It's Cold on this Journey of UCTD

Oh the winter is here and my bones feel the cold. I am not sure if I mentioned this before, in my Journey of UCTD, but since this illness the temperature control switch has been flipped in my body to default. I grew up in India and was used to the heat. So when I went to UK I had to learn to get used to the cold weather. After many years in UK I was more comfortable in the cold weather. Indeed going to a warm country for holidays meant that I needed a fan or even AC should the temperature go over 25C. Since I got ill I cannot tolerate the cold. When the temperature hits 20C I am looking for my fleece and winter woollies. In the last few years in UK I was more or less permanently cold. I wear thermal long johns and 3 layers of clothes on top, a woolly hat, and ear muffs, gloves and of course a few socks. I must have a touch of Raynaud’s as despite this level of wrapping up and even heating going, my feet, hands and nose could be icy.

Here in Oz, I find that heat is comfortable, indeed I do not break out into a sweat till the temperature goes above 30C. We live in an old brick house and the thick walls keep the house pretty cool in the summer heat and but even colder in winter. It did not help to have an open chimney in the lounge. It let the cold / heat in but also the wind and rain. It would be pointless having a heater on as I would be heating the rest of the town as well. I would have hot water bottle in bed and the heater on in the bedroom for a few hours and even so my feet would warm up only after a couple of hours. I have been known to wear the fleece and woolly hat plus socks in bed.

In summer, the temperature indoors would go up to 30 C but then it was about 40+ outside. Now the good thing about this house is the back veranda, one can sit and bask in the sunshine all day during winter. One day I decided that sitting in the sun, sipping tea, reading a book and warming my toes would be beneficial. So I removed my socks and sat with my toes in the sunshine….waiting for them to warm up. A couple of hours later I find that my feet have not warmed even an iota but my skin is well tanned and indeed even burnt! So I had to apply some cooling aloe gel on the already icy toes. I was not a happy bunny.

This year the chimney has finally been closed off and I can tell the difference. I am cold but not in pain due to the cold as often as I was last year. I have also pulled out more of my UK winter woollies to layer the clothing. The recent development is pain in the finger tips which comes and goes and is usually in one finger at a time. While my hands and feet are cold they do not change colour as it can happen in Raynaud’s.  So I guess I have to count my blessings and now I am just resigned to having cold feet, hands and nose through the winter months. I do try and go out for a walk in the park when it is a sunny day and that feels good, outside is definitely better. But winter days and rain means just being cold. If you remember I did have a long bout of anaemia too and when you are all the time tired and not moving about a much you tend to feel colder. Once the cold gets into the bones the pain is not far away from the bones, muscles and cartilages. This is a vicious cycle as when in pain immobility increases. Exercising even a little bit helps to warm the muscles and generate heat. 

Well I had started out to talk about something totally different but since it is cold and slightly grey I got drawn into this as… yes you guessed it…. I am cold. I even considered investing in a balaclava to keep my face warm. Indeed there was a talk among my support group that you can buy nose warmer or nosebags as I call them. Sometimes I do put my ear muffs such that they cover my nose and warm it up. I also tend to have lots of hot drinks, mainly tea and cuppa soup for lunch. With having so much tea the sugar intake was going up and so had to change my habit and go without sugar in the tea. So now I can drink loads of tea without feeling guilty. I also occasionally have some nettle tea as an alternative taste. Hot soup is good but there are few cuppa soups I can have as many have additives in them that I am allergic to. There is only so much minestrone and French onion soup one can drink and after 2 winters of it I have hardly touch it so far this year. It does not help when I tend to forget to eat. Like now, I just realised it is lunch time and I have not had my porridge yet, just couple of cup of tea. Right I will have something now and talk about the GI issues another day or else I might develop some right now.