The UK has been enjoying a heatwave recently but does... - NRAS
The UK has been enjoying a heatwave recently but does everyone enjoy this? What impact does heat have on your rheumatoid arthritis symptoms?
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The heat adds to the extreme fatigue I feel. Also, being so hot, I find I am sitting in the shade not wanting to move too much and therefore my joints 'seize' up more. We all know that gentle exercise helps keep the joints moving and sitting for too long is not good.
is more tiring, but is better than the cold on joints,
I have trouble coping with the heat. Cold is much more soothing for my joints, when we had all that late snow I was walking round outside with no gloves on because it was so soothing. xx
I love the heat!! I feel uplifted. I usually feel so cold so it's brilliant to feel the heat!
As far as my symptoms are concerned I can't tell if they are better or worse. I get fare-up in the summer & in the winter.
The heat is great for me, for once I have warm hands and feet. The pain seems less but maybe that us because I feel warmer so I don't hold myself so stiffly and the fatigue can now be attributed to the heat as can my slow movement rather than the disease...so all round happier me!
I have found extremes of temperature whether hot or cold just 'do me in'! I am incredibly tired in this heat but when the temperatures are really high I swell up like a marshmallow man too and it is so painful.
In the winter I have to wear two pairs of socks (day and night) and gloves indoors as well as out!
Really disappointed as I thought with the summer months I would be more mobile and have less pain but it really hasn't worked out that way at all 
Im just the same. Every day is a lottery.
I really don't tolerate high heat!! But it's the humidity that causes so much deep, penetrating aches and pain! If the humidity goes below 60%, things are better. he intense heat wipes me oput, I sweat profusely with the high humidity, with any little bit of activity! Yet, the Winrter, cold damp weather is the worse. So I look forward to Summer, why? So I can drip sweat all over my head and face and neck and etc!!! Loret xx
I'm with Lorann. I voted that it made no noticeable difference but that's not quite true. I live in a cold climate and the heat of England on holiday for the past few weeks has been wonderful. But my hands swelled up a lot when I was out walking or visiting the Eden Project because of the humidity and I am very fair and suffered from a nasty heat rash. Also trying to keep out of the sun's rays because of MTX was quite hard work. At the same time I feel that the vitamin D and psychological benefits of the sunshine outweighed the extra swelling in my hands and the problems with sun screening. So they sort of balanced each other out and, like JoJo it's the extremes that I find my my RA feel a bit worse.
Found this interesting Loran, where I live it is 80% humidity and although I am in medically reduced remission I am experiencing the deep penetrating pains yo describe! think I'll keep a watch on humidity readings from now 
oh, we went to the canaries recently and was the best ever but that was a very dry heat. x
Dry heat has always been recognized as the best for arthritis victims. Unfortunatly, there aren't very many dry spots in the country, the ones that are, like Arizona, are just too crowded.
I know I would love the Canary Islands, have always admired such gorgeous sights! Loretxx
I voted that my symptoms were less severe,my joints didn't ache as much, but I must admit I did feel a lot more tired and found that fatigue was a real problem during the heatwave. Thank goodness it is now Tuesday and it is raining at last.
The hot weather suited me down to the ground at first but over time there's been a noticeable change. I'm now getting a lot more pain than usual. I often feel as if I'm trying to walk through glue by the evening & that's worse than ever at the moment. Has the humidity increased I wonder?
Well I did notice my hands swelling ridiculously in the rainforest biome of the Eden Project but it was the hottest day anyway and temperature was 44 in there! Mindful of what Loret told us about humidity I noticed hands fared far better in the car with the air condition on full and in holiday inn too for same reason presumably? Remind me never to go on I'm a Celebrity Get me Out of here when I'm invited will you please?! X
Yes! The %humidity has been right up there near 100%, which would be rain. I find the humidity causes alot more fatigue too, feels like I'm dragging a big bag of sloshing water by 4:00 in the afternoon!! Have no energy to prepare supper, so I go lay down.
Loret XX
Hi Loret. Can you explain whether the swelling in humidity relates to RA or whether it's just how some people are affected and nothing to do with the systemic inflammatory process we go through when our joints are inflamed? Basically it's very unpleasant but is it harmful to us beyond normal fluid retention/ Oedema? Tilda x
The swelling is the body's attempt to cool us down by expanding blood vessels to expose them to the air and allow sweating, which is supposed to cool us. In this instance, it is likely not directly related to RA. Also, remember, when we are that hot we drink more cold liqwuids, which we must to avoid dehydration, so it is a package deal. Not directly harmful unless one has kidney failure or congestive heart failure, in which case it's best to consult your physician about the swelling. If it goes away in the air conditioned air, then you know it is the phenomina. Hope this did not add to the confusion
Yes this is what I have assumed re fluid retention. Is it the same thing as when my hands (mainly knuckles) swell up during exercise or when hanging down by my sides for any length of time then? And why were my hands so swollen when my husband's and elderly mother in law's weren't despite the heat affecting us all? Sorry to quiz you Loret but I'm intrigued by this phenomina!
Face it Tilda, You're just one hot mama!
Holding your hands down for any length of time is just compromising your circulation, making it struggle to go uphill! Also, men naturally have a larger vascular system to keep them cooler, and elderly women are naturally colder, so they tolerate heat better. Nothing to be concerned with, just a phenomina of the amazing human body!! Loretxxx
Oh okay well that explains a lot and I'm glad that it's not the kind of inflammation that gnaws away at our joints at least! And yes my mother-in-law is naturally/ unnaturally cold! How about when I wake up in the mornings and my hands are both really puffy and stiff - I've been assuming this was RA and my love of putting hands under the pillow at night but perhaps it's just because I'm "one hot mamal" (actually one mamal who is feeling pretty lousy just now but that's another story!!)? x
Morning stiffness anywhere is a result of the RA, or even Osteo. Puffy hands in the morning are more likely just slow circulation, since you are laying flat and your heart is not pumping at higher speeed as it will when you begin moving around.
I have found my hands to swell alot at basketball and football games, due to increased adrenalin running rampant during exciting games, especially if I'm yelling and clapping and raising the volume in the environment
All in all, you are likely just fine. But sorry to know you are feeling pretty lousy right now...? How soon will you be seeing your Rheumy?
Thannks Loret. My hands aren't just puffy in the mornings - the knuckles are really swollen and I can never fully grip them but in the mornings I have to run them under hot water to get them to move often so I think it's RA because I've always had great circulation - but otherwise I think you are right as usual!
I think the unwellness is just exhaustion from the very long drive (1000 miles each way) and the tension of spending a week with my mother-in-law but I've also put on half a stone since I went away so that won't be helping. I'm repeating after myself "starve woman starve" now - it took me 2 years to get down to where I was and a few pasties and cream teas and one portion of fish and chips to get me right back up - awful!
I see my rheumy a week today and have my DAS taken to see if I qualify for anti-tnf drugs or not because I'm only on 12.5 injectable MTX now. I just can't tolerate anything higher than this it seems.
Tilda x
1000 miles driving is way too far! Can you fly, or is it that there are no nearby airports where you are going/ Sounds like you have been enduring plenty of stress!!
Loret it's sweet of you to ask but we have already been all the way to Cornwall and back - a thousand miles each way! I'm truly wiped out just now but I think that's pretty normal considering what we've just done. X
Sounds like that proclaimers song. Lol
Yeah just like it and we've come back feeling fervently pro Scottish too! But not even sure why we went today - the weather here is glorious - the beaches almost empty with clear stretches of proper yellow sand and my OH went swimming in the azure sea and said temperature was just the same as Cornwall - same quantities of jellyfish (only ours were bigger and healthier!) and no people throwing frisbee or ice cream sellers and rubbish today in Orkney! Maybe I'll get a commission from the tourist board if I keep this up?! Also hands not swelling up like sea creatures here so according to Loret's law it must be far less humid? X
I am far worse with hot humid weather. Dry heat (eg. South Tenerife) is wonderful. But the high humidity we have had has made me feel dreadful. I don't sweat properly - may be due to Sjogren's?
In the winter I put my poor feet in hot water, and in this hot summer I put them in cold. And I have also had cold wet towels on me in the middle of the night. My OH thinks I am weird!
Oh Phoebe, you are not weird! I do the same thing, always have a wet washcloth or handtowel on my walker, so I am constantly mopping sweat from my hairline, around the ears and under the jaw and neck. Usually, especially when I am gardening. I just don't understand why I am not melting!
I am so much better in the heat and any type of heat ie blankets, warm weather etc! I know I shouldn't be technically! But if it is psychosomatic then so be it, move me to the Bahamas, without the hurricanes!!
The hot weather makes my joints, feel much better. I get around a lot easier.
I feel so much better in the heat physically and mentally everything seems so much better when the sun is shining
Have really been struggling since this heat set in. Every joint is aching and the fatigue is worse than ever. Never seem to have affected as bad as this before, but not had heat like this since I have had RA. Just be so glad when it goes cooler and hopefully feel a lot better.
