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(No this is not another Mormon abbreviation – Seasonal Affective Disorder) I have been suffering quite badly with this for about three weeks now. Today is particularly bad. Have had to switch on lights everywhere, because the day is so dark.
This morning I felt I could barely move.
I did mention this to missionaries a couple of weeks back, and one of them said, “Let Jesus be your light”, something like that. I know it was well meaning, but my issue here is all to do with sunlight, and lack of Vitamin D production, and it’s not really helpful.
I understand completely. Pretty much there myself as well. Cleaning up my home office today — sometimes that helps. The trouble with SAD and other depression is how we equate it to our identity and self-worth. “worth” and “worthy” are obviously etymologically the same — and our LDS focus on ‘worthiness’ and a ‘plan of happiness’ put us in the position that if we’re not happy and worthy, it’s because of sin.
Damning platitudes wrote:“If I obey, I’ll be happy all day.”
“If ye keep my commandments, ye shall prosper in the land”
“Your happiness is absolutely guaranteed as you willingly obey his commandments, receive all of the necessary ordinances, and are obedient to them”
“Only by obeying the commandments of God can we find peace and happiness”
This are but a few samples of the statements in LDS literature, song, and platitude that create a strong logical link between obedience and happiness. The logic is this:1. If I obey, I will be happy. (it’s ‘guaranteed’)
2. I am not happy.
3. Therefore, I must not be obeying something.
So, here we are, unhappy. Unfortunately, the human condition is not always to be ‘happy’ — we have highs and lows, mostly completely unrelated to sin or obedience. My low today is having to fill out expense reports — I hate doing these, because I always feel depressed about how I lose receipts. But this is just the thing I point to. I wonder if more prayer and obedience will help me feel better? not hardly. Just doing what needs to be done is what will address this situation. ‘prayer and obedience’ are often an escape from reality — really no difference than just getting drunk when I have a problem in front of me.
But the real kicker is when there is no problem I can point to — that’s the condition of SAD, I’m afraid. it just is. And you know? being human, including SAD, is simply part of us. Or so I tell myself.
God be with you, Sam. I mentioned this in a thread at some point, but I gave a talk once on faith that followed the typical “have faith = be happy” talk (a good talk, actually, for lots of people, but . . .) I rewrote my entire talk on the stand as I was listening to the first talk and addressed depression and other issues as they relate to faith, happiness, joy, the Plan of Salvation, etc. I choose to see it as pure inspiration, because a lady came up to me after the meeting and said she was crying as she was listening and realized she almost had let her depression keep her from being there to hear my talk.
Even clinically, we don’t understand many of these issues fully yet – much less in the pews among the lay members.
I struggle with SAD every year. I am highly dependent upon bright sunlight for energy, enthusiasm, and mood. I have taken medication for over a decade, and I use light therapy and vitamin supplementation to help me get through this difficult time of year. January and February are the worst times for me. I have lower productivity at work, am less social, and often miss quite a bit of church. I’ve had to accept and anticipate this lower level of functioning–it is what it is.
One of my mission president’s had some very backward ideas about the gospel and depression, but for the most part, I have had good experiences with members of the church on this issue.
I interpret the scripture in 2 Ne that states we “are free according to the flesh” to mean that there is a wide palette of physical constraints on our agency in this life, including clinical depression. God understands this completely, and I am confident that He will sort it all out in the end–we will be judged with a great amount of mercy according to our conditions in this life.
I appreciate those who understand this, and in the words of Elaine Benes from Seinfeld “Here’s to those who wish us well, and those who don’t…can go to hell!”
Just wishing you well Kong. I have acute insomnia…the winters are horrible. I spend a lot of time in the dark, just cleaning house and talking with the gods this time of year.
Things always get better for me as days get longer.
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Good luck, SamBee! January is the worst – so long. It helps me to remember that the days ARE actually getting longer as of Dec. 21st. I also sleep longer and accept accomplishing less. Thanks for your replies. One thing that I didn’t mention… I think that depression and SAD manifest themselves in ways that people aren’t aware of. It’s not just about being miserable, as most folk thing, social withdrawal, disrupted sleeping patterns, lethargy etc all come into it as well. These are perhaps not so obvious.
cwald wrote:Just wishing you well Kong.
I have acute insomnia…the winters are horrible. I spend a lot of time in the dark, just cleaning house and talking with the gods this time of year.
Things always get better for me as days get longer.
Longer summer days are the pay off in higher latitudes…
I practically have to winch myself out of bed just now. I saw some sun today, drove out to a good spot and just sat in it for the ten minutes it was out.
I think for me, the WoW has paid off. My doctor (who doesn’t know I’m LDS) keeps on telling me to stay off alcohol and tea/coffee! (I still take caffeinated soft drinks, and I’m having second thoughts about them right now.) This has definitely helped me, and I speak from experience here, rather than something I’ve been told by a bishop etc.
I took a walk around the local golf course today, which was saturated. My boots leak… But I needed the exercise I think, that helps too.
Quote:Unfortunately, the human condition is not always to be ‘happy’ — we have highs and lows, mostly completely unrelated to sin or obedience. My low today is having to fill out expense reports — I hate doing these, because I always feel depressed about how I lose receipts. But this is just the thing I point to. I wonder if more prayer and obedience will help me feel better? not hardly.
I am at least aware that my physical situation makes me unhappy (lack of sunlight), but there are still plenty of external things, like your receipts… My take on this, is that avoiding certain situations helps, e.g. bars where people fight a lot, going into large shops at the weekend at this time of year, driving in rush hour traffic etc.
Sincere prayer certainly does help to an extent. I can’t explain that well. Maybe it’s not for me to do so.
Quote:I use light therapy and vitamin supplementation to help me get through this difficult time of year.
How do these work out for you? Have you got a sun lamp? I tried looking on line, and a lot of them were a bit dear for me.
Agree about Jan/Feb – that’s the accumulated effect of the previous weeks, IMHO, rather than just the months themselves. These are often the colder months too.
My wife suffers from SAD. She has found taking vitamin D3 supplements daily helps a lot. Oregon is like the sad capital. She take around 2k iu a day Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
Quote:2k iu
?
2K IU = 2000 International Units It’s the unit of measurement for vitamins.
Never heard of it. I’m going to buy some multivitamins today though…
Most pharmacies carry the vitamin D3. usually they are in 400iu capsules so you take4-5 of them. Made a huge difference with my wife. Born in southern california, living in Oregon, with its 9 shades of grey (way less sexy than 50) she struggled for years….the vitamin D supplements worked better than light therapy by far. Sam, Most people in modern America are significantly vitamin D deficient. A few years back, during a routine exam, my Dr. saw how low my numbers were and prescribed heavy doses such that I was taking 100,000 iu a week! Huge pills 3 times a week until I built up a baseline in my system. It made a phenomenal difference in my ability to sleep and in the amount of energy I had every day.
Over the counter, you won’t find doses that large, but you might find 5000 iu and you could take double the dose every day without any concerns.
I should probably go back on it because I haven’t been taking it in months and I am feeling the lethargy and social avoidance patterns return. I definitely get a “bunker” mentality in the winter. Or maybe I should call it hibernation mentality?
Anyway, good luck with the vitamin D,
Cate
I double dosed myself yesterday with the multivitamins yesterday. Also upped my water consumption, and did some breathing exercises. That plus prayer and studies. One or more of these has helped a bit, but my finances are up the spout until the New Year! (Which is not going to do me any good!) I really can’t stand Xmas. Carol concerts etc are great, but the commercial, secular side is horrible, and rubbed right in your face. I don’t have family either, so this plus this SAD business is not a good combination!
As I was saying earlier, there are other aspects to this whole thing such as social withdrawal, and lethargy. Getting out of bed yesterday was murder.
Hi Sam. I understand what your going through, but it’s only been the last few years I realized it wasn’t in my head(yes I let people convince me it was). Like johns wife, I was born and lived in Southern California most life, when I moved to the east coast I noticed energy way way down within a few months that never returned. Going from an environment that’s bright and sunny 280-300 days a year to one that’s only that way a few weeks a year doesn’t help. Almost always overcast and cloudy no matter what time of year but worse in winter. By way of knowledge from my oceanography and taking care of corals(sifts and SPS as well as clams). Light is extremely important to them. They need full so extreme high CRI and intensity light(a replica of a coral reef).
I won’t bore you with the details but I use full spectrum metal halide(5000-6500K rating). Where as a 100 watt incadecent bulb will give around 1700 lumens, a 100 watt MH will be around 7000 lumens. I run a 250 watt 6500K MH with a CRI(color rendering index) of 95(100 being full color rendition of sunlight). I now use it forum
Main room and it has helped a lot. But may seem very bright to peephole not used to bright climates.
Anyways MH bulbs ate as close to natural sunlight as you can get so I use them. I probably need to
Take vitam D as well, although I drink a lot of milk so I’m not sure.
No they are not cheap and sadly my system has broken when the basement
Flooded on hurrican sandy. But they do help me and if you want to see if they can help you just drip by a salt water aqurium place and visit the reef exhibit and see how you feel under the lighting.
Hope you feel better as well as all those suffering.
I’m trying to deal with it while trying to ready myself and everything for a wedding when fiancé arrives from Argentinia. It’s a struggle everyday now that I strughle without the high intensity natural light I used to have.
Take care.
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