temperature tolerance and dialysis

[Adam_W]

I've been noticing something and I was wondering if anyone has had anything similar happen. Ok, I've always been very tolerant of cold weather, in fact I've loved it. When I lived in Canada I would go out for walks in -30 degree temperatures just for the heck of it. My first winter on dialysis, though, I found I froze my arse off in +20 F. Last winter, I noticed I could tolerate the cold better, but still not like I could before I started dialysis. The last few days in Indianapolis, we've been getting down to around 35 F, and I'm finding that I seem to be back at the tolerance level I used to be at (No jacket if I'm only out for 15min and only feeling "slightly chilly"). I don't know how I'll do when real winter hits, but it seems I may be back to being "part polar bear". I've been wondering if the initial shock that my body took when I first started dialysis changed my tolerance to cold weather, and now being on more frequent dialysis for over a year has helped some of my tolerance return. As for hot weather, my tolerance for it got worse, and stayed worse. I've never done well in hot weather, but now I get sick if I'm out in 80 F temp too long, and one time I ended up collapsing from severe heat exhaustion after less then an hour in 90 F. Just an interesting trend I've noticed.

Adam

[jbeany]

I think my cold tolerance got better after I started home hemo.  Maybe just feeling healthier makes a difference?

[RichardMEL]

it could be you have gotten used to it. I found my first year or so on hemo I would feel the cold horribly - specially while on dialysis... I'd be freezing and do the "old man" thing with the blanket piled right up over me etc... the last year or so.. not so bad.. I keep the blanket handy but mostly use it more to balance my laptop on more than keep me warm.

[thegrammalady]

when i first got sick i was extremely cold. cold from the inside out. and i can still get that way if the machine temp doesn't stay somewhere between 79 and 79.5. i also complain and complain loudly when they let the penguins into the center. there is no reason the place should be kept below freezing. but then i'm just a loud, noisy, patient and the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

[kitkatz]

My temp gauge has changed since beginning nocturnal dialysis. I have been cold for years. Now I am chugging with a warm engine most of the time. I even sweat a little, something I have not done since I started dialysis.

[Adam_W]

I definitely am improving with my cold tolerance. Today the temperature was right around freezing, and I was out on my scooter, and as long as I'm dressed properly, the cold didn't bother me one bit. Even just a year ago, I would have never been able to tolerate not only the ambient 0 deg C. (32 deg F), but also the wind chill of driving an open vehicle at 50 mph. I'm not complaining at all because I've always liked the cold. It's definitely a lot better for me than heat.

[Rerun]

It has to do with anemia.  When your kidneys fail you are very anemic.  Your normal kidneys tell your bone marrow to product red blood cells.  When your kidneys no longer work then you have less red blood cells to keep you warm.  With Epogen, a synthetic protein, it tells your bone marrow to produce red blood cells.  You cannot have the "normal" level of red blood cells because you are on dialysis and need you blood to be thinner to not clot as easy.  If your blood gets too thick you access may clot.

Glad you feel warmer.     

[Lucinda]

I agree with Rerun.  I am cold all the time - pre-dialysis - and we are in the summer months here in Australia.  My hands are like ice-blocks all the time even when I am lying in the sun. I drive my husband crazy because I keep turning off the air-conditioning. Since I have been on Epo though, it has been a tad better.  Catch 22 at the gym though.  You never get overheated but your joints never feel like they have warmed up either and very easy to get an injury.  I think it is just another of the very annoying kidney symptoms. x

[Lori1851]

Dustin was always cold. I bought him lots of hoodies and insulated underwear. He also liked those pajama pants and wore those almost everytime for dialysis.

Lori/Indiana

[mikey07840]

This makes sense now... before CKD I was always warm, now on dialysis I am always cold. I have the heat at 72 and am still freezing. Good thing I have a kitty to snuggle with.

[boxman55]

I am freezing right now. I am always cold. I like the weather to be in the 80's. Maybe I should move...Boxman

[Ken Shelmerdine]

I can't see anything wrong with your cold tolerances. I'd freeze my arse off at 25f and I think most people would be sick spending a full hour in 90f I know I would and as for taking a walk in -35f, well in the UK though the weather's crap most of the time we never experience anything that cold, you must be Superman! 

[lruffner]

I am pre-dialysis and am froze all of the time. In the summer, the a/c is on 77 and winter 73....with several layers of clothes. My blankets on my bed are so heavy, that I can barely move my feet. I absolutely dread going into any type of store in the summer, because my teeth chatter the whole time...it is embarrassing.

[Adam_W]

as for taking a walk in -35f, well in the UK though the weather's crap most of the time we never experience anything that cold, you must be Superman! 

Nah, just Canadian 

[Rerun]

I am freezing right now. I am always cold. I like the weather to be in the 80's. Maybe I should move...Boxman

I have a house in Sacramento for sale!!!   

[twirl]

I used to hate to be hot or have the central heat on
now I freeze
and we don't get all that cold down here compared to what  you get
but it can be a wet cold and that makes it seem colder
my unit was so cold the other day - I asked for an AMA
I was shivering
everyone was freezing but it used to be unusal for me to be cold - ever
I get over heated once the temps get over 95, we often have over 100 degrees
can't stand it anymore

[paris]

Cold all the time and use to always be hot.  I am sitting here in a sweatshirt with a comforter and I am freezing. Need to get the space heater out.   Flip would have told me to get out the vodka    (miss you, Flip)

[Mimi]

I am cold all the time too.  I'm in a sweatsuit and fuzzy warm houseshoes.  I have gotten
much colder since my kidneys started failing.  And Paris, I already have my space heater out
and on.

Mimi

[Chris]

Like you, I loved the cold weather. Then dialysis started and I would be cold all the time and wear lcoats in the summer. Even aftermy transplant, I am still cold, easily get cold, or quickly cool down if I do get hot. My blood count is good and Procrit injections were tried to no effect. I even wore a womens sweater once to stop shaking,  but I won't tell you who's it was from here.

[monrein]

Between the cold feeling from dialysis and the hot flashes and sweats from menopause my body has rules all it's own.  My internal thermostat is completely wacko haywire and I dress to bundle or strip down at a moment's notice.  Last noght I was boiling hot but my ears were freezing because I had the heat right down in the house to 15 celsius.  My husband thinks I'm trying to knock him off.

[kitkatz]

You are not alone. Covers on, covers off at night. Hubby says I am crazy.

[willieandwinnie]

Between the cold feeling from dialysis and the hot flashes and sweats from menopause my body has rules all it's own.  My internal thermostat is completely wacko haywire and I dress to bundle or strip down at a moment's notice.  Last night I was boiling hot but my ears were freezing because I had the heat right down in the house to 15 Celsius.  My husband thinks I'm trying to knock him off.

I'm so happy that I have been done with the menopause thing (48). I hated the hot flashes and night sweats. Good Lord, I drove everyone in the house nuts. Poor Len seems to stay cold and I bought him one of those electric throws and he loves it, he says he wants heated gloves for Christmas. Winter has just started.