Recommendation for cooling vest?

[Seasha]

Today it was around 68 degrees outside and sunny. I wanted to go out and work in my garden and thought 68 was not too hot. Boy was I wrong!! After working for an hour crawling on my hands and knees, (that's the only way I can do it) I got extremely overheated and couldn't even get up to my motorized scooter. I had to call my dh to help me get up, as my arms and legs were completely useless!

I have one of those inexpensive cooling vest that you run under water before putting it on, but it evaporates in 15 min. I'm looking for something substantial and wonder what you all use? I have a list that the NMSS puts out for the different companies and they have reviews from others, but I'm hoping that I can get 1st hand recommendation from you. BTW, the ones I looked at were expensive.

Thanks for reading

[Marco]

I am so sorry to read about your day. I have a number of cooling vests and prefer the ice ones to the evaporation cooling ones.

I then look at the number of ice packs that go in the vests. The VA provided me with a cooling vests that had 16 small ice packs. The effort to put in 16 ice packs was difficult, and the bags didn't last because they were small.

I now use a vest that had 4 ice packs, front right, front left, rear right and rear left. I get a good 90 minutes of cooling from them.

Nowadays, I am rarely in the heat because my body rebels against any exposure to 98+ degrees. I now leave the cooling vests behind and simply wear an ice cooling hat. I have found that I fare much better when my noggin stays cool.

I use something very similar to this Icekap Migraine Relief Cap https://a.co/d/07JgQSR

In contrast, the MSAA provided me with a fishing style hat with a tiny cooling pack. In 110 degree weather, the cooling didn't last 10 minutes. The migraine hat provided me with over an hour of cooling.

I hope others chime in with what works for them.

I'm so sorry that you had excessive heat exposure. I've been there and it's worrisome.

[Seasha]

Thanks Marco. I will look for a vest with the 4 ice packs. I looked at the hat you suggestive, but it looks like it's made of heavy material? I think wearing a hat would be good for me. That's one thing I lack and found a baseball cap that has ice packs to insert.

Anyone else have suggestions?

[Marco]

I have been looking (insomnia has me up at 330am) and can't seem to find my exact vest. This one is the closest with the 4 larger ice packs.

https://www.polarproducts.com/polars...Strips-p24.htm

As for the ice hat. Mine is somewhat bulky, but I trust my health to it during Texas summers. I've also used this one that is even heavier. https://a.co/d/fgreYvb

At least Amazon has a good return policy.

I truly hope you find what you need.

[Mamabug]

I'm not sure how expensive they are, or what MSAA (Multiple Sclerosis Association of America) still offers, but they used to offer grants to help pay for things we might need.

You might want to look into that.

- Faith

[Seasha]

Thanks Faith - I looked this up, but our income is higher than the cutoff for financial assistance. This might help others here who may be in need.