Hot weather can exacerbate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Karen, who is following the OMS Program, shares her tips for keeping cool with MS.
When once I would have longed for steamy, summer days; now I dread them. Should the thermometer creep even a few degrees over 21 Celsius (70 Fahrenheit), I find myself behaving like a swooning Victorian lady whose corset is too tight. I am fit for nothing but lying on the sofa. My energy levels sink to an abysmal low; my brain refuses to function and my limbs become leaden.
How heat can affect people with MS
Since most people with MS will suffer on hot days, we need to know what causes this temporary worsening of symptoms and what we can do to alleviate the discomfort. MS causes damage to our nervous system – most particularly the myelin sheath, whose job it is to aid in the speedy transmission of electrical impulses. Heat has the tendency to slow this process, which results in an often sudden, though temporary, worsening of our symptoms.
Attempting to convey this information to others is not so easy. I have tried numerous analogies, but the one I think that can work best is to ask the person to think of their smart phone. If you leave it out in the sun on a hot day, or even an overheated room, it will simply stop working. We are rather more complex electrical equipment, but the effects are the same.
Keeping cool
There are many ways to keep cool, but here is my top five:
Turning it to your advantage
Though the traditional two weeks basking on the beach may not be the sensible option for us anymore, we can take advantage of travelling during off-peak times when prices and temperatures are lower. Or perhaps we might like to look at less obvious destinations: Scandinavia, the UK or northern Europe. As the world is opening up again, heading to a quieter corner of it seems like the sensible thing to do. Me? I’m off to the Highlands of Scotland where the chances of any adverse side effects from high temperatures is probably nil.