When do your symptoms start?

I have just got a book about SAD, and (having read half the first chapter) it talks a lot about feeling awful at the beginning of winter.

My own depressive symptoms have started late September / early October the last two years, dipped around Christmas and started to feel better as the days get longer again. I feel significantly better on a January day than on a same-length day in November!

I remember reading something by Monty Don (swoon!) where he said he always gets a significant dip in mood as soon as the days start to get shorter, in July, and then after the autumn equinox.

Just wondered when other people start to feel the SAD coming on...

Dx

I mfind that October is when i start feeling lower. January and Feb are defiantely my worst months. It is a struggle at the moment with the patch of bad weather we are having and is a bit of a blow after the spring like weather of last week. Do other people feel the same?

My symptoms usually start up around late Sept/early October. They are usually worst in January/February but this year, I hit the worst symptoms right away and have pushed hard to take good care of myself... doing OK for now!

My symptoms ease up in March or early April at the latest. It's a loooooong SAD season for me, but Pittsburgh has very cloudy weather year-round.

I've been trying to be more conscious of when I need to sleep in. I've taken hot baths, taken my arthritis meds (now that I have them! I think that's why SAD hasn't got a good grip on me -- this is the first year with arthritis meds!). I use a heat pad for soreness. Sometimes hot tea helps me. Just not pushing myself beyond my limits this year has helped so much!

Heh. Minnie, we're on the same schedule.

start end oct and normalize middle of march.feel glorious in may.

My symptoms usually start mid september,but sometimes earlier.August and once late July!
I usually see steady improvment after Xmas and(before I started treatment)a bit of mania for a couple of weeks around Easter time.

Yes how great to have found this site where SAD is understood. Without my Bright Spark I would never survive the months from September to mid April. It makes such a difference to my life to get that lovely light each morning and not want to sleep and eat all day as I used to before I knew what was the matter with me. I also love my wake up light. So civilised on a dark, dark winter morning. Maybe if more people used one, winter would be better for them too. Which lamp do other people on here use as I need a new one and would like to cut down the time I sit at it to 30 mins with same benefits?

My symptoms began since I moved to the UK. I had no idea how rotten I would feel with no sunshine ever. I never noticed when I lived in CA that the weather would ever bother me but wow since coming here I am SAD all the time. Last summer, well it wasn't a summer it rained all the time, and this year looks to be the same.

I think my symptoms start in November. Not too sure as this is the first time I have recognized SAD as opposed to a different depression.

My past seems like a blur when I think about it so I don't know exactly.

I agree Guy. I think the external stressors that inevitably come along in life, pushes a lot of depressed people too far.