Thanks for your reply Judy. I do use cooling aids....an ice pack packed stuffed in my bra works wonders!

I believe that my friend is more blatant about her dismissing and her ignorance because of her mental illness...in general she has no real sense of empathy. And I know that....it just chaps me sometimes when I'm feeling esp vulnerable...like moving in 108 degrees. But I will get thru it. And I have taken time off from most of the people who do that to me. In fact, I didn't speak with her for a year because of her behavior.
I really appreciate your thoughts so thank you.
janet

So true Sparky....a good friend with some extremely annoying traits. I know its her mental illness. She does her best to be a good friend its just her issues get the best of her (as my issues do me) hers happens to be mental illness mine is neurological. but damn it just gets to me sometimes. And shes not the only one of course.

I do appreciate that I can come here and ***** about it and be heard. sometimes I feel so damn isolated. so thank you.

Thanks Kitty....yes its so isolating isn't it? and I also have to keep explaining the same stuff over and over. And I know its because they can't "see" it. But damn I wish they would try to remember. Not going to happen but I can wish.

I just say the same thing to everyone......"I can feel it more than you can see it". That seems to work - most of the time.

Like with most things, it's hard to explain to someone what we feel if they have not experienced it themselves. Kelly gave a great response. You could easily say that you feel the heat more than others and it's just part of the disease and then drop the subject without further explanation. I find that simple statements like that work best.

Good luck with your move.

Off to the Group W bench with you, Sparky!

Don't mind me, I just meandered over here from the PN forum because they found lesions on my spine and are pointing me toward an MS dx now.

I'm sorry that your friend is being so frustrating, jnewk. Whether it turns out that I have MS or not, you have my sympathy. There's no shortage of idgits where neurological problems are concerned. Some of them are even medical practitioners.

A reference to Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant."
ANN

My normal temperature is betwee 96.5 and 97.5. When I'm at 97.5 I congratulate myself for being so warm. But I do suffer from heat just as we all do.
It really changes one's inner self to have to always explain. I wait for the right moment, never telling people over and over again, but making it really clear when I have to. Even raising my voice to get their attention. With some people, it never works.

My poor grandma, my father's mother, had 14 abdominal scars from exploratory operations to find the source of her pain. She showed my mom her scars and my mom thought she was a hypochondriac. My mom thought my father was one too, as he had the same problem, and then I became the hypochondriac dujour. We all had Porphyria, undiagnosed until late in my life,never in my grandma or father's life. So we live with this inner wound all our lives, shrugging it off sometimes, other times taking it philosophically, and sometimes yelling loud enough to be heard!!!

So sorry Murial. Just think about all of Ancestors before us, who
had MS and were thought of as crazy or malingerers.

Sally, I actually cry sometimes about an ancestor who had MS, not a direct ancestor but my dad's cousin. He drowned. He had a wife and daughter. I met him once. But I cry that I didn't know him better. I remember him stumbling out of our doorway when I was five years old. I have never forgotten. His name was Adrian Delsman. I wish I had some contact with his family. It was a large clan--eight siblings. I did go to a funeral of the last of his siblings, and the rest of them seemed to be very healthy, but as we know that can be misleading.