Anyone Who Experiences S.A.D. and Moved to a Warmer Climate?

I suffer from this, too. I lived in Michigan and Ohio until last year. I moved to NC and I am a new person. The difference for me was more than significant, it was life altering. I have great empathy for you as I felt the exact some way and it seemed to get worse every year.

Get the light. Get out every day no matter what. Does t do much for me either, but I make it a point to get out!!!!thats half the battle.

I lived in Fairbanks 8 years and Juneau 7 years. Juneau is farther south but bc it is rainforest you don't see the sun much in the winter. Anyway, yes, I experienced SAD every year. The doctors there will prescribe tanning salons and all spectrum lights and exercise. I combated it by meeting a girlfriend at the gym. We would run 3 miles and work out with weights. Then we would go to the tanning salon for 10 minutes. I hate tanning salons and did NOT want to get tan. Just 10 minutes...max. At their lowest setting or however it works. Then we would go get fancy coffee drinks at the coffee shop. It worked wonders! I replaced all the lightbulbs in my office with all spectrum lights. I also made sure I got outside when it was "light" - ok, dusky - every day to run, xcountry-ski, dog walk, etc. Every day. Getting exercise REALLY really really helped. Try my first suggestion of the workout, tanning salon, and coffee. It helps a lot. Go do this 2ce a month.

my mom used a lamp for a while, it was for SAd, she has other depression issues too though so I can't say for sure what helped or not. but it might be worth a try.

My friend thought she suffered from seasonal depression. She was sure of it once she moved to Florida and her symptoms improved greatly.

Get a SAD lamp and start taking Vit D every day, this can help a lot.

Have you tried a sun box?

http://sunbox.com/

I do not like the cold either. I do find that I think about it more and it depresses me more and more !

I did have my vitamin D checked a couple of yrs ago...and it was low and the dr put me on the right dosage after the blood test.

I am getting a light box this winter.

I went to S Florida in January last year and swam in the salt water pool and felt like a million dollars.

We are not going anywhere this winter, so I will have to weather the storms in January and February !

All of my friends who have moved south (after college) said that they would never move back to the severe winters. My friends in N. Georgia absolutely love it there. My friends in FL say that the summers are brutal, but, the winters are mild...and they love it.

Check your Vitamin D levels! It's an easy test at the doctors and they might prescribe a mega dose to bring you out of the "depressive" range. And ask about SAD lights. They really work for many many people.

My good friend in high school's mother suffered from SAD. I think this was before the light boxes. They eventually moved from the NE to Nevada and it greatly helped her. However, it's not the warmth that SAD sufferers need, it's the actual sunshine. So moving to Florida might not work, but New Mexico, Arizona or Nevada might help.

Have you had your vitamin levels checked? I'm not at all dismissing the fact that you may experience SAD in the least. I'm only asking due to the fact that where I live many people are vitamin D and/or iron deficient which can contribute to depression. I realize that is NOT the only cause of SAD nor depression but I figure it's always worth it to have yourself fully checked out.

I've actually had it happen in reverse in that I lived in sunny climates most of my life and now for the past 10 years I've lived in a not so sunny climate. It gets downright depressing here for a few months out of the year too.

I wish you the best.

Hi D.,

I too, live in Ohio, just a little north of you. I moved here from the Virgin Islands, so I know it can be very difficult to live here with these grey skies, especially in the Miami Valley. I was diagnosed with S.A.D. by my doctor, who was then able to do some things to help alleviate the symptoms. I was given a prescription for a U.V. light, not the same kind as in tanning booths, so it doesn't harm my skin, and some medications and vitamins to help. Unfortunately, S.A.D. is very common here in Ohio because of our climate and lack of real sun exposure in the winter. I am very active outdoors during the summer so when the fall hits and I can't be outside as much, it hits me extra hard, so I joined a gym and continue my workouts inside year-round, which has helped more than anything! My gym has a pool and is nice and warm both in the water and air temp, so I swim year round too, which seems to make the winter go by that much quicker.

Please tell your doctor about your symptoms and see if he/she can help you too. There are only some things we can control in life and sometimes, moving isn't an option. So with a little help, I was able to "bloom where I was planted." Some of my friends tease me that I'm the "Hibiscus flower in a hot-house" because you have to move the tropical flower inside, under the right UV light in order to stay alive during the winter. That would be me in Ohio. Hopefully you will have relief soon and that you will be able to enjoy life, no matter what climate you are in. Sometimes I have to consciously wake-up and decide to act happy on a gloomy day, even if I don't feel like it. By the way, let your husband open the blinds and get as much natural light inside as possible, even if it is through the clouds. That natural light is what we S.A.D. sufferers need the most! Good luck!

Hi D.! I saw your SWH and want to comment on the Vitamin D subject. Make sure you are getting Vitamin D3 and that the brand you choose states D3 specifically. It makes all the difference!

I highly recommend getting your D levels tested as you may need a much higher dose than what is recommended on the bottle. Your health care professional can help you decide dosing!

I second the Vit D. I also had a friends son who went to Iceland. They had those light boxes everywhere.
I do live in Sunny Texas. Still, I can tell the day my light changes in the kitchen.
It makes me stop in my tracks.

I didn't move because of it, but yes I think I had it. I lived in the Pacific NW for years (Oregon and Washington). I was never diagnosed, but suspected I had it. Sure enough, when I moved to Southern CA my lethargic and low winter moods disappeared.

One thing that helped was exercise. But you have to really power past your lethargy, and force yourself to do it. I ran, and for the most part did this outdoors.

I take Vitamin D all winter and it works wonders!

i hear ya!
moving to a home with great southern exposure has been a life-saver. even in short gray winter days i get enough natural light that i don't sink into the sad/angry/blue place. i also spend most of the winter sitting in front of a real fire, which has the same sort of mood-lifting effect.
moving could surely help, but if you move to a sunny place with a primarily northern exposure you might be surprised at how little good it does. conversely, if you like the other aspects about where you live, putting in some big honkin' windows and sliders where they'll catch the most light might be all you need.
have you tried the SAD light? my little mumsie used it during all the years they lived in a big, dark house and she suffered every winter. it didn't totally fix the problem but with medication it did help.
khairete
S.

Yep ... moved from Columbus, Ohio to Anaheim, CA ... winter blacks went bye bye. It was AWESOME :)

One thing my doctor DID tell me to do ... go to a tanning bed once or twice a week for a very short time period ... not to tan ... just to get that "light". Trick my body into thinking it was getting the light I needed.

I definitely second the get outside every day possible ... even for just a short time period ... it definitely helps.

Oh yes. I grew up on Portland, OR and I am no stranger to "the gray". I used to get so run-down and depressed (I also had a fairly stressful childhood, so that definitely played a part) that by the end of winter I just had no energy for anything. I lived in Portland my entire childhood, so I didn't know any different.

When I was 19, I moved to Los Angeles for college. It wasn't until my first winter there that I realized that I no longer got the blues. All that sunshine really made a difference to me. I am now living in the Midwest. Winters are brutal out here. I try to make my family take a trip to a warm climate in the winter months to break up the winter season and get a little sunshine. We can't afford that every year, but I spend as much time out in any sunshine during the winter months that I can. Good luck to you! I definitely can relate!

I can't answer your question, but I do want to recommend to you that you take Vitamin D supplements. Most people are deficient in Vitamin D. My doctor told me this and I take 1000 mgs per day. For you, I'd take 2000 mgs. I HIGHLY recommend Puritan's Pride brand (www.puritan.com). (And no, I don't sell it.) It's good quality.

I hope this helps.

There's a reason so many people put up with the traffic and high housing prices to live in sunny southern California. It's hard to beat the nice weather.

I moved from So Cal to Oregon and try to go back once or twice each winter to get my warm sunshine fix.

Check Vit D levels and if needed, supplement (with added Vit K) until your levels are at least 50-70. Remember that Vit D is fat soluble, so tske tour supplement with a fatty meal. Keep checking your levels, you don't want to OD. Look up Dr. Mercolas recommendations for Vit D. I have an App called D-Minder that lets me know what time to go outside for optimal Vit D exposure in my area. Hope you feel better! I live in Houston tx, and will never move North of here!! Can only handle snow for about 4 days!

Yeah, it's the light, not the temperature. And I have read also (like the posts before mine) that Vitamin D can help. Be sure and check with your doctor before you start taking anything though. You want to do so safely, not just randomly start popping a bunch of supplements.

And try to get outside every day. Even if the sky looks grey, some UV rays get through and that aids your bodies natural production of Vitamin D.

Good luck.
(oh, and even in the south, on the coast, we can have some gray weather. It isn't ALL roses and sunshine every day, all the time. Especially during hurricane season which is what, June-December I think? When a storm tracks nearby, yes even hundreds of miles away, we can get days of gray dreary skies from them.) It'll be warm and humid, but gray.

It is about the sunshine, not the temperature. If you have snow and sun, go out and soak up some sun!