Weather!
 

So anybody that has season changes, how great is it? NOT! Its May and the weather is still deciding to stay in the 40s-60s range (not normal). Weve only had 1 days that it was in the 90s and that night it dropped in the 40s after a cold front came in (talk about a wicked drop, and my body did not apreciate it!). So im having a huge issue, it has slowly built over the past 5yrs, but I can no longer walk outside without it affecting me greatly! Today its in the 60s and a light breeze and i walk out and I am FREEZING like its in the 20s! And then of course it makes my pain much worse! I already cant go to the store and it being to hot outside (just while walking in the parking lot) and then walking into the nice cold air conditioned store without it throwing me completly off. I am finding this very frustrating and hard. Anybody else?

I am convinced weather plays a huge part in CRPS symptoms and suffering. I have a friend who has it too, and we often complain the pain is worse at the same time, normally when the weather is colder and damp, and barometric pressure is low.

I've read research that is looking into this specifically with regard to CRPS. I think it's a Scandinavian country, but I can't remember where! I'll see if I can find it again...

I struggle with my body temperature, it seems to have a mind of its own now. I have to take a shawl everywhere because even on the warmest days I can be freezing, ditto I wear a light t-shirt underneath on colder days because I can suddenly fire up. Horrible little side-swipe of CRPS!

Breezes can be rough, but air conditioning is awful when my skin is sensitive. I hate stores with it, they always set it so darn ridiculously low :rolleyes:

I've heard that a warm dry climate is best for living with CRPS. Bad luck for me living in the UK lol!!

Bram.

I also have issues with controling my body temp, so I think thats the biggest issue, and so when you had in diffrent temps from eather going outside from being in your house, or going outside into a store, its just brutal! I live on the east coast, so the weather likes to play tricks. And then add alllllll the rain and storms from spring till fall and the winter you deal with the snow, its like a never ending break. I really thought I was going to look foward to the summer because I thought winter was awful, but im finding that no weather or season is good.

It is my belief that all of the RSD is connected to pressure.
Look at the original cause be it a fracture or an operation both are pressure induced, either to cause the fracture or break the skin to operate.
My blood vessels have white lumps in them and the main one is distorted hand down and the blood fills up the hand pressure.
The swelling most of us suffer causes pressure internally and by stretching the skin
Look at all of our hypersenitivites and they have one thing in common.
Sound waves cause vibrations in the ear drum pressure
Wind against the skin pressure
Vibrations from the road surface pressure
Hot and cold cuases slight changes on the skin surface pressure
Solar storms pressure even the touch of a sunray on my hand causes pressure and extreme pain
Changes in the weather pressure
When I flew as the plane went up so did the cabin pressure and the pain was so bad I came very close to walking out into the sea rather than facing the flight back
Some people have claimed to have got amazing results from HBOT breathing pure oxygen under pressure. others nothing
What it really needs is a full medical trial of HBOT to see if the ones who get better are all under the same amount of pressure or if it varies and is hit and miss

Bah...the weather always kicks my butt. If it's not the weather...it's the air conditioning.

Funny that when we bought our house I thought it was a negative that it didn't have central air but now it's really a blessing. Until it gets in the mid to upper 80s outside I don't even turn the air unit on and when I do it's set at 74 with energy save mode on so it only turns on when it gets above that temp. That way I'm able to keep the inside temps close to the outside temps when it's warm out. It's one of those rare times when I can wear my little ballet flat shoes (no socks), no gloves, and no scarf (unless it's windy) when I go in and out of the house.

I always have to wear a scarf when I go out, and long sleeves, and long pants or socks or ankle brace...all to protect my upper body from cold (either the weather or A/C) and wind movements. Anything metal seems to be my enemy because metal gets cold and it's so easy to touch metal (door handles, hangers, handles, etc). So I look like a bit of a freak with my winter gloves on in the middle of summer...lol...but whatever it takes to protect my hands.

Weather changes are the worst though. They always cause flares for me. Once it gets warm and stays warm I tend to be fine as I can adjust and have my coping mechanisms. But this back and forth and up and down...throws me for a loop every time.

OMGoodness-I'm not alone...
 

I thought I was imagining it. It's new for me but the cold is just the worst and my pain spikes just BEFORE the weather changes. It's like my body knows it's coming. Our weather here on the East Coast has been going up and down - it's been the weirdest spring ever and I just came through 2 miserable weeks I'm sure because of it. My RSD solidly settled into my right foot from my left - was creeping that way - 3 toes turning purple. Now it's swelling past the ankle and feels cold to touch up to the knee. My left has been a lovely shade of frozen purple for 5 months now. Will the heat of summer outside feel better? I was kind of hoping.

Weather definitely affects my fiancee at times. I did some research and came across this article:

http://www.rsds.org/pdfsall/Weather%20changes-CRPS.pdf

in which changes in the negative to positive ion concentration are implicated as part of the reason why weather changes affect folks with CRPS and other inflammatory diseases. We've tried the negative ion generator and it certainly works for my fiancee, although we haven't been using it recently as she is more or less in remission.

Mel we live around the same area, so I feel the pain with the weather! Its horrible! Over the past 5yrs im finding that no weather is good. If I go outside in the summer and the sun hits me, its like a thousand razor blades hitting my skin! And I immedetly start to sun burn litterly withn minutes! And between going from outside in the hot weather, to an indoor building with cold air conditioning, its just AWFUL! I have autonomic issue controling my body temp caused by the RSD. So going into diffrent changes of heat/cold or warmth/cooler it just completly throws my body off. We get wicked hot summers, and the issue with our location is that we deal with the humidity, and the humidity is what makes it the worse.

Me too!
 

We have had a few good days, with warm weather and sunshine. My CRPS reduced dramatically. Today, the weather has turned to rain and cooler temperatures and it's flaring up again.

My wife finds this strangely entertaining :)

So how many of us that have the change in weather have autonic issues? Last night it was is the low 50s and then today its in the high 80s. Well I was talking with someone last night and all of the sudden i got very flushed and started sweating profusly and my ears started to ring and everything and I had to run outside and sit down for a little while and let my body cool down. It was horrible! But i know it had to do with the weather change, because my RSD has decided to attack my vocal chords again.

I agree with the weather change. My RSD has been in a "remission" state for a few years now but when the weather changes, either a high pressure or a low pressure, ect. I still feel it! It's just not that constant pain and burning I had before! I still get spotty "burning" sensations that last for a few minutes in my upper body but again not that constant everyday pain and burning I had when it was full~blown in my lower body!

I just had to post on this again....the weather here in the uk changed last night....I'd been feeling so much better the last week or so when things have been warmer and more settled - now the barometric pressure has dropped through the floor and I am feeling awful :confused:

Last night I was in so much pain, that horrible deep gnawing bone pain, right through my whole left leg and my arm too. Today it is still there, and I can't get away from it. My whole left side, including my back cheek and scalp just hurt and feel like they are twenty degrees colder than the right side. I HATE that this damn country can't keep decent weather for more than a few days in a row at best, so I am royally screwed living here with this thing.

Normally my left arm is pretty symptomless and I've been hoping the CRPS wasn't really in it, but last night and today I am in no doubt. It's as though I tried to do a thousand biceps curls holding an elephant yesterday, and today I am paying the price!

Oh dear. Just felt like I had to have a little rant and shake my (right) fist up at the sky, shouting "WHY?!????!!!"... Crazy I know lol. I wish I had the money and circumstances (and language skills) to move to Italy or somewhere else a bit kinder.

Hope everyone else who reads this is having a better time of it - if not, then you have my sincere sympathies....

Bram :grouphug:

Bram we had a 30 degree temp drop a few days ago, it was AWFUL! I was trying to lay in bed and i was in so much pain that I couldnt even put pressure on my ribs, I was just SO DONE! My escape from pain is when I can lay down and go to sleep and when I couldnt even lay down, that just made me want to throw in the towel. Now today we are back up in 90 degree weather and I can garentee that the temp will drop again by the end of the week. When you live on the east coast unfortantly this is what you gotta suffer threw when you have a chronic illness.