for a lamp that has 10,000 Lumens.

Here’s a couple of links.

@EnjoyingTheSilence it doesn’t properly hit me until after Christmas either, I think it’s because I love Christmas and also because I have enough ‘reserves’ to get me through til then, but I also don’t feel better til the end of April either.

That said, Autumn has hot like a ton of bricks here today. I was almost taken in by the crunchy leaves brigade last week when it was 20 degrees and I was walking the dog across the fields in the hazy evening sunlight but today it’s hammering down and those leaves are sludgy not crunchy! I had to take DS to school as he has a 10 min walk up a hill from his bus stop to school and would have had to spend the day soaking wet. The city was full of drenched children and people walking to work looking throughly miserable and the weather seems to be getting worse!

Oh god yes this morning was depressing.

Thanks for the links, will have a look.

[quote LadyCatStark]@CottageOnTheHill awww awesome! One is enough for us at the moment 😂 here is a pic of him looking super smart and grown up![/quote]
He’s gorgeous!!

I’ve had a look at these light alarm clocks this morning after waking up to rain bouncing off the ground and semi darkness. Anyone got any recommendations? The Lumie ones seem to be around £130 plus, which I can’t really justify. There’s a cheaper one around £40 but a couple of the reviews say that it’s not a gradual light, it’s more like someone switching on a light - which I don’t fancy.

Oh my gosh he is beautiful I love him! Such a smart doggy.

I know what people mean by almost being taken in by the cost brigade. I do it every year. Tell myself winter is awesome new jumpers, scented candles yada yada yada. By December I'm miserable af no matter how much cost shit I buy

@CottageOnTheHill oh me too I'm always going down YouTube wormholes and I have watches 2 different morticians on there lol. The most popular is the goth woman whose name I forget. I've been watching a lot of unsolved mysteries which now I've seen so many I think I'm paranoid about vanishing. .

My good news is that my manager text me to say she's noticed I have been taken down to 24 hours and has asked if I requested that or if the other manager has just done it and asked if I want to keep my 30 hours which was a massive yes! So I might miss a day's work this week but hopefully by next week I get back to normal. (Damn zero hour contracts).

@SirChenjins I used to have one that I got on Groupon for about £20 and it was actually really good, gradually lit up like sunrise and the alarm could be changed to natural sounds. Unfortunately I moved out and my parents took a liking to it and kept it.

*cosy not cost

Can you remember what make it was? I’m looking at this one - but £80 for an alarm clock seems a bit ! www.amazon.co.uk/Lumie-Bodyclock-Spark-100-Wake-up/dp/B07CN5P1RJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?hvlocphy=1007366&hvnetw=g&keywords=lumie+bodyclock+spark+100&hvadid=259094318544&qid=1632740182&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw18WKBhCUARIsAFiW7JyC3YZUip_W0qIouJ3t54KH38QazP93XKROeX3_qSS6FPFmNFDt2TUaAjXNEALw_wcB&hydadcr=3852_1771365&hvdev=m&hvqmt=e&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=kwd-567867428852&adgrpid=56996112161&hvrand=2998462519101346572&sr=8-1

I can't remember sorry it was a few years ago :(

Checking in/saying hi.

I’ve had OCD, depression and PTSD for years now, symptoms flair up badly in the winter.

Noticed it creeping up again the last week or so, just feeling sheer dread for the months ahead. Every year I say I’ll get a sun lamp, I’ll keep up with my exercise, I’ll relax a bit more and cook good food but every year I feel like I fail and it’s really coming to a head this year. I don’t want to go backwards again, I don’t want to go through it again. So this year I’ll definitely keep up with everything I say I will, and maybe try speaking to the GP again (though they’ve never been very understanding in the past!)