Seasonal Depression and Weight Gain?

ditsyblond17

I wasn't sure why I was craving carbs and sleeping more until it clicked with me. I have S.A.D. I can't wait to go walking and soak in the Sun rays. BUT, I've gained like 15 pounds. has this happened to anyone else? Is anyone else severely depressed to where it's affecting daily life?

ogmomma2012

Are you taking vitamin D supplements? Also, have you actually gotten a diagnosis or are you self-diagnosing? I have been vitamin D deficient apparently for a while, but it hasn't hurt my weight loss.

Also, look into sun lamps?

ditsyblond17

I've been taking vitamin D supplements for months. Also, I think I may purchase a lamp. Do they really work? Does it work much like sunlight in the way that It generates vitamin D into the body?

ditsyblond17

Scared to go to doctor about it. Last time, they pushed a ton of pills on me, and I'm fairly positive its just the weather. Not a chemical imbalance. I just feel down ALL the time. I've lost interest in everything. I'm up all night And sleep all day. I just can't take much more.

softblondechick

I have the same problem! I want carbs, sleep, and forget going to the gym when the wind chill is below zero!

maroonmango211

I have trouble losing in the winter months and do think my SAD has a lot to do with it. Thankfully because I'm aware of it I try my best to make due. I choose to be meds free and I think in some ways that helps to remove the "fog" that can sometimes add to over eating but I totally understand the carb craving nonsense especially during the darker months or when its cloudy for a few days in a row. I try my best to keep up with my exercise and eat more complex carbs but in the end I do ease up on the deficit and up the total carbs a lot. I've tried to just pull through like normal and it just makes me even more miserable and I tend to bing every week or two feeling like giving up.

There are a lot of supplements to try but I would recommend taking to a doctor first and foremost if you havn't yet. I take extra vit D and zinc during the winter and am considering getting a sun lamp. In the end, SAD or any other emotional/mental complication isn't to blame for weight gain it just can make it harder to keep up with exercise or eating at a deficit/maintenance.

ditsyblond17

Maroon, I think you're right. It's not totally to blame, but I've gone over my calories by about 2,000+ for the last couple days and I feel miserable, but yet....I don't. You know? It's sad. I am anti-social and kind of a b***h right now to my fiance. I feel like just sleeping to keep people from having to deal with me. It's a legit problem. Not just some made up "sadness." a real, weird, bad thoughts kind of depression. I never get like this. EVER. pretty sure it's because I live in butt hole Michigan and we haven't seen Sun for what seems like decades.

thingofstuff

It is a chemical imbalance from the weather because you don't absorb enough vitamin D from the sun because the rays are too weak. Plus there's the whole layering on clothes so no skin is exposed to the elements to avoid freezing to death thing. Oral supplements are one way to get enough vitamin D. My Dr. suggested tanning once a month or so during the Fall/Winter and I take a daily vitamin D pill. I'm sure she meant the specialized hand lamp but I just go to a regular tanning salon because I'm a cheap university student. I think it may be psychosomatic, but I feel amazing after a tan in a high intensity stand up bed. I think this is because tanned bodies just looks so damn much better than pallid flesh. Also, I'm always cold (I always wear nail polish to cover up my purple nail beds) so the warmth helps me feel alive and rejuvenated too. I also usually work or work out before tanning so it feels like a big treat for me when I do go.

As always, talk to your doctor in real life! Our collective life experience is not the same as someone who took almost a decade of schooling to advise you on how to best run your body. Sometimes taking enough pills to knock out a horse seems daunting or unreasonable, but feeling fat and sad is not a rewarding way to live your life either. Good luck!

tomatoey

I know you don't want to take pills, and you don't have to, but it sounds like you need to do something. Do you have access to, for example, a psychologist (they don't prescribe drugs)?


I kind of get how you feel, and it's terrible to wake up in the afternoon and find your day's gone before it started. I don't know, working on the waking up might be a good start?

Some things that might help with turning the sleep part around are
- melatonin (but not the way it's usually used; take like 0.3-0.5 mg about 8 hours after you wake up). this is obviously a pill, though, it's a hormone. taking it this way triggers your brain's "it's darkness" signals
- being really good about keeping things in your place dark about an hour before you go to sleep - no electronics or anything like that. some people wear blue-blocking sunglasses to block out all light
- getting sunlight within the first 30 minutes of waking up, either through a sun lamp or by going outside
- getting some exercise early in the day (walking is good - not a bad idea to go out and get your sunshine at the same time)

But it sounds like you really need some good professional advice.

tomatoey

lots of people whose sleep is screwed up go for carbs, and a lot of them, because they up your serotonin levels. it could be a way of self-medicating

shabaity

It could be worse my doc told me next time I let my my winter sad get out of hand he's giving me vitamin d shots. My solution has been a glass of vitamin d milk and sunlight but I live in the south east.

ogmomma2012

Also, there is nothing wrong with medication if you feel that nothing else works. They have varying levels of Vitamin D dosages, just ask a pharmacist.

ditsyblond17

They have vitamin D shots!!?! Maybe I will call my doctor Monday about it. I guess it can't hurt. I just don't want to go on something to cause more weight gain and more mood problems. I'm not against the idea of antidepressants, they just aren't for me. They don't fix the root cause and actually hard my body even more. That's cool that the lamps actually supply vitamin D. Great idea about the tanning bed. May get a membership at this gym called planet fitness. They have a tanning station there too. If only I felt good enough to go out I went to lunch with my friend today, and it was like pulling teeth for me. Just a few more weeks of this crap.

maxit

The lamps DO help - they need to be 10,000 lux. You can get them on Amazon. Pay attention to the angle/distance from lamp needed (that will help you choose what to get). Much cheaper than medication and fewer adverse side effects, for sure.

Edited - tanning stations are not good for your skin AT ALL.

ditsyblond17

maxit wrote: »

The lamps DO help - they need to be 10,000 lux. You can get them on Amazon. Pay attention to the angle/distance from lamp needed (that will help you choose what to get). Much cheaper than medication and fewer adverse side effects, for sure.

Edited - tanning stations are not good for your skin AT ALL.

Thank you!!! I may buy one. I just figured out what's been causing it. I'm on a New supplement for women called Vitex. Pretty sure it's making me 50 shades of bat Sh** crazy. Lol Stopped it today, hopefully things get better. Thank you, friends.

RodaRose

ditsyblond17 wrote: »

maxit wrote: »

The lamps DO help - they need to be 10,000 lux. You can get them on Amazon. Pay attention to the angle/distance from lamp needed (that will help you choose what to get). Much cheaper than medication and fewer adverse side effects, for sure.

Edited - tanning stations are not good for your skin AT ALL.

Thank you!!! I may buy one. I just figured out what's been causing it. I'm on a New supplement for women called Vitex. Pretty sure it's making me 50 shades of bat Sh** crazy. Lol Stopped it today, hopefully things get better. Thank you, friends.

Good idea to stop it. It interferes with hormones.