Always an icebox

I've noticed that come 3 o'clock in the afternoon I start to feel cold, and even with woollies everywhere - feet, leggings, etc this cold to the core persists. Is this a common complaint with GCA?

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Are you on any other medications besides pred? Early in PMR (which is probably GCA that hasn't affected my vision) I was permanently hot - caused all sorts of problems in the winter when my husband, who is permanently cold, had the heating up so I was practically needing to sit in a swimsuit to keep comfortable. Since I have been on BP and atrial fibrillation medication I feel cold most of the time - apart from the odd wave of warmth in bed at night, which could be post-menopausal flushes I suppose but annoying nonetheless!

[Hidden in reply to PMRpro]

No other meds except baby aspirin. G C A affected my leg arteries and was undiagnosed for months. I'm 2 years on predict now and I've been cold pretty much the whole time.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Sorry ..should be prednisone. The computer likes to change words!

[PMRpro Ambassador in reply to Hidden]

Very appropriate for predictive text!

How strange. Something i noticed before diagnosis was that areas of skin, especially lower back and buttocks, would be really cold and even more so when I was skiing. That also seems to have disappeared now - not sure about when skiing - but I feel generally cold rather than it being skin. In retrospect I assume that while the arteritis was active the blood flow to the skin wasn't as good as it should have been. I used to get textbook Raynaud's symptoms too - a medical scientist used my hands as perfect examples of what happens when you have a Raynaud's attack and the thermographic images (heat emission pictures) were hanging on his wall!

[Celtic PMRGCAuk volunteer]

Jonny, no, although I had GCA necessitating the very high dose steroids, feeling chilled wasn't among my side effects. In fact, the opposite - I suffered from many sweats! That isn't to say that you might not experience such a side effect though -there are nearing 100 listed possible side effects, and we can all be slightly different in our response to both the illness and the drugs.

Are you taking any beta blockers for hypertension? I do remember suffering with very cold extremities when on those some years ago.

[Hidden]

Jonny

I had GCA (now in remission) for nearly 3 years.

I had been a person who did not own a long sleeved jumper or cardigans, rarely wore nylons and never wore slippers, bare feet as much as possible. Did not wear socks in bed and tended to stick my feet out beyond the covers.

When Autumn arrived the first year, I had to buy bedsocks, long sleeved jumpers, warmer slacks any cosy slippers. Strangely I did suffer from many night sweats but still felt cold.

I asked the question as feeling cold was not on the 83 listed side effects.

Yup, part of the effect of GCA (which is the commonest member of the Vasculitis family).

When in remission, I thought brilliant back to normal. It did not last within six months I was on beta blockers, so the central heating bill has never gone down.

[Celestee]

I too am always cold