For what it's worth, Accuweather is...usually not very accurate. The Climate Prediction Center's outlook for May, June, and July shows equal chances in the Midwest. That means it should generally be normal, and it's equally as likely to be warmer than normal as cooler. Depending on where you are in the midwest, precipitation is equal chances to below normal.
I'm very sorry to hear about how the upcoming season will be affecting you, but hopefully the lack of warmer than normal forecast from a more trust-worthy agency will provide a measure of comfort.
Violette, it's okay and I totally understand. I do that a lot, too, except I don't feel bad about it and neither should you! I did mean additional window units, but it sounds like you've done your due diligence. I'm sorry you haven't found a solution
I get something sort of like this. Not exactly, I don't think. I get more anxious and feel more down and less happy when it's nearing summer. But for me I think it's because a) when it's warm enough to lose layers but not hot enough to really need it, I feel self-conscious being exposed; b) I feel a lot of pressure to do things with my relatives, and I HATE IT. If I don't do it, it's a H.U.G.E deal. Honestly, I dread it. I need to move.
Those feeling carry through for most of summer.
As far as the weather, I actually like it. I like that it's warmer. But the rest weighs on me a lot.
I haven't heard anyone bring this up before. I didn't even know it was a thing.
I am really sorry this is a terrible thing for you! I have the regular version..if you dread the upcoming months as much as I dread November through March, complete empathy from me, Violette_R.
It sucks when you know it is going to happen, and do try to deal with it, and it still does it's best to destroy you. I die a little bit every year during my trouble months.
Last edited by VermontMom; 04-30-2015 at 08:16 AM.
If you have misophonia, is it possible that getting to see an audiologist and getting some adaptive hearing aids will help you cope better? I have a friend with it, and his life has been way different since getting the HA's. Many places will accept adaptive payment plans... might be worth looking into, no?
Instead of earplugs, how about noise cancelling headphones for night time? That way you won't piss off your sinuses... (I hear you on that one- my right side ear/sinus goops up and I get "thunder ear" every few weeks... any object or pressure in the ear makes it way worse!)
Ever seen someone to discuss the reaction you have during change of seasons? Perhaps a chance for some cognitive reframing learning or something would help you cope with what you don't have control over... I know just heading to counseling and taking it head on was what I needed to do last year when I had a mental health belly flop.
Hope things go decently for you, sending you good energy and vibes!
I love summer because I get SAD in winter, so I kind of get the concept. There is light therapy for winter SAD, is there...dark therapy? For summer SAD? Does it help if you use darkening drapes to make the daylight hours seem shorter like they are in winter?
Yes, darkness therapy exists, though I seem to be the only one calling it that. It's partly about making sure you sleep in perfect darkness (a good eye mask and a nicely dark room does the job there), but mainly about avoiding exposure to blue light during the night, and for a few hours before bedtime. You know how there are always articles about how smartphones and such will disrupt your sleep? This is because blue is the wavelength of light that stimulates serotonin (you can get blue LED lightboxes for treating SAD and also non-seasonal depression, they're more effective), and it also suppresses melatonin, the sleep hormone. So if you block out blue light, your body thinks it's in darkness and starts producing the right amount of melatonin. I have circadian rhythm disorders, Non-24 Sleep-Wake Cycle to be precise, and I have them under control due to using first light therapy, then darkness therapy. There are a few orange lights dotted about my home, and I put on orange tinted specs at 9.30 every night. I ended up writing a website about it all.
However, it sounds like this probably isn't the main problem with reverse SAD. (Working night shifts, on the other hand, oh yes. Triples the breast cancer rate, for starters. Melatonin affects a lot of things in your body, not just sleep.) Although so many people are affected by too much evening exposure to blue light these days that it can be worth a shot, since if it improves your sleep, that will have a knock-on effect on everything else.
Interesting that you have misophonia. I was diagnosed with hyperacusis, which seems to be the same thing. The hearing therapist said that earplugs were the last things I should be using, as it was just making the problem worse. Instead, she prescribed in-ear white noise generators. They were partly to use in noisy places like shopping centres, so that I could cope better, but also I had to use them for an increasing amount of time every day, in order to train my brain to cope with a louder level of sound. It worked, and it helped the tinnitus too. This was years ago, I don't even know where the little things have got to by now. I use a white noise app on my tablet when there's building work happening near by my bedroom window, it's great that there are so many choices for those these days.
I still have to be careful in noisy places, they make me exhausted pretty quickly (I have severe ME/CFS). Sensory overload is a problem for me in general, and I've found that cutting down on the input from one sense can help with the overload to all of them. So I will close my eyes if everything gets really overwhelming, and have grey-tinted specs to wear if I'm going to spend a lot of time under fluorescent light, which I'm sensitive to. The grey specs seem to mean that the noise doesn't affect me as much, for instance if I'm in hospital.
Hmm, I get the traditional SAD thing. The opposite, will have to think a bout that.
I spent 5 years, working a grave yard shift, it was ok, but never got over it.
I get, the darkness thing, if you work nights and need to sleep in the day.
When I worked nights, I put the tv, on something boring, and turned on the fan, and ditched the phone.
I was so glad to get off nights.
As time progressed, I ended up with excema. Which I discovered, is most of the time, caused by a lack of vitamin D. I figured this out. Bugs me up the wall in cold, no sun, as soon as the weather gets warmer and the days are longer, the itching, rash, drives me up the wall goes away.
That said, We all have what ever things we have. It's up to us, to choose how to deal, with what ever!
I also have misophonia - it took years of actively resisting my urge to kill people who were chewing for me to realize it. Interestingly, I also hate summer for the heat and blindingly bright sunlight. My eyes have always been sun-sensitive to the point that on a high-altitude backpacking trip, my vision went dark for several days. Now I've invested in the darkest, most polarized sunglasses I can find and I wear them religiously in summer, usually with a hat or visor for extra shading.
I also sympathize with feeling trapped by the heat. When I lived in the central valley, the hours from 8 am to 9 pm were too hot for outdoor exercise. My air conditioner was loud and not very effective, and drove me bonkers. Also having to get up at 5 am to run outside, then having to stay awake until nearly midnight until it was ok to open the windows and try to cool the house down overnight.
I don't have any awesome solutions, but the two things that helped me were 1) taking an ice-cold shower then going outside. The heat and sun feel much better when you're frozen to the bone. And 2) getting out the house when the heat and the rattling AC are just too much; I would ride my bike (very slowly) to the nearby library or to Jamba Juice, and just a short little outing would make me feel less trapped.
I haven't heard anyone bring this up before. I didn't even know it was a thing.
I've always disliked summer and first used the phrase "some kind of seasonal affective disorder but for summer" in the early 2000s. I just read about it actually being recognized in the medical community late last summer.
If you have misophonia, is it possible that getting to see an audiologist and getting some adaptive hearing aids will help you cope better?
I wasn't aware that was an option. I've heard of noise therapy and have been doing a self-prescribed version for while, but I'd never read about hearing aids for misophonia. I've been saying for years that I should see an audiologist about my lousy hearing - I pick up noise far too well but often can't understand what people are saying. I should actually finally do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eydawn
Instead of earplugs, how about noise cancelling headphones for night time? That way you won't piss off your sinuses...
I would never try that before because I'm a side sleeper, but I just learned last night that sleepphones are a thing. I'm skeptical because headbands give me headaches (I'm just such a delicate flower, LOL) but they're not too expensive so I might try them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eydawn
Ever seen someone to discuss the reaction you have during change of seasons?
That's a sore subject with me. Long story short, I had to teach myself cognitve behavioral therapy without even knowing what it was and save my own life because the mental health profession failed me miserably and I'm not giving them another chance to waste my time and money.
When I lived in the central valley, the hours from 8 am to 9 pm were too hot for outdoor exercise. My air conditioner was loud and not very effective, and drove me bonkers. Also having to get up at 5 am to run outside, then having to stay awake until nearly midnight until it was ok to open the windows and try to cool the house down overnight.
I went to college in Sacramento and my cheap roommate freaked out whenever I tried to set the AC at a tolerable level. One night I tried to wax my lip and couldn't get it off because the wax couldn't cool enough to harden.
I actually forgot about this additional stressor. I live next door to a large medical center and their AC is THE WORST. Last night it cooled down and I closed my windows - I could still hear the industrial AC working. It was like someone warming up their car outside my window all night. I had to turn on a white noise machine.
I really need to buy a house, guys. I have money but a messed up credit score - I have to get this fixed and get a mortgage. I shouldn't have to live like a flower in a hothouse, needing protection and insulation from all affect of the outside world. That's insane.
