Rachel, it sounds like we have some similar problems. I first came over here as an exchange student 21 years ago, and started sliding downhill at about this time of year. I started seeing the university counsellor but it didn't help much. I have a memory of standing in the dormitory kitchen, looking out the window in the middle of the day, seeing the steel grey mass of gloom that was the sky, and being amazed at how dreary it is here in the winter. I should have been warned then, LOL. But I was in love with the person who is now my husband, and that's why I came back here.

It wasn't always like that though. One year I worked in a windowless office and I remember near Christmas crying a couple of mornings before anyone else turned up, but that was it. I wasn't whacked like I have been these past several years, even though I've soaked up as much sun as I can. There's obviously a lot more to it than straightforward SAD.

I think chelation is helping me. Have you been chelating yourself? I'm sure I'd be very, very sick by now if I hadn't got on with it, I shudder to think.