hi

Hi and welcome muppet ~ sounds as though you could find this forum handy (and a comfort come to that) ...

As to whether you have SAD or not ~
Have you seen your GP for diagnosis?
A good number of folk on this forum are self-diagnosed I must add.

Anyway, help is at hand. Below I list a number of really informative links which could give you sufficient facts to enable you to feel well informed on SAD so that you can judge whether it has crept into your life.

The NHS webpage : http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.asp?TopicID=408
The MIND webpage (thanks to Amy) : http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Understanding/Understanding+seasonal+affective+disorder.htm
Dr Norman Rosenthal's site : http://www.normanrosenthal.com/index.html
(he also wrote The Winter Blues, a SAD bible)
OutsideIn's SAD questionnaire page : http://www.outsidein.co.uk/sadsympt.htm
The SADAssociation site : http://www.sada.org.uk/
BUPA's page on SAD : http://hcd2.bupa.co.uk/fact_sheets/html/sad.html

All of that coupled up with having a major read of the posts on this Forum could let you know one way or another. Everyone's experiences of SAD does vary somewhat, as do their sad alleviators. If you do have SAD it's a case of tailor making your own personal strategy for overpowering it, from a list which includes ~ Light Therapy, Diet, Exercise, Medication, Water, keeping a Diary, A Seriously Structured Daily Routine, No Napping, Winter Breaks somewhere sunny, to name but a few.

As Veteran Saddies will confirm, there is not really a 'cure' so say for SAD, but it is possible to fine tune things so that it becomes possible to have a life, despite SAD. Unfortunately, it remains an annual event, for me at least.

Have a little read of as much of the above as you can face/absorb (knowing what a SAD brain is like, it's sometimes hard to take facts on board), then come back to the Forum and ask the gang for their personal experiences and strategies of coping. They will all chip in and help to unravel your lot.

Hmm, I have just read all of that over, it's not meant to sound abrupt, but I have a saddish head on my tired shoulders tonight and have forced myself to get my act together so that you have a reply from one or two of us today. I really do quite well in winters now, but the beginning and ends of the day are an ongoing challenge!

Kindest things, Julie

Your welcome to the board... and everyone else thats recently joined.....