Seasonal Affective Disorder

Just out of curiosity does anyone on here suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder)? Mr Jane I think has it quite bad this year. So if any fellow members can offer any advice it would be greatly appreciated.

 

You called Shiney?

@jane, I suffer this quiet a lot now in the winter months and have one of those lamps which gives out a bright light which does help.Mine is a Luminar I think it is and got mine a few years ago from Boots

From about the time the clocks alter in October until the sun comes back again in the spring and we have the lighter mornings then that is when is start to suffer.I really struggle to get out of bed in the mornings whereas in the spring/summer I can be up and about as soon as it gets light and the bird start singingOften I can spend the day walking round like I have cotton wool in my head and have no energy to do anything,would just prefere to hibernate if it was possible.

Trouble is once I am up and awake I can't go back to bed so just spend the day in Zombie mode.My eating habits go to pot as well and that is when I want more comfort food.

Does Mr Jane suffer with bone pain at all?I went to see my Dr earlier this year because of bone and joint pain plus feeling exhausted all the time which I thought was because of the SAD and after having blood tests done he told me I had got Lupus so sent me to off the see a Rheumatologist at our hospital who told me I don't have Lupus(despite the blood test saying I did have it).He ran more blood tests and the results came back I have a VitaminD3 defiency due to lack of sunshine so now for the last six months have been on 1x1,000 IU supplements 3x a day as my levels were so low so would reccomend if anyone feels rubbish and has bone pain to get a test done as they reckon us here in the Northern Hemisphere can't get enough sunshine which is important for bone health

 

@Kandy my hubbie has suffered bone pain and felt rubbish for a long time(years) i suggested he could be vitamin D deficient ages ago but as usual he wouldn't believe a word of it anyway after a recent trip to the docs a blood test showed he was deficient and also deficient in calcium. So now has the correct medicine hopefully he will feel better x

 

@maria i started writing out a post on your thread about the pain in your toes could be VitaminD defiency but didn't want to try and tell you what you might have if the foot people said different as I am not medically trained so deleted it

I have said for years I must be dificient in something because I have broken toes three times through stubbing them and even ended up in plaster for a month through breaking a Metatarsal in my foot

My Levels were down to 39 and our nurse said that anyone below 20 is classed as serverly deficient but I am not sure where that puts me and what a normal level is

Evidently we need VitaminD as it helps the Calcium and Phosphrus in bone formation.I used to work a twelve hour day all year round so suspected something was wrong so like your hubby been like it for years.When the bone pain is quiet bad it keeps me awake at night another reason why I can't get up in the mornings and when I told the Consultant I was always exhausted he told me it was due to me being older and he said to pace myself as I can't be expected to do tasks as quickly as I could 35 years ago.

Hope that your hubby starts to feel better soon as it can be a right pain (scuse pun) at times

 

I think that most people suffer with SAD to some degree, they used to call it the Winter "blues" and yes, I find that my mood is definitely lower in the Winter, the only thing that I have found which helps is to find a project of some sort, obviously it has to be something you want to do but which keeps your mind occupied.

 

I can answer this normal level is 50

I was level 15 when i first got sick because i couldn't walk and only went out the house to go doctors so had tablets i was then level 100 from the tablets

I felt no different but its the reason i got into gardening so that i could do it naturally so just started with a few pots by the back door where i could just sit in the sun and look at something nice

 

My mum suffers from it as well and I can remember her sat in front of one of these. I suggested it to Mr Jane sometime ago and he dismissed the idea.

Mr Jane does suffer from some joint problems. His knee and most importantly his back (syatica) really kick off this season. Could I add more vitamin d to his diet to help or is it more of an uptake problem?

 

I've moved this out of the original thread, worthy of a thread of it's own

 

Jane,sorry to hear your hubby suffers as well with Sciatica problems as well.Talking from personal experience,mine only plays up when pressure is put onto my Sciatic nerve,ie when I am driving my car as the drivers seat is a bit too firm for me,plus if I stand in place as in talking to people we meet while out walking then that will start mine off.

For joint pain I have found Devils Claw to be very good but when I get the bone pains quiet bad I have to resort to strong painkillers prescribed by my Dr,but I try not to keep taking all the time them as I don't want to get too dependant on them

As I am not medically trained I can't tell your hubby to add Vitamin D to his diet,because he might not be deficient of it and mine was only discovered at the hospital when a blood test was done for that defiency.As no one has explained to me about what Vitamin D3 does in the body,I have had to do research on the Internet,and have found that if someone takes too high a dosage of the suppliment then that can have an effect on the body as well as too little.

I also found out that as we get older then we can't manufacture VItaminD under the skin like we can when we are younger and also the best part of the body to get the Vitamin through sunlight is on the back as that has a greater surface than say the arms or legs



If your hubby is concerned about anything it might be a good idea for him,if you can persuade him to go and get checked out by his Dr.