Reminder: Most Autoimmune Diseases are Heat Sensitive

[Guest guest]

Just a reminder with summer heat coming to be careful of heat exposure.

Remember that the body effectively stops Vitamin D production after ~

30 minutes of sunlight according to the literature, so being in the

sunlight longer than that will only subject you to heat stroke and not

cause any more Vitamin D to be produced.

Many CFIDS people are temperature sensitive (just like MS patients) so

they avoid being in direct sun (and crowded rooms) because it raises

their body temperature. The mechanism may be poor ability to transfer

heat due to coagulation slowing down the blood (which transfer heat).

If you need to be in the sun, remember to drink lots of water (and

salt).

Have a good safe summer!

[Guest guest]

Thanks for this reminder, Ken. Heat is by FAR the most debilitating

environmental variable for me, and has pushed my body into full-

blown crisis every time I'm exposed to too much, for too long.

This time of year, especially for those of us with limited financial

resources, avoiding the heat can be a particular challenge. My

apartment couldn't be situated in a worse place, and the management

don't allow window air conditioners. I became very astute with using

fans, cold cloths, rubbing alcohol, etc, but ultimtately this year

that wasn't enough.

My family knows from first-hand viewing how badly heat can effect

me, and eventually chipped in for one of those air conditoners with

a venting tube that fits flush against the window. Getting a tight

seal is a trick, but then the darn thing is surprisingly effective.

Naturally, its also very loud. Hello, hyperacusis, howz it hangin?

My solution: run it in the living room while lying down in the

bedroom. From that distance, the white noise is actually comforting

as it mutes little noises that would otherwise drive me insane.

I'm learning quite a bit lately about my 'critical stressors' - the

ones I can't manage by techniques like forcing myself to take deep,

slow breaths, close my eyes and focus on calming visualizations, or

experimenting with diet / supplement / medication adjustments.

Heat is definitely one of them. Life is real fun when you're fending

that off, AND visual stimulus, AND noise, but you keep looking long

enough solutions suggest themselves.

The damp cloth dipped in a bowl of icewater and rubbing alcohol,

accompanied by a quiet fan directed at my upper body, is quite good.

Used diligently, it can fill in when my ears won't tolerate air

conditioner, from any distance.

You were the one who taught me that heat intolerance can be linked

to coagulation disorders. Autonomic dysfunction would be another

likely culprit, I think, and hormones and medications can be

implicated as well.

Lucky me, I'm such a mess I'm apparently heat intolerant AND

hypothyroid, which poses a lovely dilemma. Add a heaping dose of

neuro-excito-toxicity, and you start to see why patients like us are

such a joy to treat.

What's that game kids used to play, something like 'Pick Up Sticks',

where your goal is to move one stick in a pile without disturbing

any of the others? If you were playing it during a fit of clonus,

hands shaking like hell wouldn't have it, it would be almost as fun

as trying to keep moi out of the ER.

The hypothyroidism is subclinical, I ain't touching it till summer's

over. Instead, I'm functioning like a rational person, giving each

of my fan's its own name and telling my bottle of rubbing alcohol

daily how grateful I am for its existence. I haven't gotten to

naming the ice-trays yet, but it's only a matter of time...

Stay cool, Ken.

> Just a reminder with summer heat coming to be careful of heat

exposure.

>

> Remember that the body effectively stops Vitamin D production

after ~

> 30 minutes of sunlight according to the literature, so being in

the

> sunlight longer than that will only subject you to heat stroke and

not

> cause any more Vitamin D to be produced.

>

> Many CFIDS people are temperature sensitive (just like MS

patients) so

> they avoid being in direct sun (and crowded rooms) because it

raises

> their body temperature. The mechanism may be poor ability to

transfer

> heat due to coagulation slowing down the blood (which transfer

heat).

> If you need to be in the sun, remember to drink lots of water (and

> salt).

>

> Have a good safe summer!

[Guest guest]

, how are you doing anyway? What's new with docs, treatments and

diagnoses, can we have an update.

Have you ever tried earplugs? I can't sleep without them or some kind

of muffling device. And an eyemask, but I was always very sensitive to

morning light, that's not lyme I don't think.

I personally love the heat. Or rather, the sun. I get as much as I can.