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Seasonal Affective Disorder

Old 01-26-2018, 04:32 PM
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Seasonal Affective Disorder

Does anyone suffer from this? If so, how do you cope? Last January, my son was on probation and was clean. He was in a job he didn't like that was stressful. When he started having anxiety and crying spells before work, we just figured it was the stress of the sales job. He left that job at the end of February. Started his new job and excelled through training the next 10 months. Now here he is in January again and is suffering from the anxiety and crying episodes. His work has mandatory overtime for the month so that is working on him as well. He is back into smoking marijuana and drinking. I told him that it could be that but he said last Jan. he had the same thing and was clean. Not sure what but I am worried about him. He sounds terrible. Told him to go outside for lunch, walk when he gets home but its is dark. Suggested talking to a doctor ...
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Old 01-26-2018, 05:08 PM
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Vitamin D helped me.

But the alcohol and pot aren't doing him any favors, obviously.
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Old 01-27-2018, 04:09 PM
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Definitely think that the doc visit would help. My run of SAD was when I lived in the Seattle area and the long, grey drizzly winters really got me down. I've heard a number of potential remedies such as lightboxes (or the like), exercise, meditation and some supplementation like biminiblue mentioned. If it's causing him to self-medicate I think the doc appt is essential.


Hope this helps...
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Old 01-27-2018, 06:48 PM
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Vitamin D supplements are a good thing in the winter months, but it sounds like he may need more. Seeing a therapist would be a great idea, but you can't force anything onto them.
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Old 01-27-2018, 08:57 PM
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If he's depressed, alcohol is the LAST thing he needs.
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Old 02-01-2018, 11:08 PM
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Hi, I suffer with SAD disorder aswell, so I do understand how you feel, I live in Scotland so through the autum/winter day light and most definitely sunshine is minimal. About three years ago I bought myself a SAD lamp, so from the month of October through to February /March I have my lamp on, i have mine in my living room, and I keep it on for as long as I can really.
It is quite bright so best not to look directly into it. It might be worth giving it a try, it certainly works for me
As also mentioned a good multi vitamin and some relaxing therapy will work wonders!
Hope that helps. X
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Old 02-22-2018, 11:04 PM
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Here's help

They make these things called happy lights. The are a light box for when the sun doesn't come out much. They sell them on ebay, online, and at bed, bath and beyond
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Old 02-23-2018, 12:43 AM
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I have a light box, it really picks me up when the days have been grey for weeks on end. The vitamin D deficiency thing. My sister had that, but the doctor found out that her body wasn't absorbing it right. So she has to be on really high doses from the doctor for enough to get through.
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Old 05-14-2018, 03:42 AM
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Well, it is mid-May when SADS diminishes. I hope somebody even sees this!

I did some anecdotal studies on SADS of my own and there seems to be two types. One type is why the acronym "Seasonal Affective Disorder" was chosen - SADS for feeling sad. The other is being just plain sleepy and not being able to get going in the morning and then falling asleep early, plus having an enormous insatiable appetite for fats and sweets from October to April. With that goes a spike in sex drive in August at harvest time. I have the just plain sleepy type SADS, which I call SAM for Seasonal Adaptive Metabolism - I am NEVER, EVER SAD! I just can't wake up.

I live in the U.S. and I found a lot of problems getting physicians to understand how real and severe it can be for us Scandinavians and other far-northern Europeans. I also knew quite a few Japanese-Americans when I was a kid and they also complained of SADS-like problems more-so than most Caucasians. When I go see a new doctor and fill out the intake forms, I put "other" for race or ethnicity and list Scandinavian because I firmly believe our differences are enough that we should not be lumped in with Sicilians when it comes to general health considerations, including lighting requirements in wintertime. Anyway, SADS and SAM (for Seasonal Adaptable Metabolism) can both be controlled quite effectively with alcohol. That is how I controlled it, among many other problems, for 25 years, and how other Scandinavians have done it for thousands of years. Too bad it has such unthinkably horrible side effects that go with the cure! I discovered that sleeping with my bedroom brightly lighted all year just about cured me (not of being a drunk, just SADS) - thank goodness for low wattage L.E.D. lights that help keep my light bill tolerable! If anyone sleeps in your room and doesn't like the lights on, I don't know what to tell you to do, there is no compromise. That is like trying to find a compromise on whether to be dead or alive, there is no in between.

I hope a solution can be found for your son, I was a professional but functional drunk for 25 years. I quit drinking when I found out and cured the several problems that I was using alcohol to self-medicate for. I quit when I found what my problems were and then found competent help to get them solved. The operative words here are "I FOUND". "You can lead a drunk from drink, but you can't make'm think". No one but the alcoholic him/herself can do that, and the desire has to be there to take on that task and work at it diligently. I wish it were that way for others, there are a bazillion kinds of drunks, it is not one-size-fits-all condition. The only thing that is one-size-fits-all about alcoholism is the inevitable six foot deep hole or celedon-green urn on the fireplace mantle.
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