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With the dark days of winter coming I'm wondering if anyone else gets it and how do help relieve symptoms.
Do sun lamps help anyone? I've tried antidepressants , they just make me too drugged up.
I don't sleep much in the really dark days and I often wake up with morning anxiety, that goes away as I get my day going.

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I got my daughter a sunlamp alarm clock that mimics the sun rising , gradually gets brighter . She also has a sunlamp in her office she turns on when it starts getting dark before she’s done working . It helps her .

I have the opposite problem , I don’t like the long bright hot days of summer unless I’m on a beach vacation. I have trouble sleeping when the days are so long . I need it dark for a good while before I can fall asleep .
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Thanks way, I get summer SAD to but when I get to much sun. This year we got rid of are pool and I realized that I had much less summer anxiety.

So seems my body needs a balance.

I bought a cheap on last year. It's small , figured I'd turn it on when I read, but it's bright and hurts my eyes. And I'm usually pretty bundled up in the winter, so I'm like how much is this really helping.

I am going to get a better one, there are so many, choices.
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I see these things advertised and wondered. Now they are talking green light?
My daughter, who used to have bad clinical depression (better post menopause) lives in Pacific NW and has same thing. She LIVES to see sun and they have had lots more the last several years (only thing good to say about our globe warming up). She hasn't really tried lights. Let me know if you find something that works!
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I once thought 5-HTP was helpful but the second year I tried it all I could find were timed release capsules and they made things worse. .. might be worth considering though.
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Cwillie, Anything is worth trying. Thanks

so anyways I new my neighbor had a lamp, so I asked him if they help. Well he had 2 that the VA gave him for free, so he brought it over. I'm sure it's a good lamp to. So I'll let ya all know.

And if anyone has any thoughts or things that helped them get through the dark days of winter. I'll try anything. Well almost anything.
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Ironically, the worst can be when the days start to get longer again, especially in Feb. I guess it can be a combo of holidays being over, Football season being over (for those who follow it), and just a general blase feeling.
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@waytomisery

Those days can lead to days of dark clouds and the possible arrival of thunderstorms.
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I think the Scandinavians use lamps for SAD effects?

My neighbour & I discussed this disorder years back. She had symptoms for many years before being taken seriously & dx I think. I am self-dx. She was told to take Vitamin D & eat Omega 3 rich foods. Ate many tins of sardines LOL.

I don't know if placebo effect or real, but Vitamin D capsules do seem to help me. I try to eat fish 1-2 times per week too.

I often feel depressive symptoms start (moody or low mood, sluggish, loss of interest in going out) when the days get shorter & the sky greys or has pale watery sunshine - my guess is my body needs to absorb more Vitamin D that I get in winter. I do get outside all year round but am so rugged up in scarf, gloves, hat etc the sun cannot see me!

Being in the southern hemisphere, we have just started 'summertime' & the clocks have been pushed forward an hour. So it is dark again in the mornings (hard to get up) but it was wonderful to sit out in the sunshine this afternoon.

Nacy, just pop down to Australia in October mate!
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Thanks Beatty, I have started increasing vitamin D , sardines, no thank you 😆, but omega 3 supplements is a great idea!

Last winter was an easier winter, I was able to get out more and walk. Unless global warming keeps up walking through winter is not easy.
And like you said, your so bundle up what good is it doing. If the air hurts to breath in I don't walk, and walking on the snowy or ice side walks is dangerous.

So this year I'll start with the sun lamp, omega 3 supplements, and my usual vitamin D and getting out as much as the weather permits. I'll let ya all know how it goes.
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