SAD and/or Anxiety

tempnam

For the past few years, around this time of year, winter time and the run up to Christmas, I become anxious and down.

Looking back on my childhood / adolescence and remembering certain events I'm sure I've always had some form of anxiety and have had some form of panic attacks during these years (which were never addressed).

More recently, around 7 or 8 years ago I had a full on panic attack while at home with my wife one evening. Again, it was while we were putting up Christmas decorations, so at this time of year. I genuinely believed I was about to die, hyperventilated and almost passed out. At the time, we were expecting our first child and I put it down to being overwhelmed with my life changing (I have never coped well with change). My GP put me on xanax, I practised breathing techniques etc. and I attended councilling for a few months which all helped. I even went and had a full check on my heart with an ecg and a 48hr heart monitor - to be told it was all fine. Being told that was reassuring.

I have always had a very mild underlying sense of anxiety though, and it manifests itself physically sometimes (chest pain, feeling mildly faint and disorientated).

Over the past few years at this time of year it seems to get worse, and I also feel kind of frightened/ hopeless/ down..... just a general horrible feeling. Most of the rest of the year I'm fine. It's from speaking to my wife that she has noticed is usually around this time of year.

So what I'm wondering is, is this common? Is it SAD? but more importantly, are there any recommended techniques to get through this?

I have read that taking Vitamin D can help, so I've just gotten myself some. Last night I listened to a guided meditation which helped me get to sleep. I have started exercising again regularly in the last couple of months...

I don't get enough sleep. I tend to stay up late after everyone has gone to bed, just watching random crap on YouTube.... so that's one thing I need to work on.

Would love to read more about suggestions / tips / thoughts etc.

Thanks in advance!

LLewellen Farquarson

I suffer from SAD as well, and it hits around now.
Vitamin D really helps.
Exercise and watching I get enough sleep help as well.
Keep well.

tempnam

LLewellen Farquarson wrote: »

I suffer from SAD as well, and it hits around now.
Vitamin D really helps.
Exercise and watching I get enough sleep help as well.
Keep well.

Thanks, you too.

How long does it take for the vitamin D to kick in? I only got it today.... Also, are your symptoms similar to mine?

LLewellen Farquarson

Coincidentally, I started taking vitamin D yesterday as well. I think it's the 20mg tablets.

This year hasn't been too bad so far, maybe it's the working from home that suits me or something. There are so many intertwined factors that it is hard to pin down any one thing. And this is personal/anecdotal, I am not a doctor.

I don't get panic attacks, but SAD, for me, takes the form of a mild depression. It can be very specific, in that I can be fine with some stuff, e.g. working on a project, but couldn't be arsed with other stuff, e.g. routine tasks in work. I finally went to the doctor a few years ago as I felt I was there was a possibility of losing my job if it continued.
He diagnosed (mild) depression and put me on a 6 month course of SSIDs. I wan't too happy about taking medication, but did, and it certainly helped. Of course, spring came and the SAD went away anyway.

I started investigating it more, including depression etc. and one thing that really helped was a book called "Feeling Good, the new mood therapy" By David D. Burns. I'd highly recommend it.

Its hard to say when the Vit. D starts to help, as I said, there are a lot of interacting things going on. I know that if I stay up after 12 for a few nights in a row I really start to feel it, so enough sleep is essential for me. Also getting out for a walk every day. Being aware of my moods and certainly talking about them, and communicating with my wife is another aspect. If you have an aware wife, as you seem to have, is a help. Also explaining that if you feel low, it is nothing to do with them, and they don't have to try and fix it, in fact you would prefer if they don't.
And also knowing that moods will pass, so sometimes it is just a matter of sitting and experiencing them while they are there, without judgement.

I'd also recommend an on-line free meditation course
https://palousemindfulness.com/index.html

tempnam

Thank you very much for your insights. I really appreciate it.

SuperRabbit

Mind that high dose Vitamin D (or any other water soluble vitamin) will give you diarrhea but doesn't confer any added benefit . (10 micrograms (400 international units).) The only ones I could find were 200% so I cut them in half!

there's enough evidence that SAD lamps work that they are classified as a medical item and tax free, that was quite the vote of confidence. It needs to be at least 10,000 lux to work. Gosh they were all the rage like 5 years ago you'd see them everywhere, I guess because they are not something you need to replace or upgrade very often the shops didn't have enough customers to justify keeping them on the shelves?

Maplin had an own brand one, and there is Lumie, I'm sure there are lots of brands. You sit in front of it for 10 minutes in the morning, while having breakfast say, and it fully wakes up your body clock. (if anyone reading this has Bi-Polar disorder, the recommendation is to wait till lunch time to use the lamp because otherwise it can cause mania). You don't have to stare into it or anything. But I do like sometimes to sit in front of it and close my eyes and pretend I'm sitting in a summer field somewhere with the sun shining on my face and visualize the whole experience

LLewellen Farquarson

Good idea of combining a SAD lamp with visualisation mindfulness.

I had thought about them, and may add one to my Christmas list.

tempnam

SuperRabbit wrote: »

Mind that high dose Vitamin D (or any other water soluble vitamin) will give you diarrhea but doesn't confer any added benefit . (10 micrograms (400 international units).) The only ones I could find were 200% so I cut them in half!

I had read that taking vitamin supplements is pointless for the most part as there's enough vitamins taken in through the diet.... except for vitamin D? Aren't we Irish deficient in vitamin D?

SuperRabbit

Yeah absolutely, doctors and dieticians all recommend vitamin D at this latitude, even if you are working outside all day, the winter sun doesn't provide enough vitamin D. It's especially important this year because people with vitamin D deficiency have worse outcomes with covid (that does not mean that more is better, once you're not deficient there's no more benefit in having more)

There's only enough vitamins taken in through the diet if your diet is exemplary. For example, are you getting 7 fruit and veg a day? Do you eat a wide variety of fruit and veg or do you have the same go-to ones that you have all the time?
They are reluctant to recommend vitamin tablets to everyone willy-nilly because they'd rather people started eating healthy instead. If you want to see how you're doing there's a free website where you can keep a food diary for a week and see what nutrients you aren't getting enough of: https://cronometer.com/#diary I mean it's not as good as a dietician but it's free. Some processed foods don't have all the nutrients added, probably because most of the users are in the US so US processed food is what gets added. But fruit, veg, pasta, potato, seeds, nuts, meats, fish, etc. that's all there. I turn all the calorie counting parts off in the settings but unfortunately there is one total calorie meter in the left that you can't turn off *sigh*


Don't take my word for it, I'm not a dietician! They do recommend supplementing anything you aren't getting in your diet but they are much better at figuring out what you might need than a website because they know all about interactions and tolerances and stuff