2024/25 SAD thread

[Idratherbepaddleboarding]

Link to last year’s thread

Hi again, I thought I’d start a new thread for this season of SAD 😭. It’s definitely starting to feel autumnal here 🥶.

If you’re new this year, please join us for tips to get through winter, chat and general moaning!

I don’t know how all the winter lovers on MN can say that winter is better than this! It’s so much nicer swanning about in summer clothes in the sunshine ☀️.

Has the weather changed for everyone else too? 😭 it’s back to being cold, grey and rainy here and I’ve seriously crashed and burned 😭. Like I literally feel ill.

@Idratherbepaddleboarding I hear you. On Sunday, it was really grey and it rained. I actually had a little cry because it just made me crash.

It’s awful isn’t it! I’ve had a seriously shit day at work today too but my line dancing class has cheered me up tonight!

Dark skies, more rain. 😫. I think it seems even worse after that lovely weather last week. I'm going back into hibernation mode.

The sun’s back out today and suddenly everything is ok again. I was stressed out of my mind on Tuesday and Wednesday and had a bit of a meltdown and work and was all ready to quit. Now it’s all ok again 😂🙈. How do you explain to your manager that it’s just the weather??

We had a gorgeous sunny day today and we spent the day in the garden and I've caught the 🌞. It made up for the crappy weather on Friday. I need more days like this to keep me sane and upbeat.

We’ve been quite lucky, we had a gorgeous day on Sunday which is good as we had a big group of friends round for a BBQ. Yesterday was hideous but today has been unexpectedly lovely and I’m off on AL. I’m feeling good but anxious about going back to work on Thursday as I hate it at the moment 😭.

I'm glad you had sun too @Idratherbepaddleboarding .

Horrid, chilly, grey day today. Cue massive crash 😫

@lyingonthebeach same! And I’m back to work tomorrow. Been feeling anxious and horrible all day 😭.

Wow! The forecast for next week is great! I feel happier just thinking about it 😀. I

After the lovely, sunny week, the gloomy cold today has knocked me for the proverbial six😫. How are you all doing?

I'm struggling. It's very cold and a bit rainy. I've gone back to my electric blanket! Wish I could stay in bed all day, but the cats get me up and then someone always wants something from me, either my mum or my partner. Thursday I've got a free day though and may just stay in bed. The problem is I'll fall asleep and then won't be able to sleep at night.

@imatorturedpoet sending sunny wishes and hope you get some rest

I'm not in a good place right now and totally fed up of it. I changed medication six weeks ago so think it's linked to that. I'm meant to be increasing the dose but it's affected my sleep so I've gone back to the original side, but I've got an appointment with my gp in two weeks to see how I'm getting on with it. Don't know what to tell her.

Fingers crossed 🤞 it gets better for you. The weather forecast is quite good and I find that to be a boost.

I'm assuming everybody's very well and having the same weather as I am

Unfortunately, amid all this lovely sunshine there is bad news. I have gone a bit manic. Like not in a good way. In a way that you would get if you overused a SAD lamp.

So yesterday and today I was feeling really anxious and I couldn't figure it out. Looked back at my calendar and realised I was almost too cheerful when the sunshine started.

On 30th April I made a note because I made such a massive load of progress on a work project. It was like hyper focusing or something. It was like getting three days work done in one day.

Unfortunately, it's now melted into generalised mania and fidgetiness and anxiety and lavk of focus.

On further thinking, I've realised that we must have had a solid month of sunshine in the past at some point - I know this never happened to me then.

But I was always taking medication. since November 2023, I haven't taken anything.

Now I literally need to figure out how to slow down my system. It's bizarre.

That's not a complaint about sunshine by the way! If anyone has any tips, I'd love to hear them.

I will close the curtains at eight. But some of you here will know that sensation that when it's dark grey outside, you know that it's going to be dark grey before you pull the curtain.

I suspect it's going to be a bit like that - my body knows that it's light and at the moment it's having trouble processing how much of it there is.

I don't actually have blackout curtains anywhere except the bedroom. This didn't happen last year, but last year May was horrendous.

i'm also getting hungry really quickly, which is bad because I'm still trying to lose weight. So my mind and my body are processing everything too fast.

@EmeraldRoulette sorry you gave been affected like this. I hope you get it sorted soon.

You are right, last May was depressingly awful. I have loved the last few weeks and felt so much better fir all the bright sun. Today has been grey here and I feel a tangible drop in my spirits- I lack energy and actually feel a bit teary. I hope it brightens soon.

@lyingonthebeach hope you get your sunshine back soon. I do know what you mean about feeling teary. That's always the worst of the dark grey.

Yeah, I can't work out what's going on with me. I did harder exercise at the weekend and that helped. But I didn't have time to do that today. I'm going to try now. But if anyone is familiar with the weird cycles of light and dark and so on, I feel weirdly tired.

I have got a really stressful thing happening next week and I wonder if it's actually something to do with that.

I think one thing that happens to all of us is if there's a big change. So if one day is really bright and the other day is really grey, it's really problematic. Like our brains can't adjust to the change.

I feel so much better in this weather. I’m already worried about the coming winter though, and how it affects my physical and mental health. Depression, exhaustion, flu, pneumonia. I need to leave the uk for the winters but I don’t know how I can realistically or financially do it.

I had this last year, it was awful! For me it was because my Sertraline was too high for summer. I kept it at 50mg this winter and so far I’m fine even though we’ve had more sun than last year! I do sympathise though.

I just don’t want the sun to ever end!!

😭 it's cold, oppressively grey and wet! My spirits are on the (wet and muddy) ground😪

SAD lamp, vitamin D and comfort food are at the ready. It's a shock to the system after the last few weeks! I want to go back to bed.

@lyingonthebeach oh no! It’s still gorgeous here but meant to be horrible at the weekend 😭.

Yes, I can understand that

@Idratherbepaddleboarding thank you for your understanding as well

It sounds mad but having realised what it is I actually ended up closing the curtains at 6pm the last few days. I haven't got blackout curtains in the lounge so quite a lot of light still gets in.

But I have got the sun shining directly on the windows at that time so reducing the light has helped.

I think I'll probably be fine. I just needed more time to get used to it. It's not due to rain until the weekend here so I might find my mood is on the floor if it's dark grey!

How you all? I've loved the sunshine but I have noticed that the shift between sun/grey/sun/grey (like today) really messes withy mood. It's tangible.