Just wondering if the excessive heat we have been having has had a negative effect on PK sufferers? My husband is an exerciser, 7 days a week that includes treadmill (3 miles), recumbent bike (2 miles), and exercises on a Bowflex (4 times a week). He has never had a problem with stamina in the past, but since we've had all this 95-100 degree weather, he is having weak spells and increased tremors. He does all his exercising in the gym in our house (air conditioned), and he goes out only infrequently. Is there any information about the effects of heat that you know about? Just wondering!

This heat is a killer. Even though he is working out indoors, it is very likely related to the heat. The worst part is that it isn't cooling off at night. That keeps a certain background level of stress going. He should cut back and cool down constantly. Ice on wrists, neck, back of knee, and over kidneys will help cool his core which will, in turn, give him some "bounce" back.

Both ends of the spectrum, great heat and severe cold, seem to put us in a place where we are unable to regulate our bodies well. Some of us are worse at one end or the other, for me I am worse in the cold, for some the heat is much more difficult. It is a sign that our autonomous nervous system is not doing it's job the way it ought to....

I go through the same as everyone else; it is the extremes...wonder if I can get a prescription for a summer house in Malibu, CA??!! Ha. For me, it is not the heat so much as it is the humidity. I am super sensitive to changes in air pressure in either direction.

I can't speak for every one else, but on unbearable days like in recent last few weeks, my meds go all wonky and I have no stamina, so I just stay in the air conditioning and give myself permission to be non-productive and just veg.
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Incidentally, does anyone notice that whatever you were too sensitive to in your internal temperature prior to PD it is now ten times worse? Like ten years ago you needed an extra sweater and now you wrap an electric blanket around yourself; or you used to just feel hot & sticky but now start stripping your clothes off after a minute you cannot tolerate it!

Laura

Oh, I forgot to suggest it may be your thyroid...sometimes we think PD explains it all and could be something else entirely and easily treated.

I still maintain that I am hypothyroid but my tests maddeningly come out norma each and every time; I can't get a doctor to consider anything else when they see the TSH level other that i am having psychiatric issues. Ugh. It is well-documented that chronic intake of l-dopa significantly lowers your TSH levels.

There are many articles documenting this...here is an article abstract that says so Parkinsonism and Related Disorders:

Parkinson's disease and thyroid dysfunction


Laura

Actually, I just got my thyroid tested due to extreme heat & fatigue, and my labs were fine, as are my hormone levels. This is the 2nd summer during which my body core heats up so much, if I wasn't at work, I'd be tearing my clothes off and crying.
And yes, winter time is extreme as well.
This forum has been a blessing and sanity-saving tool! I swear, sometimes I think I am going crazy, and get on here and see that there are so many others experiencing the same symptoms. Not that I am HAPPY they are; it's just comforting to know that this is real and these symptoms are not just all in my head or because I am an aging woman. Thanks all.

Since getting PD I've really had to force myself to drink enough water. So, especially in hot weather, it's easy for me to become dehydrated.

John

I guess I am just the odd man out. I seem to thrive in this heat and humidity. I haven't felt this good in such a long time. I can actually move quite well for a change.

Greg, You are not the only one who likes heat and humidity, I am one of those too, and my meds go a lot further as well. I was brought up in the tropics, and love sunny hot weather.

It is when I get overheated I find it almost impossible to cool down, even when everyone else seems to have returned to being comfortable.

Same with cold, and Laura, I can confirm that nowadays when I get really cold, an extra sweater does nothing for me either, I am under a blanket and it can be a few hours till I warm up and start functioning again.