Does everyone with thyroid problems struggle more with heatwaves than the average bunny? Or is this an age-related issue? I've just turned 60 and I'm really struggling to get the water my body retains in the daytime heat out of it at night.
I feel as though I swell up like a watermelon in the heat 
and it seems to take me so much longer than my contemporaries to acclimatise - mostly to hot weather but also in the depths of winter.
This past week in UK has been hell
I agree! Some respite is due soon, thank goodness.
Same here. I have spent the last few days stuck inside with the curtains closed and the fans on. If I venture out into the garden I feel dizzy after about five minutes. All my joints ache. No energy. Can’t sleep. Then I see the news and pictures of people out and about or sitting on the beaches. I sit inside in a dark corner, fuming, moaning miserable like some kind of vile sweat monster! A bit cooler today, thankfully.
We sound fairly similar! 🤔🤣
I'm always hot and never have cold extremities like many others with thyroid conditions.
Curtains drawn and windows closed on the sunny side of the house and windows open on the cooler side too. Yep staying in all day myself also.
I’m a bit odd I think because I’ve got severe Raynaud’s as well. Although when I first started my trial of levothyroxine I didn’t get half as many attacks. I hate the heat with a passion! Last year during the ridiculous heatwave I got up in the early hours feeling ill, went outside because there was a cool wind, fainted, hit my head, wet myself and was sick! That incident has made me dread the word “heatwave”. Next year I’m going to get a portable A/C unit. It’s just awful feeling trapped in the house though isn’t it.
JoJoloveschocolate ' I’m going to get a portable A/C unit.'
I got one of those a few years ago during a heatwave. It was a floorstanding one, supposedly powerful enough for an average room. Unfortunately I ended up giving it away as it was intolerably noisy (to me anyway). There may be improved versions available now, but I'd want to hear it running before parting with any money. Installed a couple of ceiling fans instead. Not perfect, but definitely help.
Thanks so much for that info RedApple. I’ll look into it a bit more now before buying. I was also looking at renting one for several weeks to see me through summer, but I bet those units are probably even louder. I can spend all autumn and winter researching now and checking the reviews🤣
Portable A/C units are also inherently inefficient. The heat is transferred as hot air along a pipe - and lots of that heats gets "lost" within the room.
The first devices on the ladder that aren't too bad are properly installed split units. They transfer heat using a fluid in much smaller pipes - which can be well-insulated. One unit is effectively outside. The internal unit can be pretty quiet - not much more than a fan.
Good to know. Thank you. The portable ac units I’ve looked at are also quite heavy…so not exactly portable. I’d have to buy two units - one for upstairs, one downstairs!
A single split unit can be used to feed two rooms. Obviously depending on circumstances! And the inside units take zero floor area - just a shallow fan unit on the wall.
Helvella! You just know everything!
No - I really don't. 
But some of the things I appear to know are just little things that maybe aren't so widely known. So, if someone asks about them, I might know enough to answer. But I'm ignorant of thousands, millions, of things everyone else knows!
And, pedantic I note. Take a compliment and thank you again for all your contributions.
I plead guilty to pedantry.
And so sentence to life in pendantoville😆
same here, as long as I am not required to be more than decorative and can sit still I love the sun. Anything more sweaty mess and get dizzy. Always have been didn’t realise it was related to thyroid, but of course….most things are 🤣
In the last few years before I was diagnosed during the heatwaves I had very swollen watery eyes, painful muscle cramps and stiffness. I thought it may be heatstroke or related to some other medication I was taking. This year it’s been tough but not half as much and it’s be managed to enjoy some days in the sun.
I’m curious how much optimising of the dose helps. Then again, I’m still getting cold intolerance when the home is 23c. Can’t win!
It's was 95 here in France yesterday it's been very hot. I don't have a problem with it but because I used to live in Malta this is cool to me. Fan on all day, shutters closed due South and a fan on in the bedroom at night. Some people can't tolerate the heat other like it.
I feel the cold and also this hot weather. Feel so lethargic. Windows and curtains closed until the sun goes down then open up for some cool air.
Can’t wait until it gets cooler then I’ll be moaning I’m cold. 🙄🤣Can’t win 🤣
Thanks everyone, it really helps to know I am not the only one lurking indoors like a vampire on a hot, sunny day. My family all look down on me as if I'm a bit of a snowflake. So unfair!
A few years ago when I was undiagnosed I was taken on holiday to rural France in the 40 degree heatwave. Spent most of it behind the shutters. The day I flew back I had such a crushing headache I felt convinced I might be having a stroke. Have hated anything above about 25 degrees ever since and it's only getting worse over time with age and further global warming. Maybe it will improve when I am optimised on meds and vits.
Also, I have been considering getting an A/C unit so that side discussion is very valuable information. This is a very expensive condition isn't it? Glad I haven't wasted dosh on one now.
Bit cooler here atm...hope you have all gained some respite. Hypothyroidism...the gift that keeps on giving, eh?
Definitely not alone. I recently went away where the temperature was 33c and I spent the last day of the trip in an air con room all day. It was just too much to handle and k ached.
That sucks. Makes you feel like such a loser doesn't it? I haven't got around to not caring what other people think yet and so it's a lonely situation isn't it? Thank goodness for this forum. You guys keep me sane.
I’m sorry you feel that way. I don’t feel like a loser. My energy is diverted to how crap the whole health and related industries are.
Fighting spirit...good to see...
Hope you get some of yours back. I know you must have as you are here.
Take care 🫶🏽
I suffer with the heat too, don't know if it's thyroid related but I also get swelling, rashes and itching too. Drives me mad.
Awful, all these side effects. I feel for you. I am wondering if water retention is to do with the fat cells...think I read somewhere that fat cells can take on four times their normal size in water. Some of my thyroid buddies don't suffer too much in the heat but they got diagnosed early and are all thin!
I was begging docs to pay attention to my symptoms for 20 years but none did so I put on three and a half stone. Now that I am diagnosed and medicated I'm finding that dieting just makes me feel really crap/unproductive and if I do manage to lose even 2lb it goes straight back on the minute I eat anything real, never mind naughty. Some folk recommend fasting but it really does not work for me
This might sound counter-productive but drinking lots and lots of water really helps with fluid retention. If I increase my good fluids I pee excessively. In other words, I pass more urine than fluids I’ve drunk and that keeps the swelling down. I have no idea what the mechanism is
I was sceptical when a nurse friend told me (she sees it all the time in catheterised patients on bedrest who acquire swollen ankles as a result partially, to having to remain sedentary) but having tried it, I know it works. I’m regimental about it and drink around 200mls an hour all day long, so at least 2L
At first the trips to the loo are a nuisance but my body has gradually acclimatised and it’s all become very manageable. I make sure to have my last drink by 7pm so that I don’t need to pee during the night
NB and in any case we should all be drinking more in this heat. I sometimes sprinkle a small amount of salt and sugar to compensate for the loss in excessive perspiration but not this year since a blood test revealed high sodium levels!
P.S. in some rooms I have found a dehumidifier helps.
I love this heat and have a new purpose in life when I'm not trying to stay warm, but my home is quite shaded by trees so it isn't stifling inside. On the other hand, my 98 year old mother suffers badly in this heat. She doesn't have a thyroid problem, used to sit in the sun, and happily walk round sightseeing all day in hot countries, so in some cases I would say that yes, age can make a big difference. She cools her place down by using a ceiling fan, static fans and a mobile air conditioning unit, which I don't think is very efficient but she refuses to have a proper one installed. Usually she stays with us when it's this hot but it hasn't been possible for the last week.
I think this heatwave is coming to an end now though, so I hope you're more comfortable soon
I'm exactly the same. Heat intolerant and haven't been abroad or summer holidays away in 16 years. I live indoors in the summer and often found sat in my car on the drive with air con on. I also blow up with water retention in heat.Have found though this year not as bad since i'm almost certain I'm now post menopause.
Do you mean you suffer fluid retention - I feel as though I swell up like a watermelon in the heat
If you do then you (inadvertently) have a remedy in your comment above! Watermelon has fantastic properties - high magnesium, great fibre and is diuretic! Try it out (preferably an organic one) - the flesh just melts in your mouth.
If you are not effectively replaced with thyroid hormone you may also have too much mucin.
(from experience and other reasons) I think it takes 18.5 years to truly acclimatise to a much hotter/much colder environment.
The UK's current and recent pattern is very unsettled and peculiar - don't give yourself any grief about not easily adapting
Thanks Blissful....I need to read more about Mucin and maybe I will buy some Watermelon too. I think I'm getting there with the medication but I've just had T3 added in so maybe I'm either not quite there or my body has not quite settled down yet.
Hi silversavvy❤️
Well when I was very hyperthyroid (graves thyrotoxicosis) i felt like Dracula in that I couldn't venture out in the sun period!!
If I had to like seeing my gp, I'd be like a house mouse clinging to the shade of the buildings 😂 sweating for England feeling faint, sick much like heat stroke.
So you can imagine my delight when my endo told me I needed my thyroid removed asap, i thought.. Great no more of this sweating, shaking, exhaustion and dodging the sun🙌
Full thyroidectomy in 2019 put on T4 then T3 medication I'm having real problems with thyroid medication 😠 but worst of all.... The flipping sweating and Dracula syndrome remain😠😠😠.
Yes these last few days have been hell... 2 fans on in bedroom.. Moved to living room in the day, can't move about to much or I'm in a lather of sweat, in and out of a cool shower... Its hell.... But why??
These were the symptoms I wanted rid of... What went wrong😢😢😢😢
Poor birkie...you sound worse off than I am! What an awful time you have had of it.
I've no idea what size you are but I am convinced it is partly the fat cells causing problems for me. My sister who is not thyroid deficient in any way (has been checked) but is much larger than me has had an appalling time in this awful heat. And she's six years younger.
My aim now is to try and shift the excess weight and hope that next summer is better. But what I'm reading here suggests it may not be the weight but is indeed the thyroid issue - so we'll just have to try and test the theory :0
Well I just received a report today about my blood tests at Liverpool and my pet scan.. I have 3 para glands lit up by the pet scan.. 2 in the front one round the back of my neck... definitely a parathyroid problem 👍 endocrinologist is calling me on Wednesday.But I sweated this bad even when I was under weight (lost a lot due to graves thyrotoxicosis) I've since put over a stone on due to going hypo🙄 seems we can never win🤦♀️.. But the endo thinks some of my symptoms are linked to the parathyroid problem 👍 so maby the continued sweating is part of it.. Because I was first diagnosed with a parathyroid problem in 2004 and just left... Then diagnosed again in 2020🙄... See we just can't win... 😂
I'm sorry you are getting the runaround Birkie and I hope you can get an answer soon.
I’ve struggled with both the cold and the heat all my life.
In my fifties Menopause combined with Tamoxifen cancer prevention and really low vit D meant my thermostat all but collapsed. Going from outdoors to indoors was a particular problem as I sweated all round my hairline for the next hour. Was not dx hypothyroid then.
Now in my sixties Im over menopause, finished five years of tamoxifen, vit D is higher, I’m on a good dose of Levo, lost two stone in weight from being slightly overmedicated for a couple of months, reduced Levo a little and I’m able to tolerate both cold and heat a lot better.
Roll on Thursday when I’m due to have THE TALK with some GP I’ve never met because my TSH is 0.02.
Good luck on Thurs Bearo!
Thanks, SilverSavvy!
SilverSavvy,
I am the same! In a really hot room I start to become quite peculiar. For me it is more like a nausea and creeping confusion. My pulse can also get very elevated. It took me ages to realise what was going on, which I think is part of it. These symptoms are so bad that I am a bit worried it is truly dangerous.
This year I have taken it much more seriously. My number one tip for dealing with heat, which no one has mentioned so I will share it. Cold baths! There are a few different ways to do it. Usually I fill the bath with cold water at the first sign I might be getting overheated, and keep it full all day. I pop in and out for maybe 10 or 15 minutes at a time as soon as I get uncomfortably hot. You need to stay in there for at least that length of time to get the full benefit. I always wonder if this is partly due to my hypothyroidism, but it feels like this lowers my body temperature nicely, and it takes an hour or more to wear off after I get out.
If the weather is even warmer, you can take up residency in the bath and stay in there to pass the hottest part of the day. I set up with a book, a big bottle of drinking water, and possibly even a meal sitting on my shower chair waiting for when I need it.
I have only ever needed room temperature water, though I've wondered about adding ice in an emergency, I've never found it necessary. The water measured with my bath thermometer is always a good few degrees colder than the air temp. I don't fully understand the physics, but water is much better at stealing your body heat than air can do it, so it feels much colder than it is.
The only other big thing I've done this year is covered my worst windows with tin foil, as I don't have shutters. It hasn't made a huge difference I can detect, but you kind of never know as maybe it could have been worse. I have taken seriously which rooms in my house are hottest, and have been sleeping in my little box room as it has a much bigger window I can open and doesn't ever get full sunlight on the window.
I also fill a misting spray bottle with water and a few drops of nice essential oils so it smells more like a treat, then drench myself regularly, arms, legs, face, and I find wetting clothes can help, too, as they become cool to the touch. This works better in different conditions, but I haven't figured out exactly what makes the difference.
Wow, Silver Avocado you have pulled all the stops out this year. Thank you for your answer - I am a big fan of the bath dip but I can't take up residence as I'm still trying to work. Can do it at night tho and I start at blood temp and then add cold as I can bear it. Slightly worried about promoting a heart attack if too gung ho! I like your misting spray idea and will use that. The foil one I tried with newspaper which worked to some degree on a large sunny window. But it's a bit of a faff and my husband moans
I spoke to a lady today who lives in a south facing house and has another in Spain. Rather than buy aircon units etc, she is thinking of doing as she does in Spain and having retractable metal blinds fitted to the outside of her house so she can just close all windows off from 10am to 5pm. Plus internal fans. She says it will cost a lot but doesn't want to move and it's more eco-friendly than aircon.
A family member in southern France has these fitted inside her windows. They have pin prick air vents if you want them and they do a fab job of keeping out the sun without looking externally ugly.
Guess we're all going to have to get busy with future proofing our homes against global warming, as best we can afford/manage, eh?
Yea, I think shutters are great.
I've got quite good blackout curtains with white facing the window. But last year in that ridiculous heat wave I became aware there is a cushion of super heated air sitting between the curtains and the windows, for a gap of around 8 inches. Even though the curtains were bouncing lots of the sunlight back, it was still heating that cushion air. I think the great thing with shutters is those light rays are getting stopped before they get to your indoor air.
I was thinking of making myself some more durable cardboard and run foil panels I can pop in and out at a moment's noticed for next year, so it doesn't look white as intensely scruffy. I wish I could be thinking of shutters!!
I was going to add some more to my process of getting into the cold bath. It can be quite a shock 🤣 Mine never gets super cold because I think the pipes are warmed somewhere. If yours come from deeper underground they could be pretty cool.
I definitely lower myself in slowly, and sponge my arms and legs with water to get them used to it. But I also think of going swimming in the sea, and how you have to push yourself past that first horror. Just like swimming, once you are in you get used to it and it barely even feels that cold. I always lie down on my left side and slowly lower my upper body in, imagining myself shaped like a knife or ship's hull slicing through the water hardly disturbing or touching it. Very unlike my actual body 🤣 And that seems to get me over the first shock.
I definitely think full submersion is very worth it. As it is that that gets me cool enough it takes ages to warm up. Face and head under is the most refreshing bit. I find it essential as I feel very strange when my body is cool but my head is still hot.
I definitely do pull out all the stops. I am in a battle against the forces of heat stroke!! Also, being in stuck in the house most of the time, getting into the cold bath is one of the few thrills I get 🤣
I take cool shower's.. And I have a spray bottle handy, right by my 2 industrial fans😂.. Unfortunately my flat gets really hot due to the sun always being on the kitchen 😠 I got dark blinds to keep it cool.. My son thinks I've gone gaga.. Because I've even have all my windows open in the middle of winter.. When he comes to see me he begs me to.. "please mam.. Can we close the windows? It's baltic in here😁 I don't even notice, I just love the cold air.. 😂
Hi there I’ve been in sweat city! It’s horrendous and is also takes a while for me to cool down 🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵 my feet and ankles swell in the heat to…. If you can try and put your feet up and rest.
I am always roasting hot, even in winter. I dread going to a pub for a meal with friends and they want to sit, or we have been placed, next to a radiator or wood stove! I run to the chair furthest away. I can drip with sweat just having a drink in a friends home in the winter. So you can imagine how a heatwave makes me feel. So wet! And my legs and feet have been feeling awfully swollen. All I can put on my feet are flip-flops. Nothing else will fit.
My very old stone cottage has really thick stone walls. For the first few days of a heatwave it's deliciously cool. But then, the heatwave subsides and it's still like a furnace in here and will be for the rest of the week.
When heat first got to be a problem for me, we bought a portable air con unit and I'm so glad we did. We have a Delonghi. It's noisy yes, but it's tolerable in the "hush" mode for sleeping and it has an automatic temperature and humidity control option that's rather nice in the daytime. It will also go down really low in temperature
Our problem is the rest of the house. Can't store a unit for all the main rooms. We have a young cat this summer. She's been really fed up of the heat. She keeps flinging herself down in front of fans. She can't share the cool of the bedroom with us as we are trying to train her to be a house cat and you have to have a small window opening to put the heat pipe out through. She'd jump out of it. She is enjoying today more I think. Husband has abandoned the garden table office of the past week for his actual office upstairs as it's not so hot and it's windy out. She's in there with him, fast asleep in a battered old cardboard box that she likes.
I have had problems with the heat for about six years, my blood pressure drops. I have ended up in hospital several times. I was told it was a vesa vega attack, if thats how you spell it. The doctor tested my blood pressure and said it was fine, walking home I felt bad and sat on a wall. My husband went to buy a bottle of water, meanwhile I fainted for a bit. I came to with a lady asking if I was ok,she gave me a bottle of juice. I do not know why it happens, so I stay in on very hot days.
That's very interesting SanRay....my blood pressure drops too and also I have to have blood tests really early in the day because my blood gets 'sticky' and they can't get it out. What a horrible experience you had...no wonder you stay in on hot days. Hope you've got some relief this week.
Living with no thyroid
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