would like general thoughts on medical question

[hedgeapple]

i was just wondering if any of you have had a similar experience and how you cope.
other than for hypothyroidism, i try to avoid taking conventional medications, when i go to doctor it is for a diagnosis and i decide what will be done and i usually do nothing unless i need antibiotic for stubborn infection or something obvious. when i was young, the heat and humidity did not bother me. other people would be complaining but it just did not bother me. i am medium dark skinned caucasian. in my mid thirties, i had a heart attack due to overexertion on the of the hottest and most humid days of the year. that was over a decade ago, but ever since then the heat and humidity drain me so i feel absolutely useless. my questions is why exactly is this. the dr said my heart had healed really well. so why does heart problems make you so much more vulnerable to heat and humidity and if anyone else has similar situation, do you have any special ways to cope or is there a way to overcome this and get back to the way when i was young. does age also contribute to this if heat did not bother you when you were young. probably a dumb post, but it just seems to me if the heart healed well, i should feel like a used to except for a little age difference. thanks in advance.

[Little Quacker in OR]

Hi Hedgeapple! I don't think it's dumb at all! I would just ask you this...why do you ignore our medical profession and then suffer this way? I am not giving you a bad time here...just curious. We have the best in the world..why not use it if you are having troubles? Makes no sense to me.

I don't know how old you are...but being I was born in '39 and have had my share of problems, it's because of good medical care that I'm still climbing trees, hiking and visiting the coast and camping out with my dogs. Yes, I fall out of the trees sometimes and I am sore a lot... but that's OK. That's what Tylenol is for! LOL

There are terms for symptoms like yours and mine too! LOL For people who are Thermal Chameleons there can frequently be adrenal problems and as you are already on medication for the Thyroid problem I am wondering about this? Also, and I hope I am not getting too personal, but are you spayed? I was going through what you are(at least as far as I can tell from a short post)and I can tell you I was miserable! Night sweats too! Just hot and sticky all of the time.No tolerance for heat all all! As I lived in Vegas then I would have the AC turned down to Arctic BLast and still be hot and clammy. I am fine now and don't go through that anymore because I marched into the family docs office and said "Do something!"

I guess I would want to know also just how well you have read all of the info that comes with your meds re side
effects? You sound like an intelligent person so I am just wondering why you have not taken this up with your Doc as there are so many things that can and probably will help you here. Why be miserable? seems silly to me but then don't know the whole story and I am sure there is more to it.

I sure hope you get yourself in, let the Doc do what he/she thinks they need to so you can get back on the right track. What is wrong with that?

Just as an aside here, have you looked into any herbs that may help? I am no expert here so don't know, but it's worth a thought. I am pretty careful in that direction as I'm on a few meds already.

Good luck with this, I know it isn't fun!

hang in there............LQ

[Siryet]

hypothyroidism

I had the same and I almost died from ignoring the symptoms. The endocrinologist said that the hypothyroidism is the reason I was so hot all the time among other problems.

After a long stay in the hospital I went back to live in Houston Texas an I am no longer was hot all the time. I now live in Ar and have no problem with being excessively hot.

Maybe they can adjust your thyroid medicine.?

[hedgeapple]

little quacker, thanks first of all for the reply and concern. i am around fifty, have read extensively, conventional and alternative, on hypothyroidism, have not been spayed, am partial to but conservative and careful about herbs.

now for the big question as to my thoughts about conventional medicine, well actually this may require a little self examination. i am not really sure why i am careful about the medical profession. i have known some people who lived to be very old and they avoided modern medicine. i grew up with a psychotic hypochondriac of sorts (literally, not an exageration) so perhaps as a child i developed a desire to stay away from doctors and, maybe, this just occured to me, in order to distance myself psychologically from this parent i refuse to admit even to myself that i might have problem. when i had the heart attack i did not go to dr until a couple months later and described the incident and dr did ekg and said there was heart muscle damage, that is how i know for sure it was a heart attack, even though i definitely knew something was wrong at the time. i would not recommend this to others, though, i think God just took care of me. also, i have seen other people go to doctors and be given one drug after another to see if anything works and i cannot help but think this cannot be good for them. actually, i have gone to dr to get a diagnosis for fatigue, weakness and after some blood tests and ultrasound of the heart, dr concluded might be menopause, i hope that is it cause i assume that will pass, but i do not think that is what it is. also, as i have gotten older, i truly believe stress impacts on us in greater ways than we think so maybe somehow that figures in. i have consider seeing an endocrinologist (i once had to get a cortisone shot and felt positively wonderful for about twenty four hours) but i am afraid i might get messed up more.

[hedgeapple]

siryet, thanks for the post, i am afraid to mess with my thyroid dosage cause the last time i convinced the dr to change my dosage just a little, it got the blood levels all out of whack and had to get bloods tests once a month for awhile instead of every six months. i would be interested in hearing more about your hypo experience if you are comfortable sharing. even though there is a lot written about it, i do not think it is really thoroughly understood, and it just seems odd to me that so many people have it. usually, i am cold when others are comfortable, so it does not make sense that heat affects me the way it does.

[Little Quacker in OR]

Thyroid treatment is not something you just get an Rx for and then forget it. It takes regular tests as things change. This is true of cats, dogs, horses and people! My heart goes out to you and your problems but I honestly think you are your own worst enemy here! Bad girl! LOL

Get a Doc you can trust and listen to them.I understand that with what you went though, this is easier said than done...but you won't believe the difference in your quality of life. What are you really talented at? I bet you are some kind of very talented person...artist.....pilot what?

If you were a pilot I bet your Doctor wouldn't tell you how to fly a plane..he/she would leave that to the expert..the pilot. I think there is an issue of trust here that you will need to resolve. I found that as I had issues with men I needed a female Doc to feel comfortable..just couldn't trust anyone else. No Doc is perfect..but most are pretty good and lot better than dying young with no reason, or living with those symptoms.

I wish you so much luck and wish the best for you.

LQ

[donsgal]

Have you gained weight? I found that when I got "heavier" (like 50 pounds heavier), the heat bothered me a great deal more. So I guess that old addage that fat people sweat more must be true.

I used to live in Phoenix and the heat never bothered me at all. Now if it gets hotter than 75 degrees I am miserable and turning on the air conditioning.

Of course, ahem, I am a little older than you, so at 51 some of that heat may be hormone generated too.

donsgal

[Jenn]

In the Army we sort of advise soldiers who've had a heat injury to move somewhere cooler than where the injury occurred.

[hedgeapple]

jenn, thanks for the reply, what i want to know is just exactly why is that. i understand that when it gets hot and humid now that i need to take it easy but if i am just sitting on the front porch drinking iced tea, why do i feel drained when i did not use to. is there something about a heat related injury that forever thereafter conditions your body to not adjust well. do you just advise them to move to another climate so they won't make the same mistake again or does that same climate just magnify everything after an injury. it is not likely i will be moving. lived within the same three county area all my life and on same land for twenty five years. thanks again.

[hedgeapple]

donsgal, thanks for reply. i have not gained any weight since i used to not be bothered by the heat. actually, i can be a pretty active person when it is not hot and humid. after a hot, humid day, when the cooler night comes i might feel like working a good while, there is just something about that heat, what does it actually do to the body to make such a change.

[ellebeaux]

I would suggest getting more regular exercise and building muscle. That way you would increase your circulatory system and be able regulate it better. The reason I say this, is that if I had a a heart attack the first thing I would do is be scared to exercise. That would gradually get me into bad (worse) shape and lose a lot of ability to self-regulate all my organ systems.

Does that make sense?

[hedgeapple]

ellebeaux, thanks for the reply. actually, while i do not do a gym type thing, i am usually on the go all day. it does make sense, a lot of times after i get up and bathe in the morning, it may be noon before i even sit down because of morning routine work here on the farm. and, strangely enough, one doctor, not my regular doctor, listened to my heart and told me i had the heart of a teenager except for a slight murmur. i tend to have both low blood sugar and low blood pressure but as far as i know, just low enough to be a good thing. maybe i should just accept it and relax when it is hot and humid, but if i relax for three to four months, nothing would get done!!