Searching for Opinions/Advice
#248208 - 02/23/06 05:14 PM
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hohoyumyum
Reged: 05/28/03
Posts: 2263
Loc: SacTown, CA
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My husband and I moved up near Portland, Oregon in late Ocotber last year. I've noticed since then that I am increasingly fatigued and moody. I can never quite get enough sleep and when I'm not rested, the IBS kicks in. I've also noticed that I'm pretty stressed out and getting kind of depressed. I think what bothers me most is that there is so little sunlight here right now. There was one week of great, sunny weather and I felt wonderful that whole week. My hubby suggested that maybe I have SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). I miss sitting on a warm beach with a good book and a cool bottle of water. Every day I don't see the sun I feel a little worse. It's just to dim here for me. We have family up here and I love my job so I know that the trouble isn't from work or from being far from family. I've seen some great ideas and suggestions from this group. What do you guys think? 
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If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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I have SAD too. Silly acronym, isn't it?? If it were called something more sinister, maybe people would pay attention to it more. 
I get depressed, tired and moody in the dark months. It started for me when I came back from overseas the second week of October. It's like I have NO energy, like someone just turned my switch OFF. 
I did buy a Happy Sunshine Lamp (there's that silly naming convention again!!), and I'm pretty happy with it. I turn it on in the morning and leave it on by my bed most of the day. I get a lot more energy from it as a result, but it doesn't as much improve my mood. It does makes me feel less tired all the time, though.
Here's what it looks like, and a link:
Happy Sunshine Lamp
~nelly~ 
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I have SAD as well, and I seem to go through phases. In December and January I noticed being tired and weepy more often. I got very easily upset and still do. It doesn't help that a lot of things in my life seem to be coming to a head right now...but that's a different story.
Like IBS, SAD is really different from person to person. ME, I find I make myself better by completely immersing myself into a completely dark room for a few hours, listening to some nice music, or just sitting and relaxing, and then going out into the rest of the world doing my best to see how light everything is.
Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. It takes willpower to 'make' yourself happy, and sometimes, as much as I hate to say it, it's soooo not worth the effort.
I think a really important thing to remember is: everyone is allowed a crappy day. If your SAD and IBS are both kicking in...don't try to be happy. Wallow if you really want to. I find that holding all the unhappy SAD feelings inside for too long just makes me feel emotionally heavy. Just one day wallowing in sweats and hating the world leaves me able to wake up the next morning a (mostly) normaly person.
I've babbled enough I think!
I hope this helped, if you can sort advice from babblage.
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My doctors keep recommending it to me. Honestly, I'm a cavewoman from "The Far Side" all winter. I've blacked out my windows with black curtains. I'm in such a cruddy mood that I have no desire to live with natural light beaming in--SERIOUSLY. (This is great for movie/t.v. viewing, etc., however!)
I look like a ghost.
I think "SADness" makes my IBS worse. Who knows. I'm so SAD that I quit smoking just so I wouldn't have to go outside. (10.5 weeks ago--pretty good)
I'm just afraid of how impossible I'll be when/if I'm 52.
Kate.
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It is for me...
#248258 - 02/23/06 07:23 PM
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Nelly
Reged: 08/06/04
Posts: 4381
Loc: Within stray mortar fire of DC
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Yeah, I think of aging a lot. If it's this severe now, are we going to get that far?? Scary.
The lamp! I felt so stooopid when it came to my door. But I plugged it in and swallowed my pride, and you know what? It did make a difference. The biggest effect was that I started cleaning my room-- I actually had the energy to dust all those little things that the bright light picked up. Then at night, as soon as I turned it off, I realized how DARK it was in my room. I fell asleep no problem that night. It was great!
It is kinda hard to remember to turn it on every morning, but the days I use it, I really do feel more energy. I'd only admit I use one here to my IBS friends, tho!! 
There's medical evidence about these lamps boosting seratonin, getting receptors fining and that in turn improving mood and sleep at night. I would try anything once, and if worse comes to worse, hey! It's a amedical deduction!
~nelly~
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I haven't been diagnosed with SAD. I don't know if it is even something you are diagnosed with. It seems like it would be a sort of exclusion diagnosis. I hadn't even heard of it until we moved up here. I've heard about the lamps and was wondering about how they work. I'll check out the link. Thanks. 
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If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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maybe I need one of those happy lamps! I get so depressed every winter. Since childhood actually. I've heard of those lamps but they're expensive and I never seriously considered it. Hmmmm. Dan
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Ladies & gentlemen take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice.
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Okay, now you have me spooked. The comment about the cleaning and the dust...I shudder. It's really creepy, but you cannot see the dust, etc. in the dimness...and I'm so terrible that I have a cleaning lady. Seriously, when I'm SAD...I'm too depressed to sweep, even, so I pay someone else to...do something I could easily do.
Nelly, when I'm SAD, even taking a shower is a monolithic heroic effort. AND YES...I've been "there" this week.
The cleaning lady doesn't clean my bedroom, though. She cleans everywhere else, except IN THE BLACKEST of the hole. And I know...that there's a film of dust.
Does this sound familiar?
Here's something that creeps me out--what would I do if I had enough positive energy? Honestly, I think it's easier for me to be SAD and stay limited, to stay in the dark.
Kate.
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The Dust
#248316 - 02/24/06 08:19 AM
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Nelly
Reged: 08/06/04
Posts: 4381
Loc: Within stray mortar fire of DC
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You're so right. It's so much easier to wallow in the dark! I've forgotten what it's like to have energy, except on the days when I DO have energy where I'm like, "Why was I wasting so much time before??" It's a cycle, no doubt.
I just don't want to sink any deeper, you know? I guess it's like that for some people too, where it's just easy to eat pie every day. But everything has a concequence, and with depression I lose so much TIME. I'm going to wake up and be 35! How the heck did that happen?
The dust mocks me. It's the only witness to my daily failure as a human being. I stare at it and it stares back. I avoid its stern reprimanding stare and pretend I'm far away. Vanquishing dust makes me Superman the next day, when I wake up and see the "clean." Hasn't happened in a while tho.
Showers no longer hold any interest for me. The agony of it is that in the shower, anything is possible. I can plan out my day, feel productive and be in control of my life. Then I'm out, and drying my hair becomes a nightmare that sends me back to bed, exhausted. So not fair.
SAD is isolating. No one understands. Except the dust, which sees me for who I am.
~nelly~ (I must take a shower.)
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I felt like an idiot ordering it. But it really makes a difference when I turn it on. I think it has a guarantee so you can send it back.
~nelly~ Whatever works!
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It's actually sunny with blue skies here today. Makes me feel a lot better. I checked on those lamps. They are mighty expensive. I think I'm just gonna have to move back to the Cali coast. It would probably cost less than the lamp.
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If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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Oh YEAH!
#248469 - 02/24/06 02:25 PM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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Well, Girlfriend, I'm in the same boat as you! When we had our summer place in Florence, Oregon, I thought I'd never seen so much rain -- 99 inches a year! Oy. But then we moved up here! OMG!
I know EXACTLY how you feel. Sometimes I get really down, and then the next morning I wake up to sunshine, and WOW! What a difference! I feel like I could take on the WORLD!
Hubby is SPOT-ON! It's definitely SAD. "A warm beach" -- what's that? You need one of those special lamps for SAD; they're really supposed to work.
The thing that helps me the most, believe it or not, HoHo, is, when I'm down and out, and I know that I am (sometimes we actually don't know it), I force myself to think of all the things in my life that are good, things that so many folks don't have. I know this may sound "polyanna," but it works for me. I pick myself up, go into my sewing room, pull out a pattern and some fabric, and whip up a fun house robe or night shirt, maybe even a wild throw pillow. I've even been known to pull out my plastic canvas and needlepoint yarn, and whip up a tissue box cover.
Above all, it helps to know that sun WILL come eventually -- then we'll have the last laugh on all those smartie-pants who live in the tropics and keep bragging on all their sunshine. I ain't naming names, but if I were, I'd say BARBIE! 
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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I'm in Vancouver and grew up in Portland. I love the sun and definitely feel better when it is sunny out. When it isn't sunny I don't want to leave my sweats...:) I usually go tanning in the winter to get that sunny feeling, but I have to admit, I've been very lax about it this year. Have you tried that?
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Everything in life happens for a reason, patience will eventually tell us what that is......
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California Coast?
#248472 - 02/24/06 02:30 PM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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Uh, Girl, the lack of sunshine has gotten to your brain! Try to think back on all those HOT, HOT days in California that threw off the seratonin levels in your brain, causing cramping in your gut!
NO THANK YOU!
Remember, it could be worse. You could be living in Maine, where they have 5 months of incredibly freezing cold weather, then 7 months of bad weather!
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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FYI, as I'm getting ready to leave work, I notice that we have absolutely NO SUNSHINE!!!!! What's going on here!!!!
I don't understand what happened to my beautiful sunshine....I want it back!! OK, Bevvy, did you take it away...if I remember correctly I heard somewhere that you had sunshine today.....
Smarty Pants Barbie
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how on earth do we deal with little ones and feel so pooped out and just wanting to eat chocolate and sugar?
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Keep on keepin' on...
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I'll I want is sugar, sugar, and more sugar. I know if I stop eating it, I'll stop craving it. But getting to the point where I want to give it up is a problem...:(
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Everything in life happens for a reason, patience will eventually tell us what that is......
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Oh, I love the weather down there! The coast is never too warm for me no matter where I am on it. Inland gets too hot though. I used to live in Sacramento and one year it got up to 115. My husband has an interview down in Santa Clara County (just south of San Francisco for those of you not familiar with it) for a Criminalists position so it actually is possible that we may head back down there. Maine would definately be worse. Thanks.
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If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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Really? I didn't know that. How does that work?
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If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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I've never been tanning in my life. I hadn't even thought of that. Thanks.
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***********************
If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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You can take up to a certain percentage of your income worth of medical expenses off your taxes. The SAD lamp is for medical purposes and can therefore be deducted from your taxes just like doctors' bills, lab expenses, medicine, and transportation to and from labs/offices for appointments. It's a chunk of change if you're getting treated for a chronic illness like fibro, IBS or depression!
~nelly~
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Thanks!
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***********************
If you're not dead, you've still got time.
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No problem! It's tax season and every fraction I get back helps!
~nelly~
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~ Beth
Constipation, pain prodominent,cramps, spasms and bloat!
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Bring it on! She knows I'm tellin' the truth.
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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~~~Lisa~~~
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It is SOOOOOOOOOO therapuetic. It's not so great for your skin but if you put sunscreen on and go into a tanning bed you will still get the benefit of the light and warm feeling! I used to do it when I was younger but I have no time to do it anymore. I miss it though!
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~~~Lisa~~~
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It's so safe in the dark, isn't it? There's something so comforting & secure about it, at least for me. Maybe it's a bit of that "see no evil" syndrome.
I agree with you. When I'm SAD, showering is a heroic effort.
Sometimes, I think, why bother? What's the point.
I think we're worth it, though. Somehow, I always feel better when I wash away the grime, the smell, the dirt.
I don't have enough hair to dry. I know hairloss has made me SADder. Do you think autoimmune is connected to the SADness? I do. Dust fairies abound.
You're right. The dust sees us for who we are. Living in the "mite" have been. And 35 gets closer every day.
Do you ever feel like you're at that age where you cannot get any older in terms of self-concept--just chronologcially , until death separates us from the land of the living?
It would really suck to be an earthbound spirit.
I'm so numb, tonight.
Kate.
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Yes -nt-
#248705 - 02/26/06 08:23 AM
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Bevvy
Reged: 11/04/03
Posts: 5918
Loc: Northwest Washington State
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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Re: The Dust
#248709 - 02/26/06 08:53 AM
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Nelly
Reged: 08/06/04
Posts: 4381
Loc: Within stray mortar fire of DC
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I think I've been the same age since I was 14. Not that I've nad no emotional growth past the age of junior high school, it's just that I figured out my life would be an uphill battle and have been clawing my way through it the same ever since. I haven't changed my self-concept since. I still think it applies; though I remain flexible to change, I think this is what I'm stuck with.
After I posted I took a shower and dusted. I must have dusted and cleaned for an hour before I realized I was conking out and stopped. Today I'm tired but the place is beautiful. Why live with your enemies when you can kick them out?
We're definitely worth it. We just need some more help. I need some help. Going to turn back on my SAD lamp!
~nelly~
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just haven't eked out time or $$ for it this year. but what a dif. i'm also taking Vitamin D, hoping it works. i do noticve when it's gone from my system a few days, i get more blue.
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Keep on keepin' on...
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I think I'm too SAD, still, to order one.
Kate.
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