HRT and SAD

[Rock_chick]

Or seasonal affective disorder if you prefer. Now I don't think i'm alone in getting down in the dark months...everyone does, but I've never really felt like I couldn't cope with things just because of the weather. Now yesterday was horrible, we'd had heavy snow on thursday and on friday night it started to rain and melt it all, however due to there being so much of the damn stuff, conditions yesterday were horrendous...basically running water over compacted ice, it didn't stop raining all day either and it was dark as sin all day. i couldn't really leave the house...it was just too risky and i don't particularly want to take a nasty tumble. yesterday i felt the lowest that i've felt for a long time...getting close to "what's the point of it all" kind of thoughts and i hated it, i was finding impossible to accept myself and despite how far i've come in my head i may well have been back at the start.

these feeling rolled on over to this morning and i have to say i wasn't in the greatest of moods...until i got outside in the sunshine. it really made a huge difference, i feel so much more positive today and don't want to just hide and it's got me thinking, could HRT and generally not repressing emotion cause SAD...i mean i've never really felt that way before...well apart from a strong desire to hibernate/migrate during the winter, but surely everyone thinks that don't they?

[rejennyrated]

yes I guess it could - Alison used to get it terribly until we brought one uber bright light. Now when she feels down we wheel out that lamp and sit with it for a couple of hours of an evening. You buy proper lamps fr the purpose, but basically its only a matter of getting a high enough lumen level of approximately the right colour to simulate true sunlight.

[Mrs Erocse]

I am generally a positive natured person. Every month like clockwork I have that really down day or two where I am totally opposite my nature.  The sun does not shine. I may be depressed or angry and cry easily. Or just all over the map. It may just be being female and cycling hormones. I am glad you are feeling better today. Keep your chin up! 

Hugs

Mrs. Erocse

[Audrey]

I can identify with that 100%  Winter always brings me down too!  We have the same crappy weather in MT lately as well.   make sure your getting enough Vit-D as that can make a difference in mood and energy etc.  Also they have full spectrum lights for SAD.  I usually just bask in my grow lights for the same effect.  Hope you get feeling back to yourself soon.  Nothings worse than that feeling of going backwards on the transition timeline, mentally speaking.  Affirmations help to stay out of that negative self talk cycle too.

[erocse]

I don't really get depressed but I don't like gray days as I used to. It's kinda funny. I was raised in the Palm Springs area. I swore I would never live in a place like that, ever again. In fact a couple years ago I move to the central Oregon coast. The reason I moved here was because I love gray rainy days. Most all my life I have been a recluse and when the weather became gray and gloomy it gave me an excuse to stay indoors and not go anywhere. Now my life is very different. I am anything but a recluse. I love to go out everyday.  This is my first winter feeling this way. I can already see that I am going to not like winter as much as I used to. I am trying to make the best of it though. Here we are in December and the moment the sun comes out my wife and I are out for a bike ride. Even though the sun peaks out  long enough to go out, it's still very cold, but do I dress for cold weather? Absolutely not!! I'll be dammed if I am going to work so hard on this body to cover it up with a bulky overcoat. Next week they expect a storm to come ashore. Maybe I will try out my new two piece bathing suit and try to talk Mrs Erocse into going to the beach for a little sun bathing between rain showers.

   All kidding aside, these gray days do get me down more then they used to. I think hrt may make me a bit more sensitive to this. But in the same breath I have to also give hrt credit for giving me my life back and adding much more happiness to it.

  Hugs, Erocse

[Aidan_]

Wait...the remedy for that is...sunlight? Sunlight?! All this time, sunlight?

Looks like I'm going outside for a while, ciao!

[Janet_Girl]

SAD is well known in the PNW.  Fall and Winter are dark, grey and rainy.  I started take 1000UI of Vitamin D3.  It does seem to help when the sun does not shine through the clouds.

[Elsa]

we all have our days where we feel down... sometimes it could be because of the weather sometimes other things..

I know what its like to feel down because of the weather although for me its kinda different .. I cant stand the sun... although mild sun is ok...  where I live its so damn hot (pardon the language) that if you are outside for 10 to 15 minutes you will get a horrible sun burn and boils as a result... and when it rains it can be both a blessing as well as a curse ... example when its too hot ... a slight rain is a welcomed reprieve but when it keeps raining ... and everything gets flooded  .. which happens every year during monsoons ... so often that when you see cars and buses floating in the water .. instead of being shocked/surprised you go 'oh great!... not again!' and then start hoping that the bus doesn't knock out the telephone/electric junction box, that is needed for the net & electricity, while on its way to the ocean ....
and I would love to dance in the snow... sadly it never snows here... (sorry for the long example)

so I guess is it kinda depends on where you live or have grown up...

Do hope the weather improves ... in case it doesn't I'm sure there will be a way for you to have fun!

::hugs::

[Rock_chick]

My g/f gets SAD as well and I met up for coffee this afternoon and told her I thought I had a bit of a SAD day and she pretty much agreed. She was quite as well yesterday, which is unusual, normally she can talk for england. he he.

she has some full spectrum bulbs and she's said I can have one, which i think will help.