heat's upon us, how does it affect you??

[sunshine008]

hey

so it's 85 here in new york. i woke up and said oh no LOL. whereas i'd usually say yea summer's here!

funny right? anyway so how does heat affect everyone? do you find your symptoms increase dramatically with it? if so what do you do besides running into ac?

my husband and i are off to mexico in july. i handled it pretty ok last year, i didn't know what i had yet days were ok and nights were hard because i was exhausted and he was full of energy.

i am mtg a friend tonight for dinner for my bdy and it's outside so i'm testing it out to see how it goes in the heat for me

i do notice lately when i'm either stressed or hot i begin to stutter more. that's been a new thing the past 3 mos. anyone else out there stuttering away?

[floatingurboat]

I get alot of vision/nausia issues when I overheat. Aside from running the AC all the time I have several of those ice pack thingies in the freezer and I run grab one of those to put on my neck, back, ect when I start to get super overheated. Good luck dealing with the heat, don't melt!

~Elly

[bulldogman]

I live in Florida and the heat has been on us for over a month already. I don't spend much time outside for the next 4 months. If I get over heated I can not walk more than a couple of feet at a time and I get confused very easily. So I spend time in the ac and go outside only in the early mornings and late evenings. I start my car before I leave work in the evenings it can still be in the 90's at 6pm here. We are going out to Wyoming this August to try to get away from the heat for a while.

[Toomnyhats]

I will begin to have problems walking (awkward gait) if I overheat, MS hug and incredible fatigue. Most sx will resolve themselves when I get cooled back down. Heat/humidity is rolling into Houston so I'm indoors now until Nov!

[Spydre]

I noticed today that I got the MS hug for the first time in a while - but today and yesterday have been considered cool in comparison to what we've had. In the heat I just go to pieces about. And part of it I know is because I'm overweight, but I get hotter easier than most, and my husband argues with me about the use of the a/c - when to turn it on. But my hands start to bother me, my feet and hands swell in the heat, and I've learned this year, to use our cold packs to my advantage.

[heliotrope]

Just starting the heat too and I know what you mean!

I get aerophagia (air swallowing), which makes it really hard to breath. If I went to a pcp, they'd swear I have indigestion. I don't..

Needless to say, beside the AC/cooling vests, slow down. I find sitting for a while really help my symptoms.

[chalknpens]

It's been in the low nineties for two days here in New England ... it bothers my vision more than anything else - blurry, eye pain ... I didn't expect to deal with this until mid-June.

[Windwalker]

For me in Arizona, the next several months will bring temperature above 100 everyday, with many days reaching between 110 - 115 degrees.

I have read that the heat slows down nerve impulses...so if there is significant nerve damage or a lot of lesions, the heat may affect you more. I am definitely affected. Run out of energy much quicker...kills the walking ability.

I stay indoors as much as possible during the day...going out in early morning or evenings.

[Waydwnsouth1]

I live in South Louisiana so it has been humid and hot for the last month. I have vision problems. My eyes burn and my vision gets blurry even with my glasses on. I also get dizzy which naturally causes balance problems. Fatigue also sets in with a vegence. The worst part is summer is not even here yet. I don't want to even think about it. Good Luck to us all!!

[chalknpens]

spydre

Hi Spydre,
I don't know how old you are, but I know from my family pictures, in each generation, we gain a lot of weight by our thirties and more in our forties and keep it through our fifties - women and men. I took comfort in the excuse that "my people are round". We usually got some dread disease and lost weight in our sixties, and "looked good" in the box.

Then I, alone, was diagnosed with MS in my late 50's. No one else in a very large family had ever had this, but I did. And so I decided that i was different. And I was not going to be an awkward, uncomfortable lift for some little nurse's aide if I ended up in the hospital or nursing home one day. And so I decided not to be round. No one suggested that I lose weight. I decided I would do it for me, and for those aides. And for my husband, who would be helping me with those injections every night.

I quit eating all meat and almost all dairy (I eat Activia yogurt each morning with 1/4 cup of low fat milk in my instant oatmeal - NO other dairy). I stopped eating all fried foods, all fake dairy (no more margerine, "low fat" ice cream, etc.) And I stopped eating flaky pastry. That's it.

In ten months time, doing nothing else but eating wiser, vegetables, fish, fruit, nuts, and baked tostitos chips (for salt) I lost fifty pounds. That was four years ago. I still haven't regained it. I drink water, decaf black coffee and herbal tea, and half water half fruit juices. No Dairy.

You can do this - you will not be popular at a dinner table with friends and family, you will have to quiz restaurant waitresses and tell them what not to put on your food (and ask for a to go box up front - and immediately put half your dinner in it for tomorrow's lunch ... their portions are ridiculously too large, which is what we've all come to accept, to our detriment.)

No one can tell or encourage you to do this. No one else can believe you can do this. But I did it. And you can, too.

And those clothes that I wore in my twenties - they fit again.

[apple19]

It's now in the upper 80's here and we expect a heat wave next week. I know I'll have slurred speech, extreme fatigue, and blurry vision. I make sure I take naps, try to stay indoors, take it slow and drink plenty of fluids.

Take good care.

[sunshine008]

crazy how life has to change due to extreme heat...... there should be something else we can do or take?

hmmmm

[Ga dancer]

I live outside of Atlanta - enough said. It is hot and humid most days from May through October and I am terribly affected. To conserve my electricity since I lost my job, I discovered the county's pools and aerobics classes. They even have a chair lift (I did not know that I could not climb out of a pool anymore because I went down the ladder so easily getting in). The water is wonderful, exercise effortless and it is inside with a roof so you never get the sun. I feel human in the water, and they have aerobics classes 6 days a week, $2/per class.

I discovered the mall is a great place to walk. It is cool, flat and people nearby in case I should need help, although I always carry a cell phone.

I go to the library a lot in the summer - it is a great refuge with interesting stuff to read and comfortable chairs if I fall asleep. While I am out of the house I keep the air conditioner on 78 degrees and then turn it down when I get home and the sun is not so hot so it doesn't run so much. I had a one month electric bill of $500 last summer and will not allow that to happen again

I wear the neck cooling ice packs (supplied by Betaseron for free) going to and fro and that keeps me on track.

Without air conditioning, I am totally toast. My legs get jelly legs like they are not connected to my body and I feel like a puppet with the strings too loose. I always feel like I will fall over if I stand up.

Unfortunately, my eyes get blurred and see these white lights of varying degrees - from an almost blinding ferris wheel totally obscuring all vision to snow flakes or lighting bolts.