Cold weather

alisunny

Hello, how is everyone?
I am not overly special at the moment. All a bit too achy, all the right hand side of my body for some strange reason - my right ankle, hip and knee. No sure why my hip is so sore, that's new.....
RA...... Does anyone else suffer more when it's cold? The weather has changed a lot over the last couple of weeks and everything seems so sore? Is that linked?
I have just moved into a new house - renting a room in someone elses house, loving the freedom but missing the home comforts - one of them being heat...... The new house is very cold..... Wonder if this is also making a difference?
Sometimes this whole condition makes me annoyed and angry, and that's because I can never predict or control it and it really bugs me! You ever seem to be able to tell, or I can't anyway, what is effecting or not effecting me, what is helping and what is making it worse! Aaahhhhhhh
Rant over!!

holliesfan

Hi Alisunny, yes cold weather makes me a lot worse and I have RA & OA, been struggling the past few day's. I try and keep as warm as I possibly can, sometimes it works sometimes it does'nt. A good rant always makes me feel better, so rant away.
Lin.

valval

you do get bit fed up with the not knowing thermas great to keep chill out and good warm boots. hope today better for you but with this frost feel it might not be here little something to make you smile



val

stickywicket

This is another perennial one which divides us. I once set up a poll on it and I think, on the whole, those with OA disliked the cold more than the auto-immune types. I have both and cold doesn't bother me at all. Damp does and extreme heat (though that's probably to do with humidity) and even windy weather but I quite enjoy a hard cold snap.

dreamdaisy

Cold is fine by me as I feel better in myself (today is a cracking one, cold, frosty and sunny) but the OA is horrendous. I loathe the warmer, danker, wetter days as my mood plummets and the PsA joints twang more. We never know when the auto stuff will fire up but we can rest assured it will.

Could you get some heating into your room, even a fan heater could make some difference but convectors tend to be cheaper to run. Thermals are useful as is a hottie! DD

GraceB

I have OA and the cold/wet weather plays havoc with my joints. We have a couple of Halogen heaters at home which are cheap to run (10p her hour on full whack), give out a good heat and brighten the room up to boot.
Try to keep warm and take care,
GraceB

MUM1

I have OA (4 1/2 years) and have my right hip and knee have been a bit more painfull recently have also had a hysterectomy 4 months ago and returned to work 4 weeks ago wasn't sure if lack of hormones or cold was aggrivating OA as can't have hrt. I went to the dr's last wedensday as I was struggling a bit with pain etc at work, at least at home you can pace yourself. I had been taking paracetamol and diclofenac and she presribed me co-codamol and more diclofenac.She also reffered me for more phsyio and got a call at work today to say I have appointment this afternoon. Iv'e had tramadol in the past but wary of using them at work or when having to go out due to their effects. Roll on spring that's what I say

barbara12

Hi
The weather is a factor in my pain..but it is both extremes...the hot weather is no use to me and the very cold weather like today is bad...I do love the warm springs days.
I do hope you the pain eases up very soon, and the halogen heater really are good...sorry not sure who mentioned them.

alisunny

Thanks for your replies.
BAd day today, mixture of tiredness, cold and pain! I just can't seem to get warm which I don't think helps at all. Everything hurts, my right side of my body, hip, knee and ankle are so much worse than usual...... Bad English there sorry!
I am so annoyed as there seems to be for me, no way of knowing when this is going to flare up and bug me again. It's that lack of control I don't get and can't get my head around.
That and the fact that when it does flare up I try to keep going, I feel I have to, I don't want to feel like I'm dragging other people down or asking other people for things. Completely my fault then when I get annoyed that no-one is there when I need someone.
I am crap at that, asking for help, or even actually just saying my body hurts today so no I don't want to drive to the cinema, or go for a walk, or pack those 20 parcels at work, or whatever it maybe. I want to just wrap myself up in bed and for someone to look after me. But no, I never say that. I just do all the things other people ask or want me to do. I wish I was more selfish, I don't know how to be. It never bothers me until I am having a painful time, then, after everything I do for everyone else, I wish someone would just offer to help me......like I said my own fault that no-one knows I guess
Sorry, like I said, having a bad day
Xxxx

hileena111

HBi
I have OA and both cold and wet weather affect me.
I dont like very very warm weather but thats just me...nothing todo with arthur

Love
Hileena

babytiger

OA's here and the cold weather really plays havoc with the right hand side of my body

stickywicket

So really it’s not just the weather, is it, alisunny? Partly it’s that you just hate the unpredictable nature of arthritis. I think we can all agree there. It rears its ugly head at the most inconvenient moments and plays havoc with our plans. We can keep a watchful eye on the few triggers that are under our control – meds, enough sleep, maybe certain foods and drink – but then we are floored by something as uncontrollable as the English weather. It’s frustrating in the extreme.

Keeping going as usual during a flare is probably not ideal although, when my RA was at its worst, I never regarded a flare as a flare until it had flattened me and I’d to be carted off to hospital for three weeks’ physio and meds tinkering. Like you, I didn’t want my arthritis to impact on those around me. But it will, anyway.

I do ‘get’ the ‘being crap at asking for help’ and sometimes wanting ‘someone to look after me’ or even offer to help. This was one of the hardest lessons for me to learn. I’m naturally independent (some would call it ‘stubborn’ and ‘awkward’ :roll: ), I’ve never had a ‘duvet day’ in my arthritic life (well, not since I left home at 18) and don’t understand the attraction of them. So, I just used to soldier on and, like you, wondered why no-one offered to help. Eventuallly, a kind friend pointed out that perhaps people daredn’t. Maybe they assumed I liked things the way they were which, to some extent, I did and do. I wanted to pull my weight, not be the arthritic weakest link.

If you portray an image of being well in control (even when you’re falling apart inside) most people won’t see beyond that image. Maybe if you can start small, with a trusted friend or two, and just be honest about how things are, it would help. You don’t have to whinge and whine and moan – just explain, maybe briefly, how things are on that particular day. Neither do you have to tell the world and his wife. If just one or two people know how things really are I’m sure life will seem easier. I hope so.

bubbadog

I suffer with the weather, having OA & Osteoporosis my joints get stiff with dampness and cold so I find I hibernate more in the winter. I do swell with heat as well more fluid swelling than joint. I much prefer the heat than the wet and cold.