Shifting the winter blues – how do you manage it?

I lived in Manchester for 6 years. Love the place.

Well the doc has just prescribed Fluoxetine for me

It’s been a bad couple of months & i crashed (mentally) big time just after New Year. Feel more stable now but hope i don’t have to be on the pills for too long!
More bike time i reckon!

MD Hope it gets better. Mrs North has spent the last 6 ish months on ADs and, with a change to many elements of her lifestyle, and time away from work, they seem to be helping her a lot. I don’t feel at the stage myself – I’ve just got that hanging miserable feeling everyone gets at this time of year.

The ADs will take a while to have an effect – usually people say about 4-6 weeks. You’ll feel unwell at first (they often cause sickness, etc), but if that’s still with you and bad after a couple of weeks, go back to your doc and get him to change them. Mrs North ended up in bed sick for weeks as a result of Seroxat, but has found Citalopram to be fine.

You’ll probably take them longer than you currently anticipate, but go with it. You just need to consider that, when coming off them, it can’t be done suddenly.

If you want more info, a number of people on here have direct experience. Loads were really helpful when I enquired about Mrs North taking them. In fact, I can think of one person specifically who is taking fluoxetine.

Everyone, including me, prescribed exercise to Mrs North and, while she has done a bit, she’s conscious that she hasn’t done as much as she needs to. It’s a counter-cyclical thing – the time you need exercise is the time you least feel like doing it. You have to make yourself.

Hope it all gets better soon (and you’ve done me a favour).

Cheers

Tom

miketually said:

It’s sunlight you need

I refer my honourable friend to the weather in Manchester – it’s never very sunny (even in spite of the big glow coming from Hora’s bum).

hora said:

If you find it difficult to mentally motive yourself to run every lunchtime just pop into HMV, swipe a CD then run out of the door. The Security Guards should give up after a few hundred yards but progressively they will get fitter and fitter as well thus helping to push you further.

Either that or call someone a **** in the Arndale centre every lunchtime.

Quote of the day for me. Bravo!

If you find it difficult to mentally motive yourself to run every lunchtime just pop into HMV, swipe a CD then run out of the door. The Security Guards should give up after a few hundred yards but progressively they will get fitter and fitter as well thus helping to push you further.

😆

Sorry to hear that MD. I was prescribed fluoxetine in about April / May last year. having gone down that route before while at uni, I decided to go for counselling instead and am glad I did so. Not saying there is anything wrong with taking drugs, just that I knew for me it would only be of short term help and that my problems were more caused by issues I needed to get my head around. It’s something to think about anyway.

Wishing you all the best (and sorry for the hijack omitn)

Outside in daylight is good, SAD lights can occasionally be had from Aldi (my daughter has one) if you can get one for home and the office it should help.
Exercise is doing it for me this year one of the upsides of being unemployed. Seek help sooner rather than later and you should avoid any need for anti-depressants.
Good luck

Ta OMITN & mrsflash 🙂

Last week was bad – silly bad. found myself outside B&Q ready to buy a rope, that’s when i knew it was time to see the doc. I’ve always been somewhat down at this time of year but add that to the effects of my personal life going t!ts up & it all got on top of me.
So far the meds haven’t made me ill apart from a little ‘loose bum’ effect on the first day.
So far so good n’all that….

Sandwich – good call. I’ll check that out. Not planning on getting to the point of needing ADs.

Mrs flash – no bother. One big happy (usually) helpful family here, aren’t we?!

MD – I forgot to say. The biggest thing for Mrs North wasn’t taking the drugs, but doing CBT. I know that on similar threads in the past, the likes of Julian Wilson and TandemJeremy have recommended talking therapies, and having seen the results, I would too.

There are all sorts of talking therapies, all of which might broadly be covered under the heading of "counselling", but each of them addresses you and your issues in difering ways. so, Mrs North tried regular counselling (she talked, the counsellor listened), but that didn’t work, because all she did was talk into an apparent void.

Then she tried CBT and found someone she could engage with, someone who forced her to re-evaluate herself, where she was at and how she could approach taking control of and changing her situation. This very much suited what she needed, and has proved succesful. She has started back at work (having ultimately taken around 6 months off), and I reckon only did so because the meds made her feel steady, and the CBT has allowed her to operate normally again. She continues to see her CBT therapist, but isn’t so much receiving CBT anymore as life coaching.

Be aware that you may well need to pay for private treatment, rather than waiting to see people on the NHS – this is due to the often long waiting lists associated with counselling, etc.

Email me if you want to know any more: ourmaninthenorth AT googlemail.com

Cheers

Tom

FYI SRIs often reduce libido and orgasmic capability 🙁
CBT does not have this effect.

SRI’s?
CBT ?

Ride more. Ride harder. Ride faster. Get high on endorphins. Ride even harder. Where’s the problem?

SRI – serotonin re-uptake inhibitors. Most modern anti-depressents fall into this category (well, technically, they’re selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors – they work by prevent the re-absorption of serotonin, meaning that your levels are lifted, making you happier).

CBT – cognitive behavioural therapy.

SFB (simonfbarnes) is right about the effect of SSRIs. However, many people having been close to the brink worry less about this in the short term and more about their overall mental health.

BWD – you’re right. Save where one is too knackered to ride all the time. and most of my riding seems to take place in the dar and/or rain. And getting chucked out the back of a chanigang hardly does much for the old happiness stakes….

Well considering my libido has taken a real kicking anyway because of the ex, i don’t think i’m too bothered about that right now!
I’m going to give MIND a call, apparently they do 6 hrs for free & they have a branch in town.

meaning that your levels are lifted, making you happier

to the limited extent that one CAN be happy without shagging…

I found St. John Wort helps considerably when feeling low and worried, no noticable side effects for me. Was also recently proven to be as effective as synthesised pills IIRC. After a few days on them you start to sleep better and pick up in your mood.

Theres the link: Knew I’d find it somewhere

to the limited extent that one CAN be happy without shagging…

Quite. But you take the point.

Was also recently proven to be as effective as synthesised pills IIRC

ie not very, even the best antidepressants struggle to rise above placebo levels of effectiveness. The main thing is you’re doing something…

sfb – I know not of the actual reasoning behind it but I was first given them without knowing what they are (I trust my missus when she tells me I need something, very open to poisoning I think!) and within a week I was far happier, but I genuinely cannot wake up when I am taking them – they knock me into such a deep sleep I can sleep through multiple alarms. To me thats pretty damned effective. A family member was on proper pills after a rather lengthy and unpleasant (and ongoing) family problem and the difference in her almost overnight was astounding. Be it placebo or not, it turns your life around when you’re feeling that low, which as you say, in turn leads to doing stuff that gets you back into the normal world.

Some people on here have overly simplistic views and are obviously confusing SAD with an off day. However the suggestions of riding more are correct, it’s just hard to leave the house when you feel that bad. I’ve not had a bad run for several winters now and when I do I know to force myself out whatever the weather.
I’ve got a SAD lamp for work which looks just like a normal lamp, my workplace is very badly lit so definately had an effect on me. I also find a dawn alarm works which slowly turns on in the morning to simulate dawn light, so much better than getting woken up suddenly and hitting the snooze button 4 times!

I do a fair bit of riding – currently all on the road – commuting and weekend club rides. Interestingly, my enthusiasm for each is waning, but I know the value of being out there.

Some people on here have overly simplistic views and are obviously confusing SAD with an off day.

Interestingly, this is a more intense version of how I felt for a while last year after spending so much time working like a trojan for no perceived benefit. This feeling is brought on by the dark of winter, the recent redundancy programme at work, the lack of work to do daily…. It’s by no means as bad as Mrs North had it – she had proper burn out – but it is lingering loinger than I’d like. A dark office with no external view doesn’t help.

I’ll look into a SAD lamp and definitely a daylight alarm. The latter might be a real benefit, as I’m struggling to get out of bed until it’s light every day!

I hope you won’t take this as rude, but the thing I learned from CBT is that you have to take control and responsibility for your moods. Life only has meaning through DOING, and every minute you waste in "can’t be bothered" is lost to you forever. This isn’t "Pull yourself together", which isn’t helpful, but rather, there is so much you can do, so much fun to be had, that you owe it to yourself to do it and not languish :o)

Not sure who this is aimed at, SFB.

That aside, I agree entirely with this:

Life only has meaning through DOING, and every minute you waste in "can’t be bothered" is lost to you forever.

It’s how as much as possible of my life is lived. Even when fighting to get out of bed in the morning….

Not sure who this is aimed at, SFB.

it was to you. I suffered from depression on and off for 3 decades, but a few weeks of CBT fixed me 🙂

I’m not convinced it’s depression, at least not in any significant sense.

I’ve seen the benefits of CBT first hand, and so would always consider that.

Right now, it is all about the peculiar combinaiton of winter + cr*pness at work.

Cheers for the advice, though. Much appreciated.

Go skiing! I am tomorrow 😀 😀 😀

Thinking about it, Scotabroad. Thinking about it quite seriously. Even though I haven’t skiid since a school trip in 1988…. I mean, how hard can it be?

😉

I’ve seen the benefits of CBT first hand, and so would always consider that.

well, my mum had SAD too, and CBT helped her a lot 🙂

Well i have to say my ‘troubles’ are more linked to personal problems than SAD – although SAD does have an impact,
I came extremely close to hanging myself last week. No drama meant, that just how close i came to being a ****t.
It’s not an easy thing to admit & i am grateful to my friends for pulling me through this crap.

Think on people.