heat and MS

[redbird]

I am staying home from a party/barbecue that I wanted to go to, because it's just too hot outside for me (87F/31C). This has been the shape of almost all my recent summers, is unlikely to change barring weird* medical advances, and not being able to outdoors on hot days interacts really badly with sensible covid precautions.

This particular symptom interacts badly with sensible covid precautions, and it reminds me of other ways the MS is a limitation, and I Do Not Like This. We may be going out to dinner with adrian_turtle's other partner and some of his family next weekend. I really hope next Saturday is cooler, or at least that Saturday evening is cooler than this afternoon.

Given the intersection of MS symptoms and covid precautions, it may be time to look into cooling vests again. Air conditioning works at home, but people enjoying air conditioned restaurants or shops usually don't want any of the windows opened, for obvious reasons.

*"Weird" medical advances because one of my MS drugs had the really excellent side effect of giving me back my heat tolerance. Unfortunately, it would have been too risky for me to stay on it for more than 18 months, and "improved heat tolerance" isn't something they're actively looking for in the disease-modifying agents [sic] for MS, so it wasn't listed as a medication effect or possible side effect. Maybe there's another MS drug with that side effect, but I suspect I won't find out except by chance. [Having written that, I am going to try to formulate a useful search phrase.]

Given

Comments

[readerjane]

Huh loves these cooling towels. Get one wet, wring it out, and drape it around your neck. He says it’s impressive how much cooler he feels. Maybe not good for a fancy restaurant, since it does make one’s collar and shoulders damp, but for an outdoor event it should be okay. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BHXB13K

[minoanmiss]

*sends cool breezes your way*

[kareina]

I don't have any form of medically induced heat intolerance, but I have never been able to cope with being hot (nor my mother before me). Therefore I use direct water-cooling of my body at need. When I lived in Italy for 1.5 years I would cope with the heat by taking an ice-cold shower and then not getting dressed again afterwards, repeating the shower as often as needed. This past week at the SCA camping event I would get in the river, wearing a linen tunic, and then wear the wet tunic till it dried, then get in again. I remember hot events when I lived in California wherein I would get in a cold shower, wearing the tunic, and stay in the wet tunic.

Note that I can cope with saunas and hot tubs because they are short term things, and I always apply cold water directly after to bring my body back to an acceptable temperature.

I hope you find solutions that work for you so that you can be comfortable, safe, and still do the things you want to do.

[redbird]

Cool showers are definitely useful, though I probably couldn't tolerate an ice-cold one. (The MS has made me less tolerant of both cold and heat, but I can put on more or warmer clothing on cold days.)

I like hot tubs, but at this point wouldn't risk going into one alone, in case the heat got to me and I needed someone to help me get out.

I had a good-enough solution to this, by 2019, but it involved an air conditioned apartment that still works), summer socializing in air conditioned cafes and restaurants, and occasionally ducking into air conditioned shops just to use the A/C.

Pushing various activity to early in the day also helps; we unpacked a box of kitchen stuff this morning as soon as everyone had their morning caffeine, and before Adrian or I had showered.