I am 59 years old and for the past three winters I get so depressed. I hate the snow, I hate the cold, and I feel like I want to disappear to a warm climate. I am on Effexor for the past year and it definitely changed my life. In the Spring, Summer and Fall I am a bundle of energy, happy and bubbly, but come November, thinking about Christmas, which used to be THE most important time for me, with all the family, the past 3 years, I have to force myself to shop, prepare the meal and I can't wait till everyone is gone and I'm back by myself. That's terrible, I know, and I hate it. My doctor says I have to stay active. Easy to say. I told him, unless you've been there yourself, you cannot tell me what it's all about. I have purchased a light, and sit by it every morning in the winter. The days are so short, and it seems there is never much light.
I feel you when someone especially the doc says"stay active". It drives me crazy! I have a question about the light, does it work? I live in MN a cold and long winter ahead. I have Bipolar and the season change is so hard on me, even the warm seasons. Now at night I turn all my lights on in the house until I go to bed, other wise I get anxious and real sad. Thats why I was wondering about the light.
I have the same problem pretty much, Im trying to cut back with the pills though(Im tired of relying on them when sometimes they can be more trouble then they are worth)
I used to have similar problems . . . the minute the sky changed and it started to look like Fall, I would start to curl up into a ball and recede into the furniture. I was taking St. John's Wort for depression for awhile, and I can't say it did much for depression, but I totally forgot all about my SADD issues. Seasons would come and go and I wouldn't even notice them. Why don't you talk to your doctor and see if there is a medication that might help?
Do you know about light therapy for SADD...the treatment used for people that have your condition. Do your research on Light Therapy and then get yourself a small lamp with the full spectrum lights(each company has a different name for them) and all you have to do is sit in front of the light for like 20 min. a day. It use to be that SADD patients had to go to clinics and outpatient treatment centers just to get the light therapy(cost a fortune)but the public got smart and realized these lights were not something special so the price has come down a LOT. The lights are sold anywhere. They used to be very expensive only because someone along the way discovered this particular light was like sunshine and of course anything that has to do with medical goes up in price. We put the full spectrum florescent lights all over our house to see if it would make any difference in our general attitude during the winter but we are not bothered by SADD so we couldn't tell if it made a diff. But then you are suppose to sit like 12inches from the light source. The only adverse reaction to the light is that it makes some people agitated. Good luck this winter.
