2025/26 SAD thread

[Idstillratherbepaddleboarding]

It’s 1st September tomorrow so we’re back for another year’s SAD thread.

Welcome all old and new who struggles in the cold and dark months for advice and general moaning!

The only rule is no talk of snuggling under blankets, crunching in leaves (which will realistically be a soggy wet mulch, or pumpkin spiced anything!

Advice from previous years’ threads:

A SAD lamp can help as can a daylight alarm clock.
Try to get outdoors when the weather/ light allows it.
Try to keep up with your exercise routine or start a new one!
Remember to take your vitamin D and multi vitamins.
Try to have something to look forward to.

@Fukcedoff finally got an appointment through today… a telephone call between 9am and 5pm on 18th December. You couldn’t make this up!! In the mean ti of course, I’m expected to continue to give 130% (that’s what my caseload is on) at work 🙈🙈.

The rain isn't helping my mood
I have two very difficult dogs ,that will wee and poo inside when it rains .they have 24 hour access to the garden via a pet flap ,but won't go out in the rain .
Before these two I had medium sized dogs ..these two have put me off ever having a dog again,,I really struggle to cope with them
I get anxious when rains as I know what to expect,and anxious on a nice evening because they will bark constantly at any neighbours in their garden,and I'm constantly having to get out of bed in summer lots of time in the night to bring them in to stop the barking.far harder work than my 4 dc

Very small barky ,reactive dogs ,my bigger dogs were so much more chilled

I'm glad you finally have a date
Can you hang on till then ,it's just over a month ,do you feel more settled now you know when you are seeing someone

@Fukcedoff tbh I feel more angry than anything, like I’m supposed to help everyone else with all their problems (at work) but there’s no help for me. By the time I see anyone except my GP it’ll be 3 months since I first reached out to my GP and those are just initial assessments, then it’ll be Christmas so no doubt that’ll delay any next steps. I’ve been referred to occupational help and heard nothing back either so I’m just waiting, waiting, waiting for everything. I feel that I can’t try to address my ED myself as if I gain weight, I won’t be taken seriously and won’t get any actual support. I had thought, well at least I can get some support from the CMHT well I wait for the ED appointment but that’s even later! I feel like telling them where to shove their appointment but I will keep it just in case things are worse by the 18th December and I’d have to go through it all again.

I’m sorry about your dogs, that does sound extremely stressful. I think little dogs are harder work than big dogs!

I’m so low I had to ask a friend to try and get me a GP appointment- no way can I motivate myself to do that. She’ll probably come with me too to make sure I actually go! God love her. And it’s raining.

That doesn't sound good
Are there any charities you could approach in the meantime

@Fukcedoff TBH, I don’t have the energy to try anyone else. I’ve contacted the ED team, the CMHT, occupational health at work and our work “support” service and… nothing. It takes a lot for me to make phone calls because of my autism 🙈. But today has been a good day! I’ve got loads of work done (because I have a deadline and I need a deadline), walked the dog before it started raining and even done an online shop!! I’m so proud of myself just for doing normal things 😂😂. Maybe the increased sertraline is kicking in??

@Bonden well done for reaching out for help! Your friend sounds lovely 🥰.

I'm supposed to be on escitalopan..I think .but every time I try an antidepressant it zombies me ,so what I'm already struggling with is just made worse..I'm waiting for ADHD assessment and hopefully ADHD meds will be a better fit
I think an antidepressant might of helped my sad issues,but I can never get past the first few days

I hope you get some help soon ,l think it's a bit of a lottery area wise as well

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding and anyone else who has tried Sertraline....I'm on my 4th day and I feel absolutely awful. Not sleeping well, I feel exhausted and 'wrong ', nauseous and brain-fogged.

I've googled and some people say that this can happen in the fist week or so but I can't go on like this. Any advice? I'm going to have to call my GP

I just spoke to the Pharmacist who said this is quite common with sertraline. He said to split the tablets, take half a tab for a week and see

@lyingonthebeach it is common to experience some side effects when you start sertraline and sometimes when you increase your dose. Everyone is different. I always feel pants when I start and it takes me a couple of weeks to kind of get use to them, then the side effects start to fade but it can take up to 12 weeks to feel the full benefit. Brain fog, dozy in the day, loss of appetite, nausea and increase in anxiety are what I get. It does pass for most people and if you haven't been on them before, unless you are feeling too bad, I would try to stick with them. 50mg is a typical starting dose but lots of people start at 25 or by breaking their 50s in half for a week or so. I'm on 125mg. It's my third time on them. And I don't know why I ever stop because I end up back on them it seems.....
I hope it passes soon for you. Can you take it easy ish?

Weather is rotten here for the second day in a row and it sucks. I'm on the sofa with the dog.

@Bonden your friend sounds like a keeper. It's taken me a long time to accept help and also be able to ask for help. Well done. Hope you get an appointment soon.

@Idstillratherbepaddleboarding phone calls 🙈 I can do them for work, everything else.... Oh my goodness.... 😝 It's good you have a date now, but yes that's too far away to help you now. Our Occ health can arrange in person counselling for about 10 sessions. Could you try going back to them and explain how you need some help now, not in the future. I hate food. And eating. And the constant meal prep, fussy kids, being a grown up, life... Ha. I was good this morning and I have made a massive tub of overnight oats so I have breakfast sorted for the next few days. DH had to make me some lunch though so I actually would eat. It's all so exhausting.

I have about an hour before I have to get my arse in gear for multiple school runs and the like. Roll on the summer!

@Mrsdiddlydoo thank you😀. That news makes me feel better. I'll persevere for a bit on the half tablets and fingers 🤞.

@lyingonthebeach yes it’s totally normal unfortunately but it does pass! TMI but I also had a lot of nausea and diarrhoea 🤢 for about a week.

@mrsdiddlydoo it turns out my manager forgot to refer me 🙈🙈. It’s done now though so we’ll see.

the usual GP experience … abit like how I imagine a visit to the King would be. You wait for hours, full of anticipation, then it’s all over in a few minutes and you walk outside not knowing quite what happened. sleeping pills. That’s what I’ve been prescribed. Hmmm

also, another reason to hate the winter is cold feet - miserable at any time but in bed is the worst. As I have ND I really hate socks, my electric blanket is “somewhere in the house”, and I can never be bothered to go upstairs and turn it on early when it is on the bed.

winter adds work, effort, to every single thing we do.

@Bonden how disappointing. I know how you feel, I wrote down everything for my GP to read and although she did refer me to the ED clinic, she wrote into my notes that I “sometimes restrict food” or words to that effect. Like, did she not read anything I wrote? That’s probably why o have to wait so long. Also, she didn’t measure my height but wrote on my referral form that I’m 162cm when I’m 164cm which doesn’t sound like a lot but it tipped me from underweight to just into normal weight and she also weighed my with my clothes on which added 2kg 😡.

Sleeping pills don’t sound like they will help (except for sleeping of course)!

I totally agree with winter adding extra effort to everything. You can’t even take the bins out without getting all wrapped up or soaking wet and don’t get me started on cleaning the dog after a walk! I’m the opposite though, I have to have socks on even on the hottest days 😂.

Yeah he wrote “daytime fatigue” instead of appalling intolerable insomnia that’s ruining my life - but your health is I think worse than mine, and what a poor response to the effort you put in to enabling the doc to understand your symptoms in an efficient way - and your height! What nonsense it is some times.
I don’t know how you can walk dogs in this weather - I adored mine but she’s been gone over ten years and knowing myself better now there’s no way I could care for a dog now.
my cats have to pretty much fend for themselves

@Bonden ah yes also I’ve mention that my depression is much worse in winter but she’s completely ignored that other than upping my antidepressants! This is one of the good GPs too as at least she’s empathetic.

I’d love to not walk him but he’s a 6 month old Labrador puppy so that would not go down well! We only managed a short walk yesterday as it was raining heavily all day so I’ll have to make up for it at lunch time.

Me and my dog go out whatever the weather. It's our routine. I use a mobility scooter so I wrap up well when it's cold and she gets a lift home. She's very old and struggling so my heart will break when we can't do this anymore.

We got a good walk (well zoom if you’re a puppy) at lunch time which is just as well as it’s poured down ever since 😭.

Really sorry for everyone struggling, I do feel for you. I wasn't really sure what to say, but I will say after more than two decades of treatment with mental health medications, for me it was the medication that was important. But I know it's a fine line deciding what a tolerable side effect and what isn't.

Meantime, I really really want some sleeping pills - but not enough to deal with the doctor again I suppose.

I don't want to do anything much, and I'm quite happy with that. However, I am conscious that I must appear extremely boring to other people. That might seem minor but as I've had a lot of issues with loneliness etc I do want to seem interesting to the people I know now 😂

So I'm going to say it here. I blatantly lied about what I've done this weekend just gone. I said I've been away for the weekend. I was not. I was sitting in my flat! (And it got me out of caring duties for Mum as well. I don't want another nervous breakdown)

I've been really lucky to meet some lovely local people, but they are all the kind of people who can balance work, running in really shit weather, running a side business, going to every event they want to go to, and looking perfect! Honestly, I do not know how I find these people.

Speaking of side businesses, if I may ask a trivial question ... does anyone know what these Christmas wreath workshops are like? One of the ladies I've met is running a local one and I would really like to support her - she's trialling a sort of craft workshop side business

But I don't want to spend 60 quid and find that I'm a total incompetent and make myself look like a Muppet in front of all these new people.

Sorry that was a very random question, but I know you are all nice so I can ask it here and you will tell me the truth if you think I need to be super crafty to make a success of it. They provide all the stuff and you've only got 90 minutes to make it. Am I basically wrapping things round a circular ring? I might be able to do that. and it will do me good to get out.

I must admit, even I'm looking at next week and going, hmm... I have literally no social interaction in the diary... that's not great is it?

@EmeraldRoulette I wouldn’t worry about making up that you were away, just do what you need to do to get by!

I’ve never done a wreath making workshop but from what I can gather from talking about organising crafty things at our village hall, they’re quite heavily instructed if that makes sense, and a nice, gentle way to spend a few hours. So I would say that would be a really nice way to get out of the house for a bit and something to look forward to. Expensive though!!

@EmeraldRouletteyou sound cool AF to me! I’d love to be able to tell people I was away. And as for being boring … honestly don’t worry so much what other people think. It’s taken me 60+ years to get there but if they don’t pay me, and don’t come out of my body then I don’t dwell on their opinion of me.

It’s been 10 WEEKS since Paddles started this thread.

Ten more will take us past Christmas, past New Year, past the shortest day, and … to my birthday. And ten more after that it’ll be Daffodils and stuff.