SAD and AS

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It's that time of year again here in the UK. Darkness is setting in by seven at night and its only going to get darker! And I've started to feel the effects. I feel like I have just changed special interest but I'm not even sure because I don't have the same massive surge of happiness that I normally do on a new interest and I sometimes like now I even feel totally and utterly down! Is this a normal thing for an Aspie with SAD? How do others cope? I'm already on antidepressants

I seem to have inverse SAD. Happyish in the cold part of the year, less content in the warm part.

Be sure to keep your Vitamin D levels up. You don't get as much natural sunlight in the darker months and that's a big contributor to SAD, so take Vitamin D supplements and look for a lamp that simulates natural sunlight.

If you're not lactose intolerant, milk (in the US at least) is usually fortified with extra Vitamin D. If you have a regular exercise routine (and you should, that also produces endorphins, which are a natural antidepressant), a glass of chocolate milk is a great pre-workout drink.

I find full spectrum bulbs to be useful.

I suspected I had SAD for a while. However, it's other factors that really make January depressing (School, rude people, etc.) I don't mind the cold night. I kinda like it. In fact, I would kinda like the polar night, where places like Alaska get twilight for a while. It gives an adventurous feeling kinda of.
Light Therapy is usually used for people who have SAD.

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i noticed this difference very profoundly when i moved from florida to massachusetts, in the wintertime the days are soooo much shorter up north.

i don't live in mass anymore, but in general i deal with it by:
making sure i get up early even if i don't have to
getting outside 20 minutes daily (during daylight hours) (that's a goal, not what i actually do, but i push myself if i'm feeling down)
switching on all the lights in my apartment as soon as i get up so i am looking into bright lights

these habits do seem to help.

i also moved west, where there are more sunny days even during winter compared to new england, for this very reason.

I have SAD, too. I first noticed the change in light levels about a week or so ago. It set off some anxiety, knowing how bad it's gonna get. I'm going to talk to my therapist about bringing up buying a dawn simulator for me. It's sucess rate is lower and it's more expensive, but I'll never get out of bed before the crack of dawn to sit in front of a blinding light. I'm a very light sensitive aspie, probly why I have SAD in the first place.

Salkin, that's an atypical presentation of SAD, but not unheard of.

I have it.

One thing I did when I lived in Seattle, was set a heat lamp (a full spectrum one would be better) on a timer. It was pointed at my bed, so in the morning I was awakened by light and an alarm clock, the light just a little bit sooner than the alarm... so I wouldn't have to try and awake in the dark.

it helped a little. But it sure wasn't a cure. I suggest you might add this technique along with the vitamin D and the outdoor for 20 minutes and anything else that might be helpful

Yeah, the day length thing is more extreme the further from the equator you go. Here in winter, pitch black when you go to work, some light you might see through the office window, pitch black going home. Canadians and Alaskans presumably experience the same thing.

Psych clinic thought a physical might be in order in spring this year, just to rule out physical problems contributing to my comorbids. They did find a lower than normal (but not short-term dangerous) vitamin D level, which is presumably a very common wintertime problem around here given the above. No other problems. So I'm taking supplements daily now.