I love swimming in the sea or in freshwater but increasingly I find I get a really unpleasant effect after I get out of the water. About half an hour later my brain feels really frozen and I feel very weak. It feels like an MS type reaction and only goes once I put on loads of clothes and finally feel warm. It has been freaking me out as I love the actual swimming and in the past have always had a bad reaction (in my MS symptoms) to heat rather than cold.I have been reading around and there seems to stuff about poor temperature regulation in MS. Has anyone else experienced this?
I have a faulty thermostat - don’t tolerate hot weather very well - takes a few days to acclimatise to a hot spell. Used to like cold weather but not any more! - seems to take a long time for my body to ‘recover’ if I’ve been in a cold environment.
A faulty thermostat always affects my body. I can be warm pretty much everywhere but a very cold area can be on any part. Arm, back, hip, hands or feet. My feet can go blue so a warm/hot foot bath helps. If my back, then has a cold area then a warm bath. Always difficult to dress for the weather, might need a light card or a Down filled coat! Or, total reverse of I get too hot, it zaps all energy. I’ve an idea a lot with MS have this symptom. Very inconvenient. Chrissie x
I don’t tolerate extreme temperatures, hot or cold. Too hot drains me, my mobility worsens to the extent I can no longer hold myself up. Too cold stiffens me up making my movement jerky, very extreme cold sends me into Tonic Spasm. Although I still travel abroad (Aircon in a wonderful thing), I no longer holiday in Europe as the pools are too cold for me to tolerate and I need to be able to go in the pool to cool me down. So yes it a great many of us suffer with differing temperatures, it’s a matter of finding ways to cope. I don’t know anything about wet and dry suits could either of those help you? Keep swimming. Jan x
Thanks for the replies. It sounds like a 'faulty thermostat ’ is a feature of MS. It is easier to cope with symptoms/reactions if you know what causes them. I have relapsing remitting MS and am lucky that it just affects my cognitive function (though that is a bit scary)and fatigue levels. I am going to find a way to cope - get a wetsuit or only swim if I can heat up immediately.
Thanks again.
Cathy x
PS Yes - thank goodness for air con.