2023/24 SAD thread

[Idratherbepaddleboarding]

Hi again, I’m back for another year ☹️. I can’t see that anyone has started a SAD thread yet but today seems to be the day that it’s really kicking in! So here’s another thread to support each other through winter 🥶.

Just to introduce myself, I have regular depression with SAD on top, an eating disorder and ASD (a fun combination).

All are welcome, the only rule is no one is allowed to mention, hygge, snuggling or being cosy!

Hello everyone, sorry no-one is feeling much better. Pleased to have company in my humbugness @MistyTrains2 .
I agree about taking vit d longer term. I've been told I should always take it as it's been low in blood tests (I'm not redheaded, but fair - not heard that theory, sounds interesting). I'm also meant to be taking folic acid due to low levels. I forget both so don't help myself.

I haven't been outside today apart from the school run, and didn't yesterday. I will have to try and make an effort tomorrow.
I haven't been able to exercise recently either. I do think it helps (mood) massively though. I suffer less when I do, especially running outside - but that's not so easy or tempting (and I haven't been able to do for too long).

@EmmaEmerald hope you manage to get your package without having to venture out.

@Idratherbepaddleboarding well done for venturing out in the cold and dark to help out.

I'm also in the north and definitely haven't had 6 months of sun. Think it was 6 days this summer!😂

@OrangeDino thank you - that is my dearest wish right now 😂

it's actually a CBD trial kit that I am hoping will help with sleep, mostly. The first order got lost so been waiting ages.

My plan now is to do a stretching workout in the morning after my coffee - see if it helps. Aiming for an early night as got pretty much nothing done today. Had a ridiculously large dinner.

Now I've got these super bright lamps for the flat, I am much less bothered about whether there's light outside or not. They are really helpful.

Opened bedroom window for an hour yesterday, otherwise I hid in bed with low mood and lack of appetite, finally remembered to eat something around 11pm

Today is a new day

Folic acid, yes yes yes. I tested low for this one year after eating crap for three months. I am going to re-request a test from the GP. Do you take just general strength? I need to check what I was prescribed.

I propose next year for the peri menopausal among us we start the SAD prevention thread with a summary list of all the things we have said help/tried. Happy to try and make this list and circulate for proofing. A bit like the Princessing Thread 🤣 We'll ve Queens of SAD.

Sorry there are so many of us. It is really kicking in isn't it.

I really recommend a full day on the light box. I felt gloomy as fuck on Monday as I hadn't used it as much on the weekend. Had it all Monday and took it to the office Tuesday.

I'm also getting a cold and am due the covid booster (CEV) but worried I will feel like shit. Must book.

I think I am going to switch to swimming too.

Due to collect some methylphenidate for my ADHD this AM. Not had it prescribed since 2020 as it gave me anxiety but it has reached the point of being worth a try again and I begged the GP, I am privately diagnosed so they said OK but if it needs any reviewing again I must go back to the psychiatrist (and pay £240) for a review. So no complaining allowed haha.

Hump Day. We got this ladies. 15 days to the 21st.

I've decided to write down a little improvement plan. I can't face a lot but I figure if I start to take one small step each day I might gradually get into a better place.

I hear you on the weight. I strength trained all summer, then did a cut and got to a really slim weight and body fat where my muscle was popping in September. A good 3lbs of pure fat has gone back on. The cut was so hard and it was not a good time to do it, much better to cut around the warmer months.

I also have a boil under my bra strap. A boil.

@MistyTrains2 why does peri and SAD need a separate thread?

full disclosure- the obsession with peri is really weird to me.

my SAD was much worse when I was younger but I was working long hours too.

my dosage of folic acid is 5mg. It’s very high! But it makes a difference and vit D never did.

I feel better today, took a pill, had 8 hours sleep and will not be stupid enough to venture out today! I’m lucky I don’t need to.

@EmmaEmerald I didn't say it needed a separate thread. I am probably peri either that or my memory is just buggered through lack of sleep hence suggesting that it would be good to summarise some of the strategies on the first post starting the thread.

Off to look up folic acid!

Burst into tears again this afternoon

Partly due to major life fuck up, but winter doesn't help. The sun didn't melt the frost round here.

I'm ravenous as well, which is really bad as I'm so fat already.

@EmmaEmerald I'm sorry to hear that. Feel free to have a rant here. This is what we are here for.

@MistyTrains2 Thank you

I have definitely had worse winters but maybe I've forgotten them?! I think you almost have to think "right, it will be better this time". They're not all this bad, but the cold is a big factor for me.

I do particularly hate Christmas and the run up to it so I have to plough through this worst bit.

I really can't comfort eat though because I am actually bursting out of my fattest clothes!

I'm going to attempt a tidy up before dinner.

Joining this thread. Today has been awful.I’ve always suffered anxiety/health anxiety and bouts of depression in the past. Today it just seems to have hit me from nowhere. I’ve wanted to sit in a ball and cry all day. I have 0 motivation to do anything, everything just feels too big or too much. I can’t focus. I feel so so sad. Iv been in tears throughout the day and now lay crying myself to sleep hoping. Reading this back I sound so pathetic and selfish. So sorry to anyone else feeling like this. I did make myself go out for a little walk and have ate ok but I really just want to sink myself into a bottle of wine or two.

@Cheesecake1989 I totally understand 💐 so sorry you are feeling it too.

we use light for brain function, not just for seeing clearly, if you know what I mean.

i remember I spent one December watching House of Eliot every night, couldn't do anything else after work.

i might do a Downton rewatch. Can't concentrate on new things.

I didn't tidy up at all! Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Same hoping for a better day tomorrow x

I think a reminder for next year would be useful for everyone. My memory is useless! 🙈

@EmmaEmerald I have the opposite problem I suppose, I’ve lost so much weight through the stress of this year, I’m constantly freezing even though I’m wearing extra clothes. I’m trying my best this week to eat more as my husband is constantly worrying about me but the stressors haven’t gone away despite our very best efforts. This year has been the worst of my life 😭.

OP I am really sorry to hear that 💐

In some ways, I think this was the worst year of my life bar 2020, but I think as we get older, things accumulate and it saps our strength.

So on paper, the year doesn't look that bad, but I was already at my coping limit, hence the breakdown.

Can you face having things like soup?

I'm up and about and have eaten breakfast. Have some bills to pay online but even that seems like a big hill to climb.

actually MN is a lifesaver at this time of year as we can talk to each other. One idiotic guy at work kept repeating to me that SAD is "stupid" and "you CAN'T be so affected by it".

edit - I wasn't moaning, it came under general chat because someone brought her lamp in.

Thank you 🥰. I do like home made soup but what I need is high calorie, low density food to try to gain weight quickly. I was brave today and bought a turkey and stuffing sandwich from Aldi for lunch 😂.

Luckily, everyone at my work is very supportive but we deal with mental health issues on a daily basis so everyone is very clued up!

@MistyTrains2 I was prescribed a higher dose of folic acid than you can buy over the counter. I think that's standard if you test low. Should probably go back and be retested but I found a couple of boxes I'd forgotten about so I'd better finishes those first.
Interesting you mention restarting methylphenidate for ADHD, as I have just done the same, although after only about a 6 week break. Unfortunately side effects have been pretty awful and I haven't slept the last few nights. Didn't have this before but started with a gradual increase. Trying to plough through as I'm all over the place at the minute. Plus it does have a positive impact on my mood.

I've also been thinking of an 'improvement' plan for myself. And like the idea of a prep thread next winter. We should start in September!!

@EmmaEmerald and @Idratherbepaddleboarding I'm sorry you have both had such an awful year. I hope you can feel some hope for a better 2024.
My last few years have been tough for a lot of small reasons rather than anything terrible (fortunately) but I feel completely overwhelmed and wring out by it all.

Well done on the turkey sandwich @Idratherbepaddleboarding - very festive!

@EmmaEmerald a Downton rewatch sounds like a good idea. Sometimes it's just what you need. Enough to hold your attention without being too taxing on the brain. I might do the same.

@Cheesecake1989 welcome to the thread. You do not sound pathetic and selfish, just sad and finding life hard. You can't help that. Well done on getting our for a walk instead of drinking lots of wine. It will do you more good (but so much harder to do sometimes).

I'm struggling with tiredness today but have spent some time outside today so feel better for it. I'm lying in bed now though trying to pull myself together to face a busy rest of the day, which I don't want to do.

Oh also @EmmaEmerald ignore the idiot arsehole bloke at work. Some people love to talk about things they have no idea about.

OP, hope you liked the sandwich.

re soup, if you need to add calories, I was wondering if you could cope with a creamy soup? Likewise, pasta sauces. But I know it's really complicated when stress hormones cause loss or gain.

@OrangeDino that was a while back, I'm not working at the moment, I'd be doing really badly if I was. That guy was too thick to shovel!

supplements now up to

St Johns Wort
general multi with iron
folic acid
magnesium

I do generally try and take magnesium for sleep, doesn't work, might not buy again.

thinking to try ginseng.

Thanks, I did enjoy the sandwich, except the bacon which I took out 😂. I do make a good leek and potato soup with cream in, perhaps I’ll have to make it at the weekend 😊.

5-HTP works well for sleep but I can’t take any natural supplements now except vitamins as a lot interacts with Sertraline or could cause too much serotonin. I stick to bananas for extra serotonin!

I have my SAD lamp on permanently.

I am on
Centrum multivitamin - I really rate these actually
Zinc - occasional for focus 15mg
Magnesium Glycinate daily - anxiety
Evening primrose oil - giving it a punt as I was very low with PMT this month
Vitamin D and K2 tablet, same spray, alternate these

To be honest the methylphenidate is saving me at the moment- it helps so much with emotional regulation. The only thing that comes close to it is cardio I.e. running, or lifting heavy weights at the gym.

I do pop the B vitamin or spray as well, but probably won' replace and just stick to Centrum. May not replace Zinc either.

*odd B vitamin